Yep. That’s a must.

I get that here constantly. My response is, “If there’s a contract from your publisher and an initial deposit check for $10,000 on my agent’s desk tomorrow morning, we can start negotiations.”

Oh, Krista, that contract story reminds me of another story! I can’ t recall the client, but their contract included language that said the writer was personally liable for any issues stemming from the published copy. As I pointed to that client: Someone who has no control over the final copy cannot be expected to be held liable for the final, edited copy. Come on, we’ve all had experiences where an editor, however well-intended, accidentally introduces an error during the editing process.

Apparently, the client had never bothered to read their contract, and had their legal team to remove that part of it.

I honestly thought she was testing me – like “How many hurdles can I make this writer jump? Let’s see….okay sources that I know aren’t a good fit; keep insisting she include something that’s inaccurate; sit on the edits for over three months and spring them on her over the holidays; demand a complete re-write with all new sources DURING the holiday break; and then cut her deadline to do the re-write in half!”

Somehow I managed to jump every hurdle, and she still didn’t have the common sense or decency to let me know they killed it, or why. Was it because the rewrite was bad? Was it because her boss hated HER changes? Was it because the magazine’s new owner wanted to start fresh instead of using copy assigned by the former editors? I still don’t know. And now I don’t care. It’s over. I don’t eve remember that editors name, to be honest.

Right! There are very few people in this world whose life stories would make them rich. And the people who say that to you are probably NOT one of those few! LOL I had that once. A dude called me wanting me to write his story. He was almost murdered on a Navy ship, he said. That was before he was a woman for ten years.

Intriguing, yes. But fact-checking that would be a nightmare. And he was willing to share the royalties with me. Yea no, I work for cash.

Yes, I can’t help but wonder why the other writers left. And the weirdest part was they were the ones who contacted me!

Oh wow, Krista! He lost me at asking you to rearrange your resume! What a control freak, and your instincts were right — that would have gone from bad to ugly really quickly.

And contracts. Contracts tell them that no, you don’t keep revising into your old age just because they’re indecisive. And NO WAY would I agree to have a pay deduction because of their jerking around! No. Hell NO.

Here’s just an example: I had one person contact me on LinkedIn back on the spring to tell me I seemed like a good fit for a project. When I got on the phone he proceeded to nitpick my resume (questioning my use of a specific word), asked me to rearrange it, and, when I asked a clarifying question about the work, said “I thought you had experience with this.” To close out the conversation, he informed me that nobody else without at least a master’s had been approved by his client. And he needed me to jump on full steam because a couple other writers had left the project. So bizarre…so many red flags.

Years ago I would have proceeded because on the surface the rate seemed good. Instead, I messaged him after a couple of hours to say I didn’t think we were a good fit. Sometimes I’ll also read contracts supplied by potential clients that have really questionable clauses. The most recent said, among other things, that they can basically request revisions until they are satisfied, that they can do rewrites at their own discretion and deduct that from the writer’s pay, and that they can withhold payment if a writer does not respond within a certain time period. If that is how they start a relationship with writers I just feel like they will be a nightmare to work with!

Oh, I remember this one, Paula. And I remember thinking this was an editor who was leading the story instead of letting the story be what it actually is. Inserting “danger” where nothing poses a danger is misleading the readers, breaking their trust, and spreading false info. On that point alone you should be glad to be rid of her.

What astounds me is that people like this are in charge of putting out information. If it had been me and I saw there was no danger afoot, I would have changed the title to reflect what the writer found, not pushed the writer to sensationalize.

It’s not often, but sometimes working for the higher rate means you’re about to be hassled into wishing you’d not accepted it.