Uncategorized | Words on the Page

Manic Mondays

Posted on January 25, 2010 by lwidmer

So far this morning the power has gone out and with these high winds, I suspect it’ll be more of the same all day. I’m fortunate that my deadlines are Friday. It’s going to be a long day. It was a long weekend, too. I was on edge – a client had written and expressed…

Worthy Tip: Stand Up

Posted on January 22, 2010 by lwidmer

Welcome to Friday. If you’re like me, you look forward to weekends during the busy times especially. Today I’m floating on the remnants of the wonder-drug codeine and its counterpart penicillin. I’ll kill this sinus infection or myself. Either way, I’ll not be sick much longer. Today’s worthy tip: When dealing with client negotiations this…

Say Aaaaahhh

Posted on January 21, 2010 by lwidmer

This has been the best week. Yes, I’ve been miserable with this cold/sinus infection, but when I open my email in the morning, I don’t tense up or stress. I smile. More signs that dropping those projects was a great idea. Because I fulfill my obligations, I still have residual edits coming in from this…

Recovering

Posted on January 20, 2010 by lwidmer

I’m not talking about my recovery, but yours. Mistakes, errors in judgment, bad decisions just happen. Sometimes it’s because we’re inundated with too much work, sometimes it’s because we open our mouths and insert our foots, sometimes we take on something we’re not sure we can handle. It happens to everyone. How we recover, well,…

Thump, Thump, Thump

Posted on January 19, 2010 by lwidmer

That’s the beat hammering out in my sinuses right now. Having had little sleep last night thanks to the sinus infection that’s taken over where the cold left off, I’m exhausted. I went to sleep with high hopes – I’d had a good day, little coughing, much healing. Then I made the mistake of lying…

Politically Speaking

Posted on January 18, 2010 by lwidmer

Maybe it’s a new trend and I’m behind the curve, but I’ve been seeing a great deal of email correspondence, tweets, and bold statements lately from business colleagues expressing their political views in group emails or segmented business groups. Before you think I’m overreacting, know that these are people with whom I’ve worked but have…

Showing Up Sick

Posted on January 14, 2010 by lwidmer

You may not realize it, but I’ve been sick most of this week. I caught his cold, which isn’t fair – he flies home from warm places and I get to keep the germs he’s shared on the airplane. The last three days have been spent trying to keep my lungs from exiting as the…

Worthy Tip: Finding Value

Posted on January 14, 2010 by lwidmer

If you haven’t gone over to Screw You! and read Kathy Kehrli’s account of her Demand Studio experience, please do so. It’s insightful. It’s also a balanced report, one in which Kathy herself is upfront and makes no judgments based on anything but her personal experience. It’s a good read for new writers faced with…

Saying When

Posted on January 13, 2010 by lwidmer

No one likes to drop a client, especially when that client has been a steady source of work and income. But we outgrow each other, we move in different directions, and dare I say we bore of each other? By the end of this week, I will have ended a long-term client relationship for numerous…

Limbo, Then Sprint

Posted on January 12, 2010 by lwidmer

No, I’m not talking about my exercise program. I’m talking about short deadlines that are made shorter by lack of contracts or lack of something on the client side. Currently I’m sitting on two projects, both of which have an end-of-the-month deadline, both of which are at this moment uncontracted. I have notes to both…

Eileen

January 12, 2010

I recall very early in my freelance career doing this once or twice. "I put the contract in the mail; go ahead and get started," etc. I don't remember the details, but those few instances didn't end well. There's another little trick to beware of, too: clients who send the deposit, but not the signed contract. If you proceed without it, it will come back to bite you.

Lori

January 12, 2010

Hear hear, Eileen. I've had the same situations, and I've been burned. NEVER start without the contract!

Devon Ellington

January 12, 2010

Early on, yes, and I was burned, and that's how I learned. Now, I don't write without a SIGNED contract — signed by both parties — in place. Because sometimes they send you the contract, you sign it, but they never send back the copy with their signature on it. And I don't consider it a signed deal until the contract is signed by both parties.

