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Briefs, scopes & invoices for freelance copywriters

One brief the client fills in before you write, a round count that holds when the rewrite is really a new angle, and an invoice that goes out the day the draft is approved.

Start freeSee pricing — $19/mo

Free: 1 client + 3 active projects. Pro: unlimited at $19/mo.

Where the money goes for copywriters

  • "Just a quick tweak to the headline" turns out to mean a different audience, which means the research and the whole page again.
  • The draft is approved, then compliance returns it with forty comments and a sentence you are not allowed to write.
  • You priced per word, and the job is really four subject-matter interviews you have to chase and schedule.
  • The SEO brief changes mid-draft because someone swapped the target keyword.
  • You wrote a positioning document to get the brief straight, for free, before the project existed.

What PaloWorks does about it

Every feature below is in the product today. Free covers the whole workflow for your first client; contracts, time tracking, and the calendar are on Pro.

Shareable intake form
What needs writing, who is reading it, how it should sound, what proof you can use, and who signs the draft off — the questions the form ships with for copywriters, editable to yours, answered once in writing instead of across nine emails.
A scope listed asset by asset
A landing page, five emails, and twelve product descriptions are separate lines on a scope the client has read, against one agreed fee, so "and a few social captions" is visibly not in there. Per-asset prices go on the invoice, where every line carries its own quantity and rate.
Revision log
Two rounds of edits is a number on the shared scope. A rewrite to a new angle is a new brief, and the log gives you the evidence to say so calmly.
Extra angles billed as extra work
When the edits go past the rounds you sold, the revision log says so and offers a logged extra round or an invoice for the new angle, instead of leaving you to raise it in an email.
Time log with an effective rate
Research and interview time is logged alongside writing time, against the fee, so you find out whether that per-word rate was actually a good idea.
A payment plan the client signs
Split a content engagement into up to twelve payments in the agreement — on signature, on a date, on delivery, or when a key date is completed — so the schedule is agreed before the first draft rather than chased after it.

What a copywriter invoice usually holds

Line items you can type straight into an invoice. Quantities, tax, and discounts are handled for you, and duplicating an invoice re-opens the same amount, notes, and currency as a fresh draft under a new number.

Sample line itemsExample amount (USD)
  • Messaging brief and audience researchExample amount: $900
  • Homepage copy — hero through footerExample amount: $1,800
  • Long-form landing page — 1,200 wordsExample amount: $1,200
  • Email sequence — five emailsExample amount: $1,500
  • Subject-matter interviews and synthesis — two sessionsExample amount: $500
  • Two rounds of revisions (included)Example amount: Included
  • Change order: second angle after approvalExample amount: $750
  • Monthly retainer — four articles at 1,500 wordsExample amount: $2,400

The amounts are illustrations we wrote to show the shape of an invoice — not market rates, not a recommendation, and not figures from a real client. Amounts, tax, and discounts are yours to set, in your currency — PaloWorks does the arithmetic in whole cents so the totals never drift.

Questions copywriters ask

Is PaloWorks free for copywriters?

Free covers 1 client and 3 active projects: intake links, scopes, revision tracking, change orders, invoices, and card payments through your own Stripe account. Pro is $19/mo, or $192/yr ($16/mo billed yearly). It lifts both caps and adds contracts, time tracking, calendar, reports, planner, intake templates, multiple tax rates, draft from intake, and api and assistant access.

Do my clients need an account to see a scope or an invoice?

No. Every document you share — the intake form, the scope, the invoice, the project portal — opens from a link in their browser. There is nothing for them to install and no password for them to reset.

Can I send a copywriter a contract to sign?

Yes, on Pro. PaloWorks generates a project agreement from the scope you already agreed, your client signs it in the browser, and the signing record keeps the time, IP address, browser and a fingerprint of the exact document signed. Whether a particular agreement is enforceable depends on its terms and the law where you both work; PaloWorks is not a law firm and does not give legal advice.

What goes on a copywriter invoice?

The sample lines on this page show the usual shape of one. The amounts beside them are illustrations we wrote, not market rates and not a real client's figures — you set your own, in your own currency, and PaloWorks does the arithmetic in whole cents.

Templates and guides for copywriters

Not quite what you do?

The workflow is the same underneath. These pages are written in each trade’s own words.

Set up your next job before you start it

One client, one intake link, one scope with the rounds written down — the way a copywriter job should have been set up in the first place. About five minutes, and nothing to pay to try it.

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