Uncategorized | Words on the Page

And the Winners Are….

Posted on June 2, 2014 by lwidmer

Thank you to everyone who left comments and participated in this year’s Writers Worth Month! I appreciate the way you took it personally — that’s the idea. Make it yours, and make it part of your action plan. As promised, we have some contest winners. Because you left your comments, you’ve entered. The winner of…

Crappy Customer Service

Posted on June 2, 2014 by lwidmer

Thanks to everyone for the fantastic month of Writers Worth! This year was especially terrific, and the conversations were educational. I’ll be compiling everything in an ebook (once I get everyone’s permission), and I’ll make it available shortly. Meantime, to our winners… I just got back from a weekend trip home, so the winners will…

Writers Worth: 5 Ways to Defy Limitations

Posted on May 30, 2014 by lwidmer

One more day to enter: comment on any one of the Writers Worth posts, and you could win one of these prizes: An Amazon gift card worth $25 or a copy of my ebook Marketing 365! Just leave your comment to enter the random drawing. Winner to be announced June 2nd! Hard to believe, but it’s been an entire…

Writers Worth: 6 Things to Do Today to Improve Your Business

Posted on May 29, 2014 by lwidmer

Just a few more days to enter: comment on any one of the Writers Worth posts, and you could win one of these prizes: An Amazon gift card worth $25 or a copy of my ebook Marketing 365! Just leave your comment to enter the random drawing. Winner to be announced June 2nd! Yesterday was a bit futile in…

Writers Worth: Losing Doubt

Posted on May 28, 2014 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Nothing Like You by Frightened Rabbit Just a few more days to enter: comment on any one of the Writers Worth posts, and you could win one of these prizes: An Amazon gift card worth $25 or a copy of my ebook Marketing 365! Just leave your comment to enter the random drawing. Winner to…

Writers Worth: The Quality Factor

Posted on May 27, 2014 by lwidmer

How Do You Treat Your Most Valuable Asset?

Posted on May 23, 2014 by lwidmer

Don’t forget to comment to win! Stop by the blog, comment on any one of the Writers Worth posts, and you could win one of these prizes: An Amazon gift card worth $25 or a copy of my ebook Marketing 365! Just leave your comment to enter the random drawing. Winner to be announced June 2nd! Who couldn’t love…

Writers Worth: The Prepared Writer

Posted on May 22, 2014 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Moondance by Van Morrison Don’t forget: leave your comment on any of this month’s posts and you could win one of three prizes! Just comment using your real name (no anonymous comments or spam-laced comments will be eligible). What a great month of advice this has been! Thanks to all the guest…

Writers Worth: Publishers and Bad Business Models

Posted on May 21, 2014 by lwidmer

Writers Worth: Handling Client Controversy

Posted on May 20, 2014 by lwidmer

Have you left your comment yet? Just engage in conversation on any of the Writers Worth posts and you’ll be entered to win one of a few nifty prizes! Legitimate comments only — if you’re anonymous, posting in a foreign language, or linking to your Swiss watch website, I’m afraid that won’t count. While Writers…

Eileen

May 20, 2014

"No signs of edits or revisions"? That's an easy one to address. Use the "compare documents" function in Word. I had a client one time who had that very complaint – that he couldn't see that I did much to improve his copy. So I did the compare documents thing, which lit up all the revised areas in red … and the client immediately back down and wrote the check.

Lori Widmer

May 20, 2014

My client ended up doing just that, Eileen. Not sure if it helped — seems there's a hidden agenda at work here (person is fresh out of college and looking to exert some authority). But a great suggestion nonetheless.

Yo Prinzel

May 20, 2014

When editing, I always send two versions–a marked up version showing all changes and a clean version with the changes accepted. That way, there are no questions that changes were made and what those changes were.

A few months ago I had a sort of similar situation with a very big writing project. The client looked in the wrong folder for the content I'd completed and instead of seeing my files, he saw the resource docs his team had originally sent me which were not for publication–just for direction. This resulted in a pretty nasty stream of messages to me about the quality of my work, copyright accusations, etc. At first, I didn't understand what was happening and while I kept my cool, inside I was a mess and it really set me back. Finally, when they sent me some of the files for revision, I saw that they'd edited and critiqued their own resource files and I had to point out that there was a whole 'nother folder that they'd created and asked me to upload my work to–which is where the actual files were. The client's staff apologized to me and raved about the work but the client never did so I stopped working for him even though he paid pretty well. The worst part of the whole ordeal was the self doubt that I allowed to consume me for a couple of months. We are our own worst enemies. WHY COULDN'T YOU HAVE WRITTEN THIS POST IN MARCH, LORI? HUH???? ;-P

Cathy Miller

May 20, 2014

The first step that makes all the rest easier is taking the emotion out of it. Your step back, Lori, is excellent advice.

