How to write a writer invoice

What goes on a writer invoice

Six things, in the order they belong on the page. The invoice generator opens a writer / copywriter document with the lines already in place, so most of this is checking rather than typing.

1. Bill in the unit you quoted in. Per thousand words, per page, per piece or per hour. Whatever the quote said, the invoice repeats, so the client is checking one number against one number.
2. Put the count on the line. Four articles at a thousand words each reads as four articles. One line saying "content" reads as a figure to accept on trust.
3. Name the revision rounds included. Two rounds included, further rounds at a stated rate. Rounds that are not named are unlimited, and a client who does not know the limit cannot respect it.
4. State who owns the work. Whether the fee transfers copyright, licenses the piece, or covers use in one place. This belongs on the invoice, not in a thread.
5. Keep research separate if you bill it. Interviews, reading and source-gathering are work. If you charge for them, name them; if they are included, say so.
6. Send it with terms in days. Editorial clients pay on cycles. Net 30 gets into a queue; "on receipt" gets into the same queue with less information.

The lines a writer invoice usually carries

These are the lines the generator opens with when you pick Writer / copywriter. The figures are a starting point to type over rather than a going rate: this site runs no pricing survey, and the number on your invoice should be the one you charge.

Add, rename, reorder or delete any line, and set tax per line where it applies. Priced as they open, that comes to $1,975 before tax.

A worked writer invoice, filled in

This is the same job as the table above, written out the way it would leave your phone. Every figure on it is a starting point rather than a going rate, and the tax line is shown at ten per cent purely so the arithmetic is visible: set your own rate, or none, per line.

Subtotal $1,975, tax $197.50, total $2,172.50. The parts worth copying are the structure rather than the numbers: the job reference next to the client, every line separately priced with its count showing, the tax on its own line, and terms that name a number of days instead of saying on receipt.

Per word, per page or per project, and why the invoice must match the quote

Writers price in at least four different units and the trouble starts when the quote uses one and the invoice uses another. A client who agreed a per-word rate and receives a project fee cannot check it, so they query it, and you spend an afternoon reconstructing arithmetic.

Whatever unit the quote used, invoice in the same unit with the count visible. If the piece came in longer than quoted, show the count and the rate and let the number explain itself. If you agreed a cap, apply it and say so on the line.

The freelance rate calculator is for working out what the unit should be worth before you quote it. The invoice is for reporting what was agreed, not for renegotiating it.

Revision rounds, scope creep and the rewrite described as a correction

The most common way a writing job loses money is a rewrite presented as a fix. The brief changed, but the request arrives as though the copy was wrong.

Two defenses, both on paper. Name the number of revision rounds included on the invoice and price additional rounds. And attach the brief to the quote so there is an agreed description of what was asked for, which is what separates a correction from a new commission.

When a request is genuinely a new commission, invoice it as one with its own line and its own count. Absorbing it teaches the client that scope is free.

Kill fees, and getting paid for work that never ran

Commissioned work gets canceled. A piece is spiked, a campaign is pulled, a client changes direction after you have written the thing.

A kill fee is the agreed percentage payable if the work is canceled after you start, and it belongs in the quote before it is ever needed. Fifty per cent after acceptance is a common shape, though the number is yours to set.

Invoice it as a named line referencing the original commission rather than as a mystery amount. And do not quietly discount it because the piece never ran: the work happened, which is what the fee was for.

Hourly, fixed price or per unit: how writers price the work

Writing is priced per word, per piece or per day, and the trend across the profession is away from per word for exactly the reason you would expect: it pays for length rather than for the thinking that made it short.

State the revision rounds and the kill fee. A commissioned piece that is spiked after approval of the outline is work that happened, and the kill fee is the clause that decides whether it was paid for. Agree it at the brief rather than at the cancellation.

Working out what to charge

This guide is about what goes on the document, not what the number should be, and nobody should hand you a rate for your own market. What the site can do is the arithmetic: the freelance rate calculator works back from what you need to earn, the service price calculator prices a service against your costs, and the profit margin calculator checks what is left once the job is done.

Writing it on your phone, in five steps

Most writers write the invoice standing next to the work rather than at a desk a week later, and the week later version is the one that gets details wrong. The generator is built for the first case.

1. Open it with your trade already chosen. The writer / copywriter invoice loads with blog article (per 1000 words) and the rest of the lines already on the page.
2. Put the client and the job reference in first. It is the part you will not remember accurately in three days, and on agent, landlord or contractor work it is the reason the invoice gets paid at all.
3. Edit the lines rather than starting from empty. Change the quantities and the rates, delete what you did not do, add what you did. Keeping the descriptions means the wording stays consistent from one job to the next.
4. Set the terms to 30 days and add a payment link. A due date that is an actual date gets chased. A link and a QR code means it can be settled before you have packed up.
5. Send it before you leave. The clock on your terms starts when the invoice arrives, not when the work finished, so every day it sits unsent is a day added to getting paid.

Getting paid once it is sent

Put a due date and your terms on the document, because an invoice without them is hard to chase. Add a payment link and a QR so settling up is a tap rather than a transfer somebody has to set up. When part of it lands, the receipt maker records it as a part payment and prints the balance still due. If the due date passes, the late fee calculator works out what your own terms allow and writes the chasing letter to go with it.

Five dates decide whether a writer gets paid on time, and four of them are set before the work starts.

Mistakes that cost writers money

• Invoicing in a different unit from the quote. The client cannot check it, so they query it, and you rebuild the math.
• Unlimited revision rounds by omission. Rounds that are not named are unlimited. Name them and price the extras.
• Silence on rights. Whether the fee buys copyright or a license should never be discovered afterwards.
• No kill fee agreed. Canceled commissions then pay nothing for work that was actually done.
• "On receipt" to an editorial client. They pay on cycles. Terms in days get you into the right queue.

Writer / copywriter invoice questions

Free writer invoice template

The free writer invoice template opens with the lines above already priced, in any of 200 designs, and exports a print-ready PDF with no signup and nothing saved to a server. If you would rather edit a file offline, there are 72 Word templates, 72 Excel templates with the totals already calculating, and 72 fillable PDFs.

Invoicing guides for related trades

The same billing questions come up next door. These four guides cover the trades closest to writers, and each one sits alongside its own free template.

Every trade has one: see all 46 invoicing guides, or go straight to the 46 free invoice templates they describe.

Everything on this site, set up for writers

The whole toolkit, with the reason each one matters to writers rather than in general. The five marked links open with writer / copywriter already selected.

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