Pricing is the part of freelancing nobody teaches you. After eight years of quoting writing projects in Mumbai, from agency decks to founder blogs, here is the simple model I wish someone had handed me on day one.
Start from the outcome, not the word count
Clients do not buy 1,200 words. They buy a landing page that converts, a report an investor will finish, or a newsletter that gets forwarded. Ask what the piece needs to do, and price the job, not the typing.
The three numbers to put in every quote
A base fee for the first draft, covering research and one interview
A revision allowance, usually two rounds, with the hourly rate for anything beyond
A rush multiplier of 1.5x for anything due inside five working days
What a fair range looks like in 2026
For a mid-career writer in Mumbai, a researched 1,000-word article typically lands between INR 8,000 and INR 25,000 depending on the client's size and how much original reporting is involved. Quote at the top of your range when the brief is vague; vagueness is where projects lose money.
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