Not long ago, I had a conversation with a potential client at a trade show. The prospect was indicating a strong need for my services, and he promised to call me the following week. When that call came, I was prepared. Since the prospect had told me his needs — thought leadership articles — I…
Ethics
Writing Without Racism
This shouldn’t be a difficult post to write. And yet, it is. In 2020, we all watched it happen. As we watched a man murdered, we watched something else happen, too. Our world woke up to what millions of people have already known — racism is alive and festering. Worse, in the last decade, it…
The Freelance Grab – A Cautionary Tale
Totally different topic today, but one that some of the more established freelancers have had to deal with. Someone (a female) in my orbit is right now dealing with a grabber. The grabber in question has adjacent property to hers, and in every interaction over the last year has started with an ask. Each subsequent…
Stolen Work: Theft in Freelancing
Last week we talked about when your ideas are stolen. It’s a tricky topic, as ideas are not copyrightable, but there are some instance in which you, freelance writer, might have some legal ground to stand on. With your writing, however, you have plenty of ammunition. In fact, here’s your guide to what’s protected: Copyright…
Your Freelance Writing Ideas, Stolen
I’ve been at this writing-for-a-living thing for a few decades, so when I hear someone complain that their ideas were stolen, I think back to the first Journalism course I took, which taught me this: Ideas cannot be copyrighted. There’s a reason for that. If they could be copyrighted, there would be just one book…
The Return to Balance: A Freelance Writer’s Quest
Last week we had an important and lively discussion over the Fight for Truth and what the freelance writer’s role was. One point in particular drove a ton of discussion — presenting all sides of a topic. My stance was/is that presenting dissenting views shouldn’t be avoided, but embraced. It’s common practice in journalism to…
The Fight for Truth: A Freelancer’s Role
Not long ago, I had an assignment from a client that involved a little bit of research. They wanted some statistics to go along with the article and support their point. I came across a fantastic bit of data. In one sentence, I could have proven their case and made them look like authorities. For…
The Ethics of Freelance Writing
You can’t believe everything you read. I was on Amazon shopping for a microphone about a month ago. I sorted results by Average Customer Review, and bought one based on the 9 glowing reviews one microphone received. Too bad they were fake reviews. Oh, I did my homework. I looked for the “verified purchase” tag…
The Freelancer and The Ethical Boundary
What I’m listening to: Can’t Stop the Feeling! by Justin Timberlake A year or so ago, I had an unpleasant encounter with an editor that didn’t end well. Normally, I wouldn’t talk about such things openly, but there’s a lesson in here that all freelance writers should be learning. It’s about how much control clients…
Writer Wednesday: Fair Use and Mashups
What I’m listening to: Dark Nights by Dorothy For those of you freelance writers who work your asses off to do your jobs correctly, you’re about to feel some vindication. There was this book — a successful one, and one that was crowdfunded — that was no more than a mashup of both a Dr….