Last editedJan 20222 min read
From creating a great newsletter to carefully crafting the copy for a website, freelance writers have a lot to think about already. You want to keep the message clear, engage the audience and fulfil the client’s brief. That’s why it can be frustrating to spend extra time on administrative tasks such as writing invoices and keeping track of your accounts.
Making a freelance writer invoice is one of the most important skills you need to have, and it’s also essential to think about how you can get clients to pay these invoices on time. GoCardless helps to make this process simple, using automation and integration with other accounting partners to help you receive timely payments, leaving you free to focus on the writing. Keep reading to find out how to write invoices for freelance writing.
What to include in a freelance writer invoice
An invoice is essentially a request for payment after you have delivered goods or services to a client. It’s important to record every service that you are providing as you go along, as this will make building the final invoice a lot simpler. A freelancer writer invoice should include the following information:
Your contact details and those of your client, including name, phone number, email and address.
A unique invoice number, which you can choose yourself. This makes it much easier to reference the invoice if you run into any problems such as late payment.
A detailed breakdown of the services that you have provided, along with the price for each of these and a total price. You can decide whether you want to charge by task or if you prefer to charge an hourly or daily rate.
The payment methods that you will accept, as well as details of how the client can make the payment.
The due date for payment, along with your payment terms. It’s important to be clear about how you deal with late payments. For example, will this incur a charge? How many days must elapse before a payment is considered late?
You can make your life easier by downloading a freelance writer invoice template. Then, all you need to do is insert your details into the blank spaces, and there’s no need to worry about creating the right formatting or page layout. It’s a good idea to keep a record of your most commonly performed tasks, and then you can just copy and paste these into the freelance writer invoice template.
How can GoCardless help with invoicing?
This guide covers not only how to write invoices for freelance writing, but also how GoCardless can streamline this process for you. If you use GoCardless for invoicing, then you can automate payments and avoid the risk of late payments altogether. All you need to do is set up an ACH debit mandate, for which the customer should provide their payment details and authorization, and payments will then be collected on the due date.
Since this operates through direct debit, a pull-based payment method, you can automatically collect payments on the day of your choosing. This reduces stress and allows you to control when you are paid, leaving you free to focus on the writing itself.
Integration with GoCardless partners
GoCardless also works with a number of different accounting partners, allowing you to raise and reconcile your invoices automatically. For example, Xero is an accounting software that integrates with GoCardless, allowing you to send intuitive invoices that help your clients to pay easily.
Take a look at our list of partners for more information and to learn how this can make invoicing simple for you.
We can help
GoCardless helps you automate payment collection, cutting down on the amount of admin your team needs to deal with when chasing invoices. Find out how GoCardless can help you with ad hoc payments or recurring payments.
