Comments on: Writers Worth Week: More Than You Realize

By: Paula

Paula — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:45:10 +0000

Krista – maybe we need to set a limit on how many chances we give the late payers. Two? Three? What's a fair number?

By: Krista

Krista — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:46:03 +0000

That's awful, Paula. I've had several chronic late payers (and given them a gazillion chances!).

By: Paula

Paula — Thu, 17 May 2012 19:27:06 +0000

Amen, Cathy. Like you, I want to meet all of my financial obligations and can't understand how a publisher can keep assigning things knowing he can't pay for them. And likewise, Uncle Sam drained my checking accounts in April, so I really could use the money the late payer owes me.

Krista, you're right. The one reason I took this assignment from the chronic late-payer was because he'd mentioned they were reworking their payment system. Unfortunately I didn't realize the plan was to make it even slower.

By: Krista

Krista — Thu, 17 May 2012 18:55:22 +0000

Unfortunately I've found if they pay late more than once it's going to be an ongoing issue. After 5+ years I feel pretty confident in my ability to get work and have just started dropping them. It's not worth the stress wondering if the money will arrive "this time around."

By: Cathy Miller

Cathy Miller — Thu, 17 May 2012 18:32:34 +0000

Hi Paula: Is there a full moon or what? I've heard more stories like this of late. Two long-time clients of mine suddenly in April became verrrryy slow in paying. I never had the problem before. They had to pick tax month and it's gone into May when a bunch of medical bills are rolling in. *sigh*

And why is it that I understand MY commitment to pay those medical bills and some clients don't understand the same commitment? Maybe we should send invoices under the handyman logo. :-)

By: Paula

Paula — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:40:59 +0000

I sure wish we didn't have to go to such lengths to prove our worth to some clients.

On a much happier note: Just picked up a quick assignment from one of my favorite editors - a fast-payer that pays a decent rate. I'll probably be paid for that before the slow-payer pays up.

By: Wade Finnegan

Wade Finnegan — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:41:15 +0000

On my first or second gig I ran into this same problem. I wrote a landing page for a new website and the client was really happy with the work. I sent an invoice and thought wow this writing job is great. Then I waited and waited. I sent a reminder and waited some more. Soon an email came with a lame excuse and then partial payment in the mail. Needless to say, this was eye opening expierence and I learned a great lesson about this business. Paula, you are correct, we deserve better and should be treated like a professional.

By: Paula

Paula — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:51:02 +0000

Oh - and I should have kicked that comment off with: Thanks, Devon, Sharon and Lori!

And Sharon, I fear the slow-payer has grown immune to my tactics. Perhaps they'll work better with your late payer.

By: Paula

Paula — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:47:54 +0000

Sadly, the slow-payer has not paid up. While he replied to an e-mail I sent last week, saying he'd been out of the office for two weeks. (Do any of you really believe someone can run a publishing company with no e-mail access outside of the actual office?) No where in his reply did he answer my question: When can I expect to be paid?

I made it clear that I was forced to cease all work the article that is technically due today. The editor is nice, so I hate putting her in the middle, but perhaps she can pressure him to pay up. Like I said, I'm done being polite. Or patient.

Sure, my nickname since birth has been Patient Paula, but even I have my limits. And after waiting more than two weeks past his terms of "30-days after publication," no one can say I haven't demonstrated extreme patience with this client.

Of course, if by some miracle the check arrives today, I'll have a LOT of work to complete the interviews and get the article done!

By: Lori

Lori — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:13:38 +0000

I don't think all writers understand what you said -- "Writing is just a small part of our job." We are running businesses. Sure, we're writing, but we're marketing, invoicing, collecting, problem solving, etc.

Super post. :)