A freelance writer invoice template lists each piece you delivered with its title, the word count or the number of articles, your rate per word or per article and the line total, then the total, the due date and how to pay. Fill in the template below, which starts with an example, and download it as a PDF.
Prefer to fill it in somewhere else? The same layout, ready to edit.
To open it in Google Docs, upload the Word file to Google Drive and choose Open with Google Docs.
Writers are paid in different ways: per word, per article, per hour, or a monthly fee for a set number of pieces. Show the unit that matches your agreement. For per-word work, put the final word count in the description and the number of words as the quantity, so the client can check it. For per-article work, name each article, because a client who approves ten invoices a month needs to see which piece each line is.
Agree before you start which count is billed: the brief's target or the final draft. Write that count on the invoice. If the client asked for extra rounds of changes beyond what you agreed, bill them as a separate line with a short note.
If a client cancels a piece after you started, some writers agree a cancellation fee in advance, often called a kill fee. Bill it as its own line and refer to the agreement, so it is clear the fee was planned and not added afterwards.
Many clients expect to own the rights to what you write once they pay. Saying so on the invoice, such as "rights pass to the client once this invoice is paid in full", matches the usual contract wording and gives the client one more reason to pay on time. The freelance contract template explains the ownership clause in plain words.
Last checked on 4 October 2026.