Georganna Hancock M.S.

January 12, 2010

When I was freelancing writing, I always worked on the "gentleman's agreement" basis. Only once was I screwed. I took the jerk to Small Claims Court and won, but still he didn't pay. That's when I learned that I had no other recourse.

Now, as an editor, I make people agree that our email stands as a contract (but I still offer a more formal one if they wish).

And I quit working without a down payment after doing rush jobs for a couple of local companies last year or so. One delayed payment for three months. The other flat out refused to pay unless I delivered his white paper first and he approved–after I'd spent four hours editing his poor grammar! He said he'd never worked with a "creative" before that did not operate the way he wanted. I curtly informed him that editing was not "creative" writing.

No more Ms. Nice Girl here.

Paula

January 12, 2010

The one time I was burned (the magazine folded owing me for two feature articles) I had a contract. It didn't help, since there was such a long line of other creditors in front of me who got what little was left.

With one of my major clients – one I've been working for without any problems for over 13 years – had writers sign an initial contract (amended several years ago to account for electronic reprint rights, but they almost never put articles on their site). They only buy one-time rights, and after a short period of time, you're allowed to resell your stories elsewhere. In 2009 they decided to try a new contract for each article, but it got so cumbersome with some of us doing three, four, or more articles in a single issue. So they're revising it now, hoping to get an annual contract lined up. So I guess, officially, we're working without contracts now.

The funny thing is one editor will assign stories with the word count and specific payment fees. The other editor will give a wider word count range, and usually says, "I trust your judgment, and we'll negotiate the fee once it's done." Call me strange, but that's what I prefer. And – as was the case last week – doing things her way often results in higher pay because she knows when certain articles were more difficult than we'd expected, and kicks in a little more to make up for the extra effort.

I don't work so casually with any other publications, but this one has a great track record with me, and things usually work out in my favor. I know the magazine backwards and forwards, and they know my work well enough to know they've never had to make major changes or heavy edits. They know I won't leave them hanging, and I know they'll pay fairly – and fast. So it's mutually beneficial. It doesn't hurt that it's an award-winning glossy that's not easy to break into.

I'd rather trust those editors than newer clients with detailed contracts. Contracts aren't really worth anything if the company fails and there's no one left to take to court. And that's definitely a point to consider in this economy.

Andrea Franco-Cook

January 12, 2010

Thanks Lori. This is especially prudent advice for "newbie" freelancers like me. I will heed it.

Best wishes

Lori

January 12, 2010

Andrea, it's taken a few burn marks to bring you that advice. 😉 It's not foolproof, but it's legal recourse should the client not pay or refuse using some excuse.

Likewise, Devon. I can trust the client all I like – my attorney doesn't. That's my reason. 🙂

Georganna, I love when you show up. It's always good stuff. 🙂 I've done a handful of gentlemen's agreements without issue, but on lower-paying items and usually with email backup, such as articles or press releases. Not the big stuff, however.

Paula, I agree. Magazines – the first time, a contract. Once you've both proven yourselves, an email agreemnt should be enough. Should be – not a guarantee. Nothing in life is guaranteed, is it?

Janiss

January 13, 2010

Back in the old days (i.e., late 1980s, early 1990s), I used to write for rock magazines sans contract all the time. I'm not sure any of them actually had contracts! Did I get burned? Less often than you might think, and only because the magazine went out of business. Am I sorry I wrote the stories? No, because they were for Creem, which is still a great writing credit to have. Plus one of the articles ranks among the best pieces I ever wrote, and it was about a band I adored (a little known grunge group called Tad).

That said, these days, I require a contract. And I've found most established, professional magazines, publishers and companies give you one without question.

Lori

January 13, 2010

Janiss, I find that more common in magazines these days. It's rare that I do get a contract for magazine work. The difference between now and the 80s-90s (I remember Creem very well!) is we have emails to back up any verbal agreements. But there was a sense then that one's word was golden. Nowadays, one's word is interchangable with one's latest thoughts, depending on the person.