lwidmer | Words on the Page

Wednesday WTF: Freelance Writing or Serfdom?

Posted on by lwidmer

When it comes to freelance writing, there’s little that leaves me speechless these days. This post on a Facebook forum sure did. The Post I’ve been writing for a “national magazine” which no one has heard of, for a few years now strictly on freelance basis for the quarterly publication. My editor/publisher only pays per…

Freelance Files: Is This Client Worth It?

Posted on by lwidmer

It’s been a while since we exercised our client-vetting skills, which is what this Is This Client Worth It segment is about. If we see real scenarios and how it turned out, we might get better at vetting potential clients. Let’s consider this scenario: The client reached out via an established contact. He needed a…

The In-demand Freelancer Persona

Posted on by lwidmer

I saw an interesting discussion on a LinkedIn forum recently that got me thinking about the way we present ourselves to potential clients. The discussion was around the use of LinkedIn’s “Open to Work” banner that one can put on their profile picture. It is meant to signal to future employers that this is a…

Freelance Game Plan: Finding Client Contact Info

Posted on by lwidmer

There it was. Or rather, there it wasn’t. Looking for contact info for prospects yesterday, I realized that my usual ways of finding that info weren’t working. There were several reasons for that, but the running theme seems to be poorly written websites that assume you know who’s running the company. That’s right — nowhere…

Monthly Assessment: March 2024

Posted on by lwidmer

For those of you who have followed this blog for a while, you may remember the Monthly Assessment series. When I redesigned in 2019, I had all intentions of restarting the assessment series. So many of you were happy for the monthly reminder to self-evaluate and attach some accountability to your freelance business. Then 2020…

Your Freelance Career Speed Bumps

Posted on by lwidmer

If you look online long enough (two minutes), you’ll find ample evidence of why some freelance writers are still struggling with running a successful freelance business. I present Exhibit One here, a writer who, upon attempting to identify the roadblocks to their success: My credentials don’t align with straightforward career trajectories. (They go on to…

Client Red Flags Every Freelancer Needs to Know

Posted on by lwidmer

I was reading through some old social media posts recently and came across discussion of a job posting that just plain sucked. In fact, I blogged about it not long ago right here. The issue was that the job poster, a household-name publication, was presenting a full-time employee position as a freelance job. Why? Because…

Your Freelance Writing Career: Finding work now, building for the future

Posted on by lwidmer

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Freelancer asks the question: “How can a new freelancer become popular on freelance job websites?” Writers responded. “Create a strong profile.” “Post your portfolio.” “Get good reviews.” “Become a package designer.” Except for the obvious “Huh?” of that last one, these all seem like fair answers. Notice…

Freelance Game Plan: Your 2024 Freelance Writing Rate

Posted on by lwidmer

Welcome to the new chapter of your freelance writing career. I don’t care if you’re reading this on January 2nd or October 22nd — every single day of your working life is as good as any to turn the corner on your freelancing. If you want to use the calendar as a jumping-off point, be…

When a Client Breaches a Freelance Contract

Posted on by lwidmer

We’ve all had our share of flaky clients. By flaky, I mean clients who: Disappear at payment time Reappear three months later to complain about quality (oddly about the same time you’ve threatened litigation/collection) Change the project parameters after you’ve done the work Revise more than twice (my record is 12 revisions) and get farther…

Paula Hendrickson

Where do I begin? I’ve shared the two stories before.

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.

Lori

I remember these stories, Paula! That first one still has me shaking my head. He lambasted YOU because HE didn’t pay you and didn’t bother to follow up. That he wasn’t the least bit embarrassed or apologetic makes that even more shameful.

“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.

Paula Hendrickson

Oh, guy number 2 didn’t answer the phone or email me. The excuses came courtesy of the receptionist….because the guy with the “flu” was out on the golf course, according to social media posts of him on the greens. Grr.

1. Lori
  
  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.
Devon Ellington

Several years ago, a long-time family friend recommended me to one of his friends, who was writing a book and needed a ghostwriter. It was quick, we came to an agreed amount. She basically wanted to talk the book and have me make it coherent. Which, again, it was a quick project. I let her ramble, I shaped it into something cohesive, we went back and forth on the two agreed upon edits. She wanted more, I quoted the rate, she decided to go forward with what she had. She sent me a check for the balance (she’d paid a depost). The check bounced. It took 3 months to get the payment from her, and she never paid the fees that it caused.

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.

1. Lori
  
  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!