Ultimately, we decide if we are going to allow emotion to rule response (ours or the client's).

I had a client who hired me for a technical presentation. I offered two options. One in which I handled the technical hand-outs and the online presentation. The second (and the one with the lower fee)was for the online presentation only. I am sure you can guess which one was selected.

The problem occurred when the decision-maker did not relay what the deliverable would be. The third-party wanted a complete re-write. I calmly explained it was outside the scope and would mean an additional fee, which, of course, they would not do.

I was sorry for the miscommunication and lost that client for future work but I would have felt worse if I caved and completed an option they did not choose at the lower fee.

Paula

May 20, 2014

If someone were to tell me they couldn't see my edits, I'd thank them. The best editors I've worked with are so skillful that you don't notice their changes. All you know is your words sound really smart. (I've actually had to compare my copy with the edited copy a few times to see where the edits were even made. I picked up a lot of good tips doing that.)

I'm sure I've mentioned it before: my dad, who was a graphic artist, would add one or two minor things for nitpicky, know-it-all, micromanaging clients to spot just so they could feel good about catching the "mistake." Sort of a twist on the old showbiz adage, "Give 'em what they want."

Lori Widmer

May 20, 2014

Yo, I should have written it in March. I'm sorry. Now I shall doubt myself…. 😉

I don't blame you — I won't work for anyone who thinks it's okay to act like a total jerk and then not apologize when he/she finds out the mistake wasn't mine. I left a similarly lucrative gig four years ago because he went ballistic when I superimposed my numbers on the page count. Weird, because he was sent the updated file every time, so open it?

Cathy, I like to step back for a few reasons — one, it forces you to reframe it in a business perspective, and two, you slow down enough to let the situation sort itself a bit before you inject your fears, frustrations, defensiveness….

You were smart to not cave in. You'd have resented it and kicked yourself. Sounds like it would have been a huge amount of work for little compensation.

Paula, I'd say that too, but in this case, the client's person is being smarmy about it.

I love your dad's addition. Great idea for those who need to be on top of whatever invisible mountain they're trying to conquer. 🙂

Jennifer Mattern

May 20, 2014

Yo, I remember hearing about that client of yours. I don't know how you got through that without blowing up at the end. How any client can be so incompetent that they don't remember what they gave you in the first place is just beyond me. I'm glad that's over and you got it all sorted out, even if the client didn't respect you enough to apologize personally.

Lori, great post. Maybe you already have and I just missed it, but if not, you should consider sharing your "posse clause" so other writers can add something similar to their contracts. It's a great idea to limit your contacts from the get-go. I usually mention it when discussing edits. They get two rounds, period. So if they want to get feedback from a dozen people, they better do it on their own and come to me with one set of requests — none of that X says they want to change something, and then Y sees the edits and wants to change it back BS. I was burned ones like that early on, and thankfully I've never let it happen again.

Ashley

May 20, 2014

I've learned to step back emotionally but also physically. What I mean is that I don't necessarily respond to such an email immediately. My knee jerk response is to reply and get the situation resolved so I don't have to worry about it anymore. But often if I just wait a while, even just an hour or two, I'll have a better, calmer, less emotional response. Usually I'll go ahead and write my response immediately and save it as a draft. I can always revise it later!

Lori Widmer

May 20, 2014

Two rounds per project should be enough, Jenn. I agree. And while I don't mind answering to a committee, I have to know about it ahead of time so I can adjust the fee and the work hours needed to accommodate more people.

Great way to handle it, Ashley. You're right — even just a few hours can give you the emotional distance you need to respond appropriately.

Lori Widmer

May 20, 2014

Jenn, I'll make the posse clause a separate post because it bears repeating, but here's what I have in my current contracts:

Third Parties. This agreement is made between the Client and the Contractor and all decisions and discussions of the project described herein will be exclusive of any third party not expressly named herein. Any review or input of a third party directly or indirectly in the writing process by the Client without the written consent of both the Client and the Contractor prior to the start of the project will void this agreement and all fees contained in this agreement will be due the Contractor in full and immediately. The Contractor and Client can then opt to enter into a new agreement at an additional, agreed-upon fee, to include said third party(ies).

KeriLynn Engel

May 31, 2014

Potential issues like this are why I'm so thankful for blogs like yours, Lori 🙂 Thanks to reading warnings like this, I've added a standard clause to my contract, too. I call it the "Sole Point of Contact" clause and name the one person I'll be dealing with, and that if I receive communications from other parties they'll be ignored and forwarded to my contact.