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Writers Worth Week, Day Three: Improve Yourself

Posted on May 11, 2011 by lwidmer

What I’m reading: Sweet Thursday by John SteinbeckWhat’s on the iPod: Summer Nights by Rascal Flatts I must be nuts. Riding the fumes of my business/vacation trip to Vancouver, I schedule Writers Worth Week. Then right smack in the middle of that miracle of scheduling – today – my mother arrives for a visit. I’m…

Writers Worth Week, Day Two: Create Your Own Reality

Posted on May 10, 2011 by lwidmer

What I’m reading: Cannery Row by John Steinbeck (finished it!)What’s on the iPod: Soul and Skin by The Clarks Thank you all for a fabulous start to Writers Worth Week yesterday! It was a great outpouring of support and suggestions. You’ve proven once again that the writing community is the best support system on the…

Welcome to Writers Worth Week!

Posted on May 9, 2011 by lwidmer

I’m baaaaack….. Okay, I’ll admit to writing this before I left, but I know I won’t have the energy after the cross-country flight that gets in late in the evening. So forgive me that, okay? Today kicks off the fourth annual Writers Worth celebration! I have blog posts popping up all over the Internet this…

Things That Make My Head Explode

Posted on May 6, 2011 by lwidmer

Ahhh….. Lent is over. I will now resume my usual level of skepticism and pointing out of major stupidity and disgust. I was getting used to the kinder, gentler life, but some things just ache for outrage and complaint. For example: AOHELL: Kathy Kehrli over at Screw You! pointed out this move by AOL, in…

Meltdowns and Ensuing Mayhem

Posted on May 5, 2011 by lwidmer

By now I hope I’m sporting my “eh” lingo and fighting off the urge to eat peameal bacon. I’m also hoping we were able to score hockey tickets while in Vancouver, but I’m not holding out too much hope. A Twitter colleague sent over an interesting link. It’s an Internet-based meltdown of an author over…

The Reliability Factor

Posted on May 4, 2011 by lwidmer

By now my time at the conference has ended. In two days, I hope to have secured enough work to sustain me through December. We’ll see. I was busy right up until the last hours before bed on Friday. I wanted to arrange for some posts, but I wanted to get things squared away for…

Free Wisdom for the Asking

Posted on May 3, 2011 by lwidmer

The conference continues and I hope by now I’ve managed to secure at least one client. One client project pays for the entire trip. Two is gravy. I’m shooting for a banquet. Because of my absence, I wanted to leave you with some of the best blog posts from the last few weeks. Give these…

Monthly Assessment: April 2011

Posted on May 2, 2011 by lwidmer

I’m not here, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have oodles of fun hashing over our monthly goals and near misses, right? So let’s get busy seeing where things are going right or wrong: Queries –I must have sent out fifty LOIs. I have 25 written down, but somehow I think I forgot to note…

Nice Day for a White Wedding…

Posted on April 29, 2011 by lwidmer

Did anyone hear rumor about some big to-do over in Great Britain? It can’t be hockey, so I don’t know… The press coverage over this was a bit over-the-top, but at least it detracted from the birth-certificate fiasco. I loved the headline in the London newspaper yesterday: The Day America Took Leave of Its Senses….

What Smells?

Posted on April 28, 2011 by lwidmer

What I’m reading: Sweet Thursday by John SteinbeckWhat’s on the iPod: Better Together by Jack Johnson I’ve always known I work better when my back is to a wall, but I’m surprising even myself this week. I got back revisions on the Web project, proposed and completed some blog posts, got some Writers Worth Week…

Anne Wayman

April 28, 2011

Like you, Lori, sometimes I don't. But my BS detector has gotten better over time. Another clue is when I sense I'm being greedy – yes, in that space I can attract real nut jobs, and have.

I think if we get quiet we can hear that still small voice that tells us the truth, about ourselves and about others.

Wade Finnegan

April 28, 2011

Lori, first off, that was some great hockey last night. I have to admit that I was pulling for the Lighting. Living in the northwest I don't have a home team. I was pulling for Buffalo, but they ran out of gas. My son plays hockey and it is the best sport. I've been thinking about starting a hockey blog, but that is for another post.

How common of an occurrence is it to have clients offer alternative payments? I'm just starting freelancing and assumed you negotiate a fee and that is it. Does this happen because most people don't understand what it means to be a professional writer? Great post. I learn of more issues to consider daily.

Jake P.

April 28, 2011

Ah, sorry for the bad outcome in your game, Lori. It was a hard-fought tilt. And the scheduling is just silly.

