How to Earn More Per Hour Without Raising Your Rates

Freelance writers face a common dilemma: a client loves your work but can’t meet your rates. Your instinct might be to either walk away or reluctantly offer a discount.

But there’s a third option that protects your hourly earnings while keeping the client relationship intact—reducing the scope of work.

The Problem with Discounting

When you lower your rates to accommodate a client’s budget, you’re essentially devaluing your expertise and time. This sets a problematic precedent that’s difficult to reverse. Instead of asking yourself, “How can I make this cheaper?” ask “How can I achieve the client’s goals within their budget while maintaining my rate?”

Reducing the scope of work isn’t about doing less work for the same money. It’s about doing proportionally less work for proportionally less money, keeping your effective hourly rate stable or even improving it.

When to Use This Strategy

This approach to rightsizing a project’s scope to your goal rate works beautifully in three scenarios:

Negotiating with new clients. When a prospective client balks at the rate you quoted, suggest a scaled-back version of the project. This gets your foot in the door without compromising your worth.

Instead of raising rates with existing clients. If a long-term client is already stretching their budget, propose reducing deliverables rather than asking for more money. They maintain their budget, you improve your hourly rate.

Retaining clients facing budget cuts. When good clients hit financial constraints, reducing the scope of work lets you keep the relationship alive until their situation improves.

How It Looks in Practice

The key to taking this approach to negotiating a reduced scope of work is identifying which project elements consume the most time relative to their value. The elements can vary by writing niche and type of project, as well as by a writer’s particular strengths and work style.

Journalism assignments. Freelance journalists can negotiate multiple variables. Reduce the word count from 2,000 to 1,200 words. Limit expert interviews from five sources to three. Include a single round of revisions instead of two or more. Request that the client provide specific sources rather than requiring extensive independent research. Each adjustment saves substantial time while still delivering quality journalism.

Book editing projects. ASJA Publications Committee Chair Michelle Rafter recently encountered this situation while negotiating a book editing project for a new client with a budget that wouldn’t cover the typical cost for a developmental edit and line edit. “We worked out a deal for a less ambitious scope of work, where I will bill by the hour for up to an agreed upon number of hours that’s more in her price range,” Rafter said. 

In such an arrangement, the author still gets valuable feedback to strengthen their manuscript, and the editor maintains her hourly rate while building a new client relationship.

Content marketing projects. Content marketers have numerous opportunities for adjusting the scope of work. Propose writing three blog posts a month instead of four. Reduce an article’s length from 1,500 to 1,000 words. Limit SEO keyword research to client-provided terms rather than conducting comprehensive keyword analysis. Offer articles without custom graphics or with only the most basic formatting. Request that clients provide subject matter expert interviews rather than make you source them. Skip the social media caption package that accompanies a post. Agreeing to reduce just one or two elements—without changing the project rate—can turn a low-paying arrangement into one that pays a more comfortable rate. 

Tips for Broaching the Conversation

Start a conversation about rates by acknowledging the budget reality without apologizing: “I understand this project exceeds your current budget. Let’s explore how we can adjust the scope to work within your range while maintaining quality.”

Present specific options rather than vague reductions, for example: “Instead of four 2,000-word articles, what if we did four 1,200-word articles, or three 2,000-word articles?”

Frame the discussion as problem-solving, not compromise. You’re collaborating to find a solution that serves everyone’s needs.

With existing clients, position it as a positive, for example: “I want to continue working together. Here are some ways we can adjust our arrangement to fit your revised budget.”

Why This Benefits Writers

Scope reduction protects your effective hourly rate, which is the true measure of value for your time and energy. This approach lets you serve more clients in the same timeframe, potentially increasing total income. You can also avoid the resentment that can come from feeling undervalued or overworked.

Most importantly, thinking and acting in this way establishes you as a client’s strategic partner rather than “just” a vendor. Clients appreciate writers who help them solve problems, and that goodwill often leads to referrals, expanded projects when budgets improve, and longer term relationships.

The next time a budget conversation feels like a dead end, remember: you’re not just a writer for hire. You’re a professional with options, and scope reduction is one of your most powerful negotiating tools.

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Cat DiStasio is a freelance content marketing writer and journalist based in Oregon. Her content work focuses on working with growing brands on human resources technology, trends, and research, as well as B2B technology topics such as AI and energy and green tech. She is a former HR practitioner and technical recruiter who has tracked workplace tech trends for more than 20 years. Connect with her on LinkedIn or visit her website.