Your number
$15,000
Your rate card
- Day rate$950 per day
- Hourlyfor anything that does not fit a day$125 per hour
- A launch or campaign$6,250 per project
- Monthly retainer$5,000 per month
What to charge for each thing (5)
- Launch campaign (6 to 8 weeks)$7,200 per campaign
- Monthly retainer$4,725 per month
- Press release, written and sent$900 per release
- Media list$725 per list
- Event press day$800 per day
US rates for publicists at your level, adjusted for your market. What you last got wins.
- 3 months on retainer at $5,000$15,000
For 3 months on retainer at $5,000, the quote is $15,000.
To take home $85,000 after $9,000 of costs and 30% tax you need to bill $134,286 a year. At 24 billable hours a week for 47 weeks that is $125 an hour, $950 a day. Anything under that is a pay cut you did not agree to.
Publicists usually day at $500 to $1,000. You are above it. That is fine when the work is, and it is the reason to say it plainly and show the work.
A launch or campaign runs $3,000 to $10,000 and takes about 50 hours of your time; at your hourly that is $6,250. The number is the higher of the two, because the client is buying the outcome, not the hours.
A retainer is the month, not the hours: a set scope, paid up front on the 1st. It is priced about 20% under the same work bought one at a time, in exchange for the certainty; three months minimum, or it is not a retainer.