It can be reassuring for a freelance writer to maintain steady clients to fill their workdays. Work keeps flowing, and paychecks keep arriving. Until savings decrease, or bills rise, and profits aren’t what they once were. Not that you aren’t working hard, but your pay may not be keeping up with financial needs.

Now comes the tricky part – how do you raise rates on tried-and-true clients?

I’ve been freelancing for over 20 years. Many clients have come and gone, while several have provided steadfast business for years. Not one, however, is paying the same rate as when I first put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) for them. Every time I’ve asked these residual clients, I’ve successfully negotiated an increase with no work lost.

There are five factors every freelancer should consider for a pay raise discussion with their clients, no matter the pay level or work type.

Have History

You must have history with a client before pursuing a raise. You must have established yourself with them in terms of reliability and consistent deadlines.

Just how much history you have will vary. Maybe you’ve only done a few projects, but they’ve been intense. Or perhaps you do simple but frequent work that gets your name noticed. I tend not to talk money without at least 12 to 24 months of steady writing for a client. Then, I note both the length of time and the number of articles, providing tangible evidence that I’ve earned a raise.

Timing Matters

The new year is a good time for a raise discussion, or the annual anniversary of when you began working for a particular client. If you’ve been absent for a short spell, it may be possible to adjust rates when you resume work, depending on the situation.

I prefer the new-year-new-pay-rate approach, starting a new year fresh in terms of work and a step up in pay.

Watch Your Language

When asking for a raise, it pays – literally – to be polite. As we become more familiar with a client, we tend to casualize communication. When it comes to the topic of a raise, more formality will more clearly demonstrate your seriousness about the request. Use a greeting and a closure on the email, separate text into appropriate paragraphs, and don’t forget to spell check! That is, unless you make the request in person which often carries more weight.

Price Carefully

It’s challenging enough choosing an initial rate for a client, much less asking for a raise after you have settled into a stable routine. Don’t expect every client to agree to the same increase, because their needs and budget will vary.

Consider your initial rate, project complexity, and the overall quantity you’ve written for each client. A good rule of thumb is an increase of no more than 10%, but it depends on individual prices.

Round numbers often work best; I prefer $5 increments for smaller clients. In the past five years, I’ve taken one client from $35 to $50 per article across three separate raises – a 43% increase from our initial rate.

For clients with lower rates, I’ve gone as high as a 50% increase without hesitation ($20 increased to $30, for instance). It’s all relative.

On larger projects, negotiations can be more significant. I’ve increased rates on one client by $125 (a 20% increase from the opening bid) when the word count was increased and the client requested interviews to be incorporated. If your client isn’t afraid to ask for more work, don’t be afraid to ask for more pay!

Plan for Negotiation

Prepare for pay negotiation by asking for slightly more than you’d be happy with. You never know, the client might accept your rate offer! But if your first offer is problematic, a compromise will still be a raise for you.

You might also consider a different “raise.” When one client couldn’t budge their budget for a last-minute project over the holidays, I countered with an extended deadline that eased scheduling without compromising other paying work at that hectic time.

Take a deep breath and take the hardest step you may ever have as a freelancer, asking for a raise you know you deserve. With care, it will be easy for your clients to say yes!

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Melissa Mayntz has been freelancing for 22 years, with bylines for a wide range of clients including The Farmer’s Almanac, National Wildlife Magazine, Cruise Hive, the Orlando Sentinel, and many more, as well as two books: Migration: Understanding the Remarkable Journeys of Birds (2020) and Birds for Kids (2024). Find more about her work and project availability at MelissaMayntz.com.

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