lwidmer | Words on the Page

Free Advice Friday: This Job, Not That Job

Posted on July 26, 2019August 21, 2019 by lwidmer

What astounds me these days isn’t that the job offers are so pathetic; it’s that they are rampant across all genres. If you’ve not noticed, far too many of my posts lately have been This Job, Not That Job posts. Why? Because there are far too many lousy job postings lately. This one comes from…

How to Look Like a Dweeb to Potential Freelance Writing Clients

Posted on July 23, 2019July 24, 2019 by lwidmer

There’s plenty of freelance writing advice out there to help you get clients. But not a lot of it is telling you what not to do. I cruise around social media a lot. That’s where many of the worst offenses occur because, for some reason, people do not realize that everyone and his Uncle Fester…

Wednesday Wisdom: This Job, Not That Job

Posted on July 17, 2019July 16, 2019 by lwidmer

Just when you think it couldn’t get weirder, it does. I’m talking about job postings. Let’s not call them “freelance opportunities” because honey, they’re not. They’re employer/employee listings. Someone is looking for a writer, but is dictating the salary. That’s not a freelance writer at all. But I digress. This listing, which is probably the…

4 Ways to Get Your Freelance Writing Client to Yes

Posted on June 28, 2019June 26, 2019 by lwidmer

A while ago, I had a client who liked to talk about how well we might work together. Trouble was that’s all he did — talk about it. It never amounted to anything. Call it analysis paralysis or just lack of knowing how to go forward, but sometimes clients just can’t pull the trigger on…

Cutting Ties with Freelance Writing Prospects

Posted on June 26, 2019June 25, 2019 by lwidmer

A number of years ago, I had connected briefly with a client prospect at a trade show who showed interest in working with me. Let me rephrase that: I connected repeatedly with that client prospect, first at the trade show, then close to two dozen times over the years via email and in person. After four years…

This Job, Not That Job: Learning Via Collage

Posted on June 24, 2019June 20, 2019 by lwidmer

Sometimes I see one job posting that’s so bad, it sets my hair on fire. Sometimes I see several. There are so few hours in a day (or a life), so instead of examining them one by one, I thought I’d pull out elements from some of the worst. We can learn from these. Mostly,…

Writers Worth: This Job, Not That Job

Posted on June 19, 2019June 19, 2019 by lwidmer

Some days you’re the windshield, some days you’re the fly. If you’re still cruising job boards as your primary source of work, you’re the fly meeting the windshield. With rare exception, job postings work out in favor of the poster, not the writer. And if I’ve not preached enough on the subject, job postings give…

The Marketing-Is-Not-Hard Marketing Guide

Posted on June 17, 2019June 12, 2019 by lwidmer

There I was, staring at the computer screen, growling. Once again, someone on social media was talking about how incredibly hard marketing is. Know what’s hard? Cement. Rocks. Building a rocket launcher using straws and kindergarten paste. Heads hitting desks when people say uninformed things like “marketing is hard.” Marketing is not hard. Please, can…

Professional Jealousy and the Freelance Writer

Posted on June 13, 2019June 13, 2019 by lwidmer

A number of decades ago, I had an interaction with a new person in our writers’ group. We had posted a notice in the library announcing our group and welcoming interested writers to join. One person answered the call — a writer who had a monthly column in the local paper. We greeted him warmly, and…

The Secret to Selling Your Freelance Writing Rate

Posted on June 11, 2019June 10, 2019 by lwidmer

Quick! Your client prospect just asked what your rate is. What do you do? You know your rate (or you should by now). That’s not the problem. There are actually two problems here — First, you probably shouldn’t be telling them your rate in that initial conversation (Jennifer Gregory has a great post by Elizabeth…

Devon Ellington

June 11, 2019

I prefer framing it in per-project. In most cases, that lands me the work, and it’s a good situation for both of us.

Unfortunately, where I live now, most clients ONLY will deal in per hour rates — and they don’t want to pay more than minimum wage, because, you know, writing is something they “could” do if they have time. It’s not a “real skill.” I can’t tell you how often those exact words are used. What they consider a “fair” hourly rate ends up being about .03 an hour, if you break it down, and I’m not working for that. Which is why the bulk of my clients are not local. I have a few, with whom I have a good relationship, but the majority of locals who ask for a quote want it to work out to be 2-3 hours at minimum wage for something that should, at market rate, be a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand dollars.

