Double post from me on Monday. The reason? I goofed up in scheduling. No biggie. Just go back and read at your leisure.
I was on a LinkedIn Group for a good while, but last week, I just couldn’t any longer. It was a group specifically for freelance writers and editors, and I kind of knew for a while that the members were in the beginning or growing stages of their business. That’s why I hung out there — I’ve been through what they have, and I wanted to offer help where I could, and see what others are offering (we learn from everyone around us, right?).
It was a job posting that caused me to leave the group and tell them why before I departed.
We all have our boundaries, and I don’t expect anyone else’s boundaries to be like mine. So know that my reaction is just that — mine. You may feel differently, although I suspect most of you won’t.
The jobs section had a post from a guy who was looking for writers. Essay writers. College essay writers. His goal was to sell content to college students.
Yep. BIG no way from me.
I earned my degree by going to college and doing the work. While it may not seem like a big deal to some people, paying for someone else to do your homework, to me, is cheating. Moreover, there are plenty of professors who grade on the curve — if you deserve an A and someone else gets a higher score, you’re getting a B or a C.
That changes things, doesn’t it? So suppose you work your ass off to write a killer term paper. Six weeks of your life are wrapped up in the research and writing. But hey, Tony gets the A. Why? Because Tony paid for his term paper — he hired someone else to do the work so he could focus on more important things, like beer pong.
Does cheating matter to you now? Damn right it does.
Not only that, suppose Tony’s term paper was for a class in his major. Let’s say his major is Finance and the term paper was for his Ethics course.
That guy right there might be doing your taxes one day. You okay with that?
Given the usual state of my tax returns, neither am I.
Now you may understand why I left that group. But it’s more than just Tony and his shady practices. It’s about what kind of image I want to have attached to my business and my reputation.
If I hang around in a group where writers are openly vying for these jobs, what will potential clients think if they see my name in the list of group members?
I like the group moderator, but liking someone isn’t a license to accept everything verbatim. When someone pushed back about the ad being the antithesis of what writers should be doing, she defended it. Had she removed it and said something that indicated any kind of remorse (even if it was to claim “Oh shoot, I didn’t vet that!”) I would have stayed.
To defend it is to promote it — I see no distinction between either action.
While this might be an odd example, protecting your reputation is essential to survival. How to remove yourself from the situation you’re facing depends on what it is.
A client who acts unethically
To me, this is an easy one. If that client is asking you to do something you know is wrong, or if they operate just on the outskirts of ethics, end it. Period. You can dodge the reasons why with the “I just took on three big projects and I’m afraid I’ll have no time…” spiel or you can be honest (and I always suggest being honest) and just say “That’s not how I operate, and I cannot work with you any further as a result.”
A writer who stretches the truth
“Multiple awards” or “award-winning” claims are so easy to make. But look closer. If that writer who’s about to charge you for coaching or workshops is claiming the “best blog in the tri-state area (of 500 people)” as an award, rethink your connection to that writer. Then there are writers who thinks it’s perfectly fine to write college essays, to “rework” existing articles that they didn’t write, to help a client lie about a product’s benefits, or who steals from others. Those people you want to remove from your orbit immediately, no explanation needed. And don’t engage their emails or anything they say or do online. They don’t exist because in your world, only the ethical writers are welcome. No ethically challenged writers need darken your email.
Angry clients
Even the best-paying clients can turn into raving nightmares. I’ve had perfectly wonderful people give me emailed tongue-lashings over minor things. One client took me to task when, as I was giving him a weekly update (my idea, not his), I superimposed the page count on a very large project. He called me everything from a slacker to a liar. And he never apologized when I said I’d just made a mistake when I’d typed. That’s not okay. They’re allowed to express disappointment if things aren’t going well, or if they get X when they expected Y. They are not allowed to unleash on you and expect you to take it. Ever.
Twitter or Facebook followers who post horrible content
Yes, even clients do this, but my current offender is a friend. I unfollowed and told him privately why. While he apologized, his apology was laced with reasons why he thought a racist joke wasn’t all that bad, thus further justifying my decision to lose him out of my feed. I’ve had clients post politically charged content, gotten in other people’s faces with their opinions, and circulated fake news (yes, the real fake news, not the stuff we’re supposed to believe is fake but isn’t). That’s when you mute someone. You may have some reason to remain connected (such as they’re paying you to write their blog posts or other tweets), but if you don’t, stop following them. There are plenty of other clients out there who would never post inflammatory, questionable content.
Writers, what situations have you found yourself caught in?
How do you remove yourself from it?
7 responses to “The Freelance Writing Situation (and Removing Yourself from a Bad One)”
I’m glad I’ve never encountered clients that were so blatantly unethical. The worst I’ve had to deal with are the types (usually trade pubs) that demand you use their advertisers as interview sources. One actually followed up to see how many times writers attempted to contact an advertiser before crossing them off their source list. (And of course the ones they were really sucking up to had two stars by their names, meaning they MUST be included.)
Yeah. I don’t write for them anymore.
I worked for one of those, Paula. I didn’t realize until I tried using another source. That’s when they pulled me back.
At the moment, I write articles that include advertisers only. I’m okay with it because the magazine is not operating solely on that model, but rather it runs one article a month in which advertisers get to give useful advice (no self-promotion allowed) on a line of business. To me, that’s perfectly okay. I get paid extra for it, and the articles are not promotions.
Oh, I had one of those. If they’d told me that in the interview, I would have stopped right there. But they didn’t tell me until I handed in my first piece. So that was also my last piece for them.
This is one of the many reasons I chose to go freelance. There have been too many times various employers have asked me to do things outside the bounds of ethics, and I’ve had to make really hard decisions throughout my career. Now I have more control over who I work with, and it’s up to me to be strong and assertive about my own personal ethics. I’m lucky to have strong mentors to lead the way.
YES. I had one instance in which an advertiser treated me like the office lackey once I’d interviewed his expert. He kept repeating “Just let me know when you intend to send over the review copy of the article.” The explosion once he found out it wasn’t happening was colossal. Several ignored phone calls later, he went to my boss (who backed me) and then my publisher (who saw dollar signs). He got to review it, but I refused to send it to him. Someone else did. I still feel icky about it.
Agree on the term paper writing–ICK! One situation that stands out to me was when I was working as a content writer early in my career. We were writing web pages for various legal practices. Some were for defense attorneys. And it’s not something I really considered before, but these attorneys defend people against some pretty serious stuff (i.e. violent crimes, sexual assaults). So we were asked to write pages specifically targeted at people who had been accused of these types of crimes. Perfectly legal, and I definitely understand the notion that everyone deserves the best defense. Many of them could even be innocent. However, something about it just made my skin crawl, and I had to tell the client I wasn’t comfortable writing about violent crimes. It’s a weird line, I know, but I guess everyone has their own ethics.
Oh, that makes my skin crawl too, Krista. I guess it’s a niche for someone else!