Freelancers and Exclusivity
In the past few weeks, I’ve seen mention of writers who are being asked to work exclusively for a particular publication. Let me rephrase that – they’re not being asked to work for the particular publications but are being told not to work for other publications while working for these pubs.
Let me spell out just how many ways this is wrong. Point #1: look at your title. You’re a freelance writer, a.k.a. a contract worker. You are not on the payroll of the company hiring you. You are there to do a particular project. They are filing taxes and claiming you as a subcontractor, not as an employee. As such, they can claim no hold on you beyond the project itself. Unless you’ve signed an agreement stating you will not work for competitors (and they’d better spell out exactly which publications they consider to be competitors) and they’ve compensated you for your working for them “exclusively”, they have no right to force this parameter on you.
That brings me to point #2: Unless there is a contract offering you more compensation for your promise that you’ll write only for this company in this particular genre, you have no obligation to do so. Sure, you may not be asked to work with them again, but I have to question why anyone would. It seems highly irregular that a company would demand anything so limiting to a person not on the company payroll.
Point #3: While the company has every right to protect its confidential information, the way to do it is by having the writer sign a non-disclosure agreement. In that way, the company has protected itself from any possible problems brought on by a writer working for another competitor. That should be the extent of any client’s control over a vendor’s business.
Point #4: You have the right to be in business and to make money. If a publication wants to tie you up from doing business with anyone in that same genre of writing, you might just as well ask them to put you on staff, as you’ll be hard-pressed to make a living from a few assignments a year.
All of these points mirror the others. It’s wrong of a publication to tell you who you can work for and who you can’t. They cannot control your business. When faced with these demands, counter with a simple, “I didn’t realize your publication offered exclusive contracts. What’s the compensation like for that type of arrangement?” Because folks, you deserve to be compensated for work you have to turn down in order to please a demanding client.
That all said, there are times when exclusivity is called for. Suppose you’re writing a breaking news feature for your local newspaper. It would be very wrong of you, nay, it would be unethical of you, to shop it to the competing newspaper in the same region. Also, if you’ve signed a contract that spells out the client’s requirements for your exclusivity, then you must honor it. And there are times when you might censor yourself – for instance, you’re writing a huge marketing campaign for say Apple when Microsoft calls and asks for a marketing campaign that slams Apple. If the knowledge you have from working with one client would aid the competition, you need to turn that job down and offer your services to the first client. Mind you, once that project is completed, you can then work for the competition, but please, don’t ever use your client’s information to either garner the project or to give the competitor the edge. If you find yourself unable to determine where the line is, don’t take the job. Your integrity is worth much more than a project fee.
Sadly, this is a trend that seems to be picking up steam. I remember this dilemma came up a few years back when I was on staff at a national publication. The sister publication was demanding that freelancers not write for the direct competitor. Since the focus was entirely different, the publication had no right to make such demands of freelancers. What resulted was the only obvious conclusion: the publication went through freelancers as many began turning down assignments because of the new demands. Others simply wrote for the competition under pen names. Only one or two writers actually bit the bullet and complied with the demands.
Writers, before you allow someone exclusive rights to your talent, make sure they understand that this exclusivity comes with a price. It’s unthinkable that a client would demand that your article writing abilities, or any other writing skills, be limited to one entity.
Very well put.