In my previous location, I’d get pushback on my rate, they’d hire someone cheaper, it wouldn’t work out, and they’d come back to me and hire me at my rate + the rush fee. Here, they’d rather pay less for low quality work, because it’s more important to feel they got a deal than to get good work that would actually grow their business.

The other thing, here, lately, is barter. When I was in my twenties in Seattle, the barter economy was big and workable. But now, it’s not useful. Especially since most of the potential clients who suggest barter are offering me something I wouldn’t normally use anyway. I find the demand for barter especially strong in the over-crowded “health supplement” field. It’s not a field to which I pitch, but at local networking events, 40-60% of attendees are solopreneurs trying to earn a living from selling supplements. So you meet them at these networking events, and they don’t want to pay for their marketing materials. They want to offer you supplements in return. No, thanks. I can’t pay the rent or my utility bills or buy gas with supplements.

Therefore, most of the clients that pay real money are remote.

1. lwidmer
  
  June 11, 2019
  
  Oh, I agree with bartering. I bartered a few times back at the beginning of the career, but it’s not feasible anymore.
  
  Your locals are crazy. No way they’d work for those rates, I’d bet. In fact, I’d be tempted to respond to their crappy offers with that very fact: “Oh, that’s the rate? Tell me, would you work for three cents an hour?”
  
  Sadly, I think they wouldn’t understand how to vet quality writing from bad writing. That’s apparent in what I see in some local areas. Misspellings and lousy grammar aren’t even hitting the radar. Ugh!
Paula Hendrickson

June 12, 2019

I had the opposite thing happen couple years ago I applied to a job listing (I know, that was my first mistake) from a well known publication, seeking experienced freelance writers who specialized in covering the TV industry. No mention of rates, only that they required a minimum number of articles per month.

The editor replied quickly and set up a call. All went well until she described their fee structure: a $250 monthly stipend for I think it was 4 or 5 articles per month. She said the articles could range from 250 words to as long as I needed, which is not a good sign since it shows they’re focused on quantity, not quality, BUT writers had the “opportunity to earn more” based on like half-a-cent (or something equally outrageous) per page view. As I recall they had two tiers of the “bonus income” – one rate for the first couple of weeks, and a lower rate for long-term views. She said one contributor regularly earned $1500 a month.

I had to explain to her how professional writers get paid for our work, not for marketing and promoting their site. It’s not feasible for me to spend that many billable hours cranking out articles for $250 plus the hope that maybe one of my articles will generate enough traffic to earn a couple bucks more.

While the editor worked for the digital side of this well-known publication, she said there was always a “chance” that the magazine would pick up one of the website’s pieces. She tried arguing that it was better to earn $250/month for guaranteed work than try to sell a one-off article to the mothership. I told her I’d rather get one well-paying assignment and have time to work for other clients than write multiple articles for $250 and click-throughs.

1. lwidmer
  
  June 12, 2019
  
  Paula, that editor was arguing what she herself would never accept as a fair wage. I wish she were the exception, but I’ve seen far too much of it. The Atlantic online editor got roasted when he tried justifying why online content wasn’t compensated. An editor I used to work with was embarrassed that she could offer just 10 cents per word for heavily researched articles. Another potential editor client wanted something similar to what you were offered. It would have amounted to $80 per week for four articles a week. Uh, no.
  
  Yes, like you, I’d rather take the chance with the mothership publication. At least you’re not working your ass off (and occupying precious billable hours) for pennies on the dollar.
  
  If they make money off my work, so should I. And a fair wage, not these promises of more that will never, ever come.
2. Paula Hendrickson
  
  June 13, 2019
  
  I’ve NEVER understood the arguments for why online contributors are paid so much less than contributors to some of these top-line publications. The costs to run a website are minuscule compared with a print title – no printing costs, no shipping costs. Sure, they command a heftier price for ad sales, but since it’s the same company spread the wealth. (And I’d expect that most of those ad deals probably include online advertising as part of the package, anyway.)
3. lwidmer
  
  June 13, 2019
  
  EXACTLY. They have very little overhead with an online pub — no printing costs, to say the least — so why are writers being punished? If the editor from The Atlantic is any indicator, it’s because they have a ton of content to put out now, whereas with a magazine they have a lower amount per month, not per day.
  
  Still, that should never equate to my problem as a freelancer. I’m running a business, as well. Giving away work isn’t smart business. At all.