It happened to me last week. Twice.
To be fair, it happens to plenty of established writers pretty regularly. I’m no exception, believe me. It comes from friends, but mostly it comes from strangers. It’s unpleasant no matter who it comes from.
I’m talking about someone asking for my “overflow” work.
Let’s just skip the bit where I argue that there’s no such thing as overflow work. You can argue that with me another time, but I won’t budge. But that’s another post.
It’s the ask that’s the problem.
It starts out in the usual way — either it’s an email from a stranger sending an article pitch (not bothering to notice I’m not a magazine staffer), or it’s a LinkedIn connection that turns into an ask almost immediately. Last week, it was in my email. And one email stands out.
The guy asked me if I would consider him for a job at my company. You read that right — my company. Yes, I have a company name, but I don’t publish it, so he was clearly shooting in the dark. I informed him of such. I said, “I don’t hire freelancers as I am one myself.”
Ah, but our intrepid friend wasn’t finished, no no. He responded within minutes:
“Ok. But should you have surplus work or referral I would very grateful. Thank you.”
I bet you would. But that’s never happening.
That, my friends, is the ask you as a freelancer should never make of another freelancer:
[bctt tweet=”Asking another writer to pass along their #freelancewriting work is poaching. And lousy marketing.” username=”LoriWidmer”]
It sure is. It’s also a good way to build up a network of writers who will avoid you at all costs. Here’s why.
As a freelancer, I work damn hard to build client relationships. I put the time into finding the client, and I put the work into making sure they’re satisfied. There’s a trust that develops, and that’s not just a cool little bonus. That’s by intention.
And now this stranger comes along and asks me to just hand over that trust and let him have at it. Because he needs work. Because he asked.
Not a f**king chance.
When you ask a writer to give you their extra work, you’re asking them to let you poach their clients. Not that you’ll get the chance — most established writers aren’t going to hand anything over without knowing what kind of writer you are and whether you can be trusted.
For the record, the guy in question mentioned the phrase that guarantees he’ll never get a thing from me — “100% plagiarism free content.” If that’s your main selling point, you need to work on a lot of things, the first being your common sense. But I digress.
I’ve had friends ask the same thing. That one’s tougher because these are people you know. But do you know their work ethic? Only two requests in my 22 years of writing have been taken seriously. I know both writers personally, and I know their work ethic (one because he was a freelancer for the magazine I worked for). I would give both of these writers any leads I could if they fit. I have. But it’s not overflow work. I refer people to clients who need extra help, or to clients who don’t fit what I do.
And there’s the other point:
The writing focus must fit.
I’m in a very specialized field. Maybe you are, too. Even if you’re not, you know your clients’ needs. You know how to please them. Any writer — friend or otherwise — has to have the same skill set or the same ability to do the job. I know plenty of great writers. Most of them wouldn’t fit what I do. I sure wouldn’t fit what they do. A stranger asking to write “100% plagiarism free content” is never going to fit with my client, nor do I think they’ll fit with yours.
The skill set has to match. It has to. Otherwise, that writer isn’t going to deliver. I learned that early on when I assigned a piece to a writer and never saw it. When I contacted her six weeks later, she said, “Yeah, that was harder than I thought, so I decided not to do it.”
There’s also something to be said for being professional enough to state that directly instead of being chased down at the last damn minute. But again, I’m digressing.
Don’t ask for overflow work. Don’t ask for someone to share their client list with you. Don’t ask strangers for favors. Build relationships with other writers, but most importantly, build them with the very people you hope will be your clients. It’s on you to find your own work. Referrals come from being a good resource to others, and by delivering great results for your own clients first. If you do that much, you’ll never need to beg others for work.
Writers, how many requests like this do you see, either online or in your email?
What’s the worst ask you’ve ever received?
I don’t recall anyone ever asking me for overflow work, but I’ve sure had a few ask for my contacts.
I don’t mind sharing contacts with someone I know well and who I know will pitch an idea to an editor, very professionally, and who’s already covering the entertainment industry. But I won’t share contact info with people who just think it would be cool to write about entertainment or interview celebrities. To them, the most I’ll do is tell them how I broke in by contacting the editors with good ideas and a big stack of clips to show I could do the work.
One person tried to covertly get me to share my contacts at Variety. She pretended she had written there too, and wanted to see if we had worked with the same people. I searched her name in Variety’s massive database and her very distinctive name didn’t show up once. Big surprise. She now spends most of her time coming up with creative ways to separate beginning freelancers from their money.
I remember that person, Paula. She’s been “enhancing” her resume for a while now. Writers unwilling to investigate will be taken in, but it’s not that hard to figure out when someone is fudging the experience.
I will share contacts with a writer friend who has a good reputation. I probably sent things your way as they appear, and I know a number of writers I’ve passed along opportunities to. However, I draw the line at “Hi! My name is …. Please give me the contact info for your client.” Hey, if it’s a magazine editor and I know you, I’d share that. But these asks to handle work for my clients or hey, just tell me who your client is and I’ll ask if they need more writers — not happening.
I’ve been asked for both, Paula. Once again, lazy marketing comes to the forefront. My first reaction when someone asks for my contacts is to think, “Seriously?” Like you, if it’s someone I know and trust (like Lori), I am happy to share. I’ve shared Lori’s name with contacts for the commercial side of insurance as my strength is the employee benefits side.
I’ve given and received lots of referrals over the years, but they are intentional. Building a network has been a crucial part of my writing career. My relationships tend to be long, giving all parties the opportunity to get to know one another thoroughly enough to know who might be good for what referral. If I ever reach a position of needing subcontractors (highly unlikely since I don’t have a good or rigid marketing program in place!) I would offer that work to people from my network who I trust. Not random strangers in my email, or LI message inbox, or Twitter DM.
People are so weird. That guy will probably end up being one of the folks who moan and wail about how impossible it is to make money as a freelancer.
Dava, your last sentence is everything. The ones who put the least amount of effort into this are the ones who complain loudest. I’ve seen it on forums I will no longer frequent (too negative, and they’re addicted to that negativity). It tells me that these are writers who are doing a few things wrong — not trying beyond job boards, not being consistent with what they try, chasing every next money-making approach ….
What they’re not doing: putting the hard work into it. You nailed it!
Right on (or maybe write on), 😉 Dava.