Q: How Much Can I Charge for Writing a White Paper?

White paper writing: how much can I charge?

There are three ways to get paid to write white papers.

Daily Rate

Agree on a fixed daily rate and the number of days to write the document. If you’re new to the industry and trying to build your portfolio, this is the simplest way to go. The downside is that if you quote too low or the projects over runs, you lose out.

However, if you are starting a white paper writer, maybe you take the hit.

Fixed price

The second is to agree a fixed price. Here you quote a price, reach agreement, and start.

The downside here is again, it may take longer. Of course, the more you write, the better you’ll be able to judge the workload and deal with tricky clients.

Bundled offering

The third is the most lucrative.

Offer to write a package of marketing documents.

For example, instead of writing one white paper, suggest that you write the following at the same time:

1. Case Study
2. FAQs – for the company website
3. Bulletin
4. Fact Sheet
5. Product Brochure
6. Blog posts – write a series of blog posts about the subject of the white paper, and also about the actual document itself, for example, why we wrote it, the benefits it offers, and what we learned.
   Make sure to offer it on the site.
   Setup a dedicated ‘landing page’ and use this to capture leads, bring people into the sales cycle, and encourage them to contact us.
   Keep the landing page simple, focused on getting them to register for the white paper.
7. LinkedIn updates

A final tip

Create a Gmail account that’s not related to your business. Contact other local white paper writers and request their rates. You can say you’re representing a third party, which is slightly true.

A second final tip.

Don’t quote too low. If you charge too little, you lose credibility.

Charge the local rate for professional writers.

Then, as you build a portfolio, increase your rates.