Ruthibelle, it's like saying to your doctor "Sorry, I'm still sick, so I'll pay you when you make me better."

Paula, I've had clients calling blog posts "articles", too. It's then that I question when and where it will be used. Blog posts require a different style and voice than articles. And a different price. Articles are more in-depth. If they're using it as an article, not only are they doing their readers a disservice, they're intentionally misrepresenting the project to me. And they now owe me at my article rate. (And so far, I LOVE the book.)

There's the issue, Courtney. I've worked with this client for five years. First time ever this has occurred, which makes me wonder if it's the start of a trend (thank you, recession). I won't tolerate it. I can't. My business life depends on it.

Good seeing you, Chuck! Sounds like a pretty raw deal you were served. As far as anything going in a recession, that job and those people would be GONE in my book!

I was recently offered a "job" selling ads for a new four color print publication. I not only had to sell the ads but prep them for the printer and coordinate the entire advertising portion of the magazine with payment at publication, which is every 4 months, and at a commission rate determined by the amt of profit on the sale itself. In these "recessionary" times I guess anything goes as long as someone does't have to actually pay the bill until it's more convenient.

Chuck

Though, I don't always require a deposit for my long-standing clients. Hm, perhaps I should…

I'm a very slow reader – I have tons of floaters moving all over the place, so eyestrain hits quickly, especially after being at a computer screen all day. (Seriously, my floaters remind me of looking through a microscope at lots of microscopic specks and lines darting around.)

Let me know how you like the book!

It was waiting for him before he got to his office the next day.

Upon reading it, he decided he hadn't given me a very good idea to start with – it was thin. (He also keeps calling blog posts "articles.") He complimented my writing, and said they'll be in touch when they have something more substantial for me to do. He also assumed he didn't have to pay for it since he didn't use it. Not wanting to get into a hassle over a cheap blog post and damage a new relationship, I said, "Good thing I was going to offer the first one as a freebie, anyway. But that was a one-time offer."

Seriously: What other professionals only get paid if and when their product is used?

Like you said Lori: an occasional concession is okay. But we have to make it clear when they are concessions so we don't set negative precedents.

AMen