Translators and interpreters
A translator bills by the hour and keeps glossaries and clients' files safe.
Freelance writers and editors
Clients sign your quote, review your drafts and suggest changes on the page. Magpie turns your hours and pieces into invoices.
A writer working alone uses Magpie without a team. A small team of writers can work in one Magpie team.
Get started free
This combination of five Magpie areas fits a freelance writer.
- Proposals
- Proposals quotes each job by the page or piece, and takes a deposit at signing.
- Documents
- Documents holds your drafts, and clients comment and suggest changes on them.
- Time Tracking
- Time Tracking records your billable hours on each client's project, at its rate.
- Invoicing
- Invoicing bills the pieces and the hours, and clients pay by card.
- Contacts
- Contacts keeps each client's proposals, invoices and notes on one page.
Clients set how many pages and articles they want, then sign and pay half up front.
Proposals turns your rate card into a quote the client signs online. Magpie's copywriting starter prices website pages and articles by the piece. The client changes the number of each, and the total follows.
A tone of voice guide is an optional extra. The starter asks for 50% at signing and the rest on delivery.
Clients comment on your draft and suggest wording, and you accept or reject each change.
Documents is Magpie's editor for formatted text, with styles, footnotes and citations. The word count, character count and reading time are under the page.
A client you invite to review can comment and suggest changes, and opens only that document. You can name a version before each round of revisions. Word files import with their comments and tracked changes, and export back to Word.
Your billable hours on each client's project are recorded at its rate.
Time Tracking gives each client a project, with an hourly rate and a budget of hours. You start a timer from a To-do or the client's contact, or add the time afterwards.
Rounding can be exact, or to 5, 6, 10 or 15 minutes. The project shows how much of its budget is used.
Magpie bills each piece, and your hours, and the client pays by card.
Invoicing turns the payments of a proposal into invoices. The last one takes what is left. For hourly work, Add unbilled time puts your hours on the invoice as lines.
A client on retainer can get a recurring invoice every month, such as for weekly posts. Clients pay by card into your own Stripe account.
Each client's page lists your proposals, your invoices and when you last spoke.
Contacts gives each client and editor a page of their own. Its activity lists the proposals you sent, when each was opened, and every invoice.
You log calls and notes there. A follow-up reminds you to pitch again, such as before the next quarter's content.
Six more areas cover research, notes, your newsletter, a book, large files and clients' portals.
- Bookmarks
- Bookmarks saves articles to read later, with highlights and notes, in collections by client.
- RSS Reader
- RSS Reader follows the sites and feeds you read for each beat.
- Notes
- Notes keeps your briefs, ideas and interview notes in Markdown, searchable across every team.
- Newsletter
- Newsletter sends your own newsletter, with a sign-up page and copies on the web.
- Books
- Books holds a longer manuscript in chapters, published online or exported as EPUB and PDF.
- Client Portal
- Client Portal gives a regular client their files, invoices and the steps of a project.
A website copy job goes from a signed quote to a paid final invoice.
The client's contact page lists the quote and every invoice.
The quote
The client sets eight pages and two articles, signs and pays the deposit.
The research
You save the competitors' pages to Bookmarks, with highlights.
The draft
You write the pages in a document and name the version First draft.
The review
The client comments and suggests changes. You accept or reject each one.
An extra round
Your hours on an extra round of revisions are recorded on the client's project.
The final invoice
You bill the final payment and add the extra hours. The client pays by card.
Setting up takes four steps.
Add your business details
You add your name, address and tax number for invoices. Help: Send and configure invoices.
Connect Stripe
You connect your Stripe account, so clients can pay by card. Help: Connect Stripe to receive money.
Set your rates
You open the copywriting starter, set your prices and save it as your own. Help: Proposal starters, saved sections and the price list.
Add a project for each client
You give each client's project its hourly rate and rounding. Help: Time Tracking projects, rates and tags.
Plans
A writer working alone fits Pro, the paid plan for your own work. It has no limit on proposals, invoices or contacts. A team of writers fits the Team plan, one price for up to 25 members.
On the free plan, you can send 5 proposals and create 5 invoices a month. Clients you invite to review a document join as guests, and take no member place.
Magpie adds no fee to invoice payments. Stripe's processing fee is taken from each.
Other people who write for a living have pages of their own.
Authors and self-publishers
An author writes a book in chapters, publishes it and sells it from a shop.
Newsletter writers
A newsletter writer grows a list and takes paying supporters.
Local news sites, zines and small publications
A local news site runs an editorial calendar, a newsletter and paying supporters.
Questions freelance writers and editors ask
Can a client suggest changes to my draft?
Yes. You share the document with the client as Can review. They comment on selected text and suggest replacement wording, and they open only that document. You accept or reject each suggestion, and they are told which.
Can I import a Word document with tracked changes?
Yes. A .docx file of up to 25 MB imports with its comments as comments. Its tracked changes become suggestions. Pictures inside the file are not imported.
Can I deliver clean copy as a Word file?
Yes. Documents exports to DOCX, ODT, Markdown, HTML or plain text, and downloads a PDF. Export clean DOCX leaves out the comments and suggestions.
Can I see the word count?
Yes. The word count, character count and reading time are under the page as you write.
Can I keep earlier drafts?
Yes. You can name a version, such as Before client review, and open any earlier one. Restoring a version keeps later work in the history.
Can I add footnotes and citations?
Yes. Documents adds footnotes, endnotes, citations and a bibliography in APA, MLA or Chicago style. A citation keeps the author, title, publisher, year and DOI.
Can I quote by the page or by the article?
Yes. A proposal line has a quantity, a unit and a price, such as six pages. The client can change the quantity within the limits you set. Magpie's copywriting starter does this for pages and articles.
Can I take a deposit up front?
Yes. The first payment can be a deposit, as a percentage or an amount. Its invoice is issued when the client signs. They can pay it by card straight away. The copywriting starter asks for 50%.
Can I bill by the hour?
Yes. You record your hours on the client's project, at its rate. Add unbilled time puts them on the client's invoice as lines. Hours on an issued invoice are locked.
Can I bill a client on retainer every month?
Yes. You make an invoice with the month's work and make it recurring. Magpie will send the same lines every month, with a Pay online button. You can change the lines, pause it or end it.
Can I keep my research in one place?
Yes. Bookmarks saves pages in collections, with a reader view, highlights and a note on each. RSS Reader follows the sites you read. A bookmark and its highlights can become a note.
Can I write my own newsletter?
Yes. Newsletter gives you a sign-up page with double opt-in. You write each issue, send a test, then send it now or schedule it. Each issue can also be a page on the web.
Can I send a large file securely?
Yes. Secure Files sends a file of up to 2 GB by a link that expires. The link can need a passphrase, and the file is encrypted in your browser.
What does Magpie take from my clients' payments?
Magpie adds no fee to deposits or invoice payments. Stripe's processing fee is taken from each card payment. The rest goes to your own Stripe account.
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