As far as Da Broons, thanks! I went from thrilled to devastated to terrified and back to thrilled in a span of about a half hour. (And my dog had to hide in the other room from me hootin' and hollerin'.) My fellow Bostonian-turned-Phoenician buddy Chuck said it best in a text right afterward: "that game took a lot out of me no more OTs please."

WRT steaming-turd-deals: You hit the nail on the head. I'd add a variant to the "empty promises": When people try to leverage "lots more work down the road" as a reason to do "just this project" at a lower rate. Run, don't walk, when you hear phrases like that.

Kimberly Ben

April 28, 2011

I'm getting better at smelling bad projects. Anne is right though – that little voice in my head warning me about potential clients is right more than not.

Lori

April 28, 2011

Anne, I surprised myself this time – I smelled that raw deal instantly. Lord knows it would have been easy to miss. He's one of those "nice" people. You know the ones – so friendly, but has no qualms about asking you to work for nothing. It's that innocent look pasted on the face that almost gets me.

Wade, I've not had it happen a lot, but it does happen. I think the best advice I can give you is to know your bottom line in your head and walk away if the client tries to go under it. Seriously, there's no reason to work for less than YOU can afford to because the client doesn't want to pay for what you're worth.

And if you start that hockey blog, you'd better let me know where it is! I'll follow.

You must be in hog heaven today, Jake. 🙂 Good on you guys! And your wisdom is right on. "Future work" is never a reason to take a crappy job. I fell for that a few years ago. Turned out the "future work" was full of "We don't see the difference, so we're not paying" and plenty of nitpicking.

Kim, my little voice was screaming bloody murder! LOL I'd say you're very good at it. I've not seen you take guff from bad clients.

L.C. Gant

April 28, 2011

I had a potential client who, in addition to the writing work he offered, wanted me to do a few "marketing side jobs." In the end, it amounted to cold calling. I told him I was willing to discuss the writing, but not the telemarketing.

Shockingly, I didn't hear from him again. Even if I had, I wouldn't have taken the job. I would've run for the hills.

Lori

April 28, 2011

Are you serious? He wanted you to cold call his clients? That's absurd!

I think there are times clients don't realize that we're not employees who are there to perform all tasks. We're specialists. Our skills are in writing, not in performing sales tasks.

Lori

April 28, 2011

You were all too kind. There was a typo in the title all day and not one of you mentioned it. 🙂 Never write before caffeine.

Jenn Mattern

April 29, 2011

Oh wow. Well, if they didn't get the hint the first time, hopefully they did this time around at least.

Lori

April 29, 2011

This post is from Devon, who had troubles getting Blogger to work:

Jake's team and my new home team and going to Round 2 — whoo-hoo!

As far as exposure, when that's what I'm offered, I say, "Sorry, I'm not a flasher. I'm not looking for exposure. I'm looking for cash."

As for "great" opportunities (choke, choke) someone recently offered me a blog spot — if I PAID for it. Um, no, I am PAID to blog, or I guest blog under certain circumstances, but I do not PAY to blog.

Lori

April 29, 2011

Blogger was mighty hateful yesterday. Here's Ashley's comment, as well:

I got to read this post early in the day and wrote a lovely (and long!) comment. Blogger thought it would make a good snack, though, and ate it. So here I go again…

An anecdote about one of the worst cases of client price-setting: When I was a budding entrepreneur at the age of, oh, 7 or 8, I set up my little table and chair at the curb and sold different things (lemonade, stickers, bubble gum, etc.) So one day, I had my shop all set up, selling stickers for 10 cents each. A "customer" came up with two children who wanted stickers. The parent handed me a dime, but thought I should give the children each a sticker, a buy-one-get-one-free deal. In my innocence, I didn't say no, but even at that young age, I was dumbfounded that someone could be so cheap as to cheat a child out of 10 cents. Perhaps the parent had only one dime, and if so, that would have been a great "teachable moment" for the kids – you can't get something for nothing.

That situation would not happen again today. I'm no longer afraid to tell clients no when I see I'm getting a raw deal, and when I give something for free or discounted, it's on my terms, not the client's.

Lori

April 29, 2011

If you've not seen Kathy Kehrli's post about AOL latest AOHell move, check it out. It's Huffington Post all over again.

http://irreverentfreelancer.blogspot.com/2011/04/aol-joining-free-freelancer-bandwagon.html

Paula

April 29, 2011

Blogger apparently ate my comment, too…but I can't remember what it was!

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May 2, 2011

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