Whoa. Doesn’t sound like much of a friend. Good grief, two of them like that?

The fact that she whined that you should be “grateful” for the work tells me she didn’t value your skills anyway, so good riddance to her.

And 1/11th the amount? Again, our skills are worth something. Not that little!

Five years later, she wanted me to work with her on a “series”. Um, no. Never working with her again. I told her I rarely did any ghost writing anymore on book length material. If I did, I was contracted through the publisher negotiating with my then agent, and gave her the five figure amount where it started.

She got angry and whined to my “friend” who said I should be grateful for the work. Nope.

The same friend recommended another friend of his who wanted to write a book. We talked back and forth about process and payments and timelines and research and the rest. When it looked like we were close to terms, I gave her the final quote (which we’d discussed over a matter of weeks) and sent the contract (this was in between the instances with the client mentioned above). She came back with a counter offer that was 1/11th of what I quoted, saying that was her budget. I pointed out that she should have stated her budget up front, and saved us weeks of pointless negotiation.

I do not accept referrals from this “friend” anymore.

Seriously? How many times can someone have the “flu” in that short amount of time? Sounds like you guessed correctly. 😉

Shame on the receptionist for lying for him, too.

“I’m too sick to write the check” but damn if he couldn’t write the email to tell you that, right? Or answer the phone. It’s a novel excuse, but it only works one time before you realize you’re being snowed.

You’re so right on that red flag. When ad sales trump editorial, it’s no longer about delivering good content. It’s about hauling in money. Writers do lose every time.

First, was the long-time client that paid (very little) on publication (technically, they started processing invoices after publication, and their process took 60-90 days). Knowing their slow process made it possible to budget around it. But then they started pushing back the publication of one article. As I recall, they pushed it back at least six months. But 13 months after I’d submitted the article, I still hadn’t been paid. I tried calling the accountant. He was always at lunch. The publisher’s wife manned the phones, and she always said she’d have the accountant call me back when he’s back from lunch. After a couple weeks I said, “That’s got to be the longest lunch in history!” She didn’t know he hadn’t returned any of my calls. He returned that one. Made some excuses, but said he’d cut the check as soon as possible. Then the editor called and lambasted me for going behind his back (“I thought we were partners, and you went behind my back!”)—I’d asked him multiple times about the payment, and refused to take on new assignments until it was paid. I’d sent a couple past-due notices. The editor hand-delivered my check on his way home from work that night, and apologized for the “oversight.” I already knew by then that I’d never write for them again.

The other was the guy who claimed he couldn’t pay because he had the flu. After a couple weeks of that excuse, I said, “If kids who are out of school with the flu can do their homework, you can sign a few checks.” Or maybe empower one of his employees to issue payments? That was the last time I dealt with his publication. Which is a shame, since the assignments were usually interesting.

These ex-clients share one red-flag trait: They valued their ad sales over the quality of their editorial. Which also means they didn’t respect writers.