That said, these days, I require a contract. And I've found most established, professional magazines, publishers and companies give you one without question.

Likewise, Devon. I can trust the client all I like – my attorney doesn't. That's my reason. 🙂

Georganna, I love when you show up. It's always good stuff. 🙂 I've done a handful of gentlemen's agreements without issue, but on lower-paying items and usually with email backup, such as articles or press releases. Not the big stuff, however.

Paula, I agree. Magazines – the first time, a contract. Once you've both proven yourselves, an email agreemnt should be enough. Should be – not a guarantee. Nothing in life is guaranteed, is it?

Best wishes

With one of my major clients – one I've been working for without any problems for over 13 years – had writers sign an initial contract (amended several years ago to account for electronic reprint rights, but they almost never put articles on their site). They only buy one-time rights, and after a short period of time, you're allowed to resell your stories elsewhere. In 2009 they decided to try a new contract for each article, but it got so cumbersome with some of us doing three, four, or more articles in a single issue. So they're revising it now, hoping to get an annual contract lined up. So I guess, officially, we're working without contracts now.

The funny thing is one editor will assign stories with the word count and specific payment fees. The other editor will give a wider word count range, and usually says, "I trust your judgment, and we'll negotiate the fee once it's done." Call me strange, but that's what I prefer. And – as was the case last week – doing things her way often results in higher pay because she knows when certain articles were more difficult than we'd expected, and kicks in a little more to make up for the extra effort.

I don't work so casually with any other publications, but this one has a great track record with me, and things usually work out in my favor. I know the magazine backwards and forwards, and they know my work well enough to know they've never had to make major changes or heavy edits. They know I won't leave them hanging, and I know they'll pay fairly – and fast. So it's mutually beneficial. It doesn't hurt that it's an award-winning glossy that's not easy to break into.

I'd rather trust those editors than newer clients with detailed contracts. Contracts aren't really worth anything if the company fails and there's no one left to take to court. And that's definitely a point to consider in this economy.

Now, as an editor, I make people agree that our email stands as a contract (but I still offer a more formal one if they wish).

And I quit working without a down payment after doing rush jobs for a couple of local companies last year or so. One delayed payment for three months. The other flat out refused to pay unless I delivered his white paper first and he approved–after I'd spent four hours editing his poor grammar! He said he'd never worked with a "creative" before that did not operate the way he wanted. I curtly informed him that editing was not "creative" writing.

No more Ms. Nice Girl here.