If your channel is starting to grow past a certain point, you’re probably feeling the weight of wearing all the hats which is a one-way road to burning out.
Some creators are happy to manage the bulk of labour themselves, but some creators could really benefit from having a helping hand.
Most often this means hiring an editor but something a lot of creators don’t consider, at least until they reach the 1 million subscriber mark, is collaborating with a scriptwriter.
So let’s dig into how much it would actually cost you to hire a writer so you can decide if it’s worth it.
Cost 1: Time
The phrase “time is money” is popular for a reason, and that is particularly true for content creators who largely do most of the jobs themselves.
If you’re a scripted channel, a lot of that time will be spent on the script. That’s particularly true if you’re an analysis, or educational channel.
And that doesn’t include the time you spend researching. But is hiring a writer really any faster?
Depends.
If you’re a good, efficient writer with a strong command of narrative structure, tone, voice, and hooks, then writing a 10-minute video could take you around 5-8 hours.
But if you struggle to write you might spend 10+ on the same product.
You might argue that you’re fine taking longer to write, but the key thing is that you are spending more of your time.
If you hire a writer you’ll still be involved in some way, but only for an hour or two.
A chunk of those hours will be spent onboarding this new team-member but the biggest time commitment is feedback.
For a long script this could take up to an hour, but when you compare that to the time it takes for you to write a script on your own, that’s basically pennies.
And that feedback time will (ideally) get shorter over time as you and your writer align your workflows.
Cost 2: Ownership & Creative Agency
It can be very scary to get help on your channel because you’ve been making all the decisions. What if someone comes in and can’t match your voice or worse, ruins it all together?
A good scriptwriter (read good) will work with you to fine-tune the script’s voice so the transition is seamless because at the end of the day, most scriptwriters are essentially ghost writers.
That being said, working with a writer doesn’t mean sacrificing your creative authenticity.
But losing your creative agency is only a risk, if you are working with a writer that isn’t a good fit for you.
Of course, if you’d rather keep doing the writing that is absolutely fine and allowed. Maybe you love writing and would benefit more from a video editor instead.
TLDR, all of this depends on what is right for you and your channel.
Cost 3: Actual price
Now let’s get into the numbers. YouTube scriptwriting is largely a freelance gig, though bigger channels tend to have staffed writers. However, assuming you’re reading this because you don’t have a staffed writer, let’s look at how much this will cost you.
YouTube scriptwriting rates differ a lot based on experience, speed and pricing model. You can expect an hourly rate of $25-35 dollars on platforms like Upwork or Fiverr where you can find scalp-y job posts for as low as $50 per script.
But don’t be that guy.
On the higher end, there’s writers that like charging per minute or per script (I’m one of those!) and those rates can vary a lot depending on the scope and length.
I consider myself a middle of the road scriptwriter and I charge around $250-300 per video, but I specialize in research heavy niches, so that rate also encompasses the time spent researching and outlining.
You’ll have to do some shopping around to find a rate and a writer that works for your circumstances, so it’s good to keep in mind what are your non-negotiables. Is it experience? Is it the voice match? Or is it a budget-friendly price?
You’ll find a little bit of everything out there, but all I ask you as a writer myself is that you respect your writer’s time and energy. If you’re hiring someone to help out it’s probably because you know how much work it is to write a script. Honor the people who help you do that.
A note on AI.
I bet some of you reading this are thinking, hey, I can just get AI to do this for me. You can, but just be prepared for the outcome because If you struggle to write, AI won’t make you a better writer.
I’ve talked to a lot of people who of course correct their AI model of choice until it sounds like what they want. I don’t deny that AI is a very powerful tool, but I truly believe that it can’t replace a human writer on the quality and originality aspect.
AI can only regurgitate from what already exists, so not only will your scripts sound very same-y, like a lot of content these days, they also won’t build a unique brand for your channel.
So use at your own discretion.
What’s right for you?
Whether you should spend all this time doing your own research, structuring, writing and editing is really a matter of perspective. Maybe you hate writing and would love to have someone take it over.
Maybe you actually like writing but it just takes too long and you could use a helping hand.
Or maybe you absolutely love doing it and you are very happy to continue, in which case, you may benefit more from help in other areas like editing or sound mixing.
If you’re still not too certain, I encourage you to do some more research. I have several pieces on the blog about what goes into researching a video and writing time-intensive scripts.
And if you want to work with a scriptwriter, get in touch. I’d love to have a chat about you, your channel and how I could take some of the scriptwriting labour off your plate.