Words are your product. Make sure you're billing for all of them.

How much of a copywriting project is actually writing?

It varies by project, and you won't know your own ratio until you track each phase separately. Discovery, research, outlining, revision rounds, and feedback calls all surround the draft, and those are the hours most likely to go unbilled or unpriced. In the example below, drafting comes to about 40 percent of the total. Your number may be higher or lower, but a few tracked projects will show it clearly. In Aeto, each phase is a task card with its own timer, so the breakdown is visible as soon as a project closes.

What does a website copy project look like in Aeto?

Illustrative example. A five-page website rewrite for a B2B software company, billed hourly at $110.

Drafting is 9.5 of 24 hours. The 7.5 hours of research and outlining happen before a single page gets written. If this project had been quoted as a flat fee based on drafting time, most of that work would have been free.

Should copywriters show phases on the invoice?

Yes, when the client is paying for time. An invoice that lists research, drafting, and each revision round tells the client where the hours went, and it gives you a record if a client asks why the total came in higher than expected. In Aeto, each task becomes a line item using the name on the card. Name tasks the way the client thinks about the work, such as "Homepage draft" or "Revision round 2: About page," and the invoice reads clearly without editing.

Should copywriters charge a flat fee or by the hour?

Either can work, and the choice matters less than knowing what each project actually took. Hourly billing passes every revision round and research detour on to the client. A flat fee rewards you for working efficiently but puts the risk of scope creep on you. The safest approach is to track hours on every project regardless of how it's billed. In Aeto, you choose hourly or flat fee for each project. On a flat-fee project, Aeto shows your effective hourly rate as you track time, so you can see partway through a job whether the price is holding up, and you can quote the next one from real numbers.

What doesn't Aeto do for copywriters?

Aeto bills by time or by a flat fee per project. It doesn't calculate per-word pricing, so if you bill by the word, you'd enter the total as a flat fee. It has no Google Docs integration and doesn't count words. It also doesn't handle proposals or contracts. Bonsai covers more of that, and the Aeto vs Bonsai comparison lays out the difference.