Words on the Page

The Denegration of Freelance Writing

Posted on by lwidmer

Now I’m ticked. There are a few places in my online world where I think I’m safe from the crap offers, the low-balling freelance rates (and nonpaying posts), and writers competing to do a thankless job for exposure. Can I vomit now? It’s just creeped in to my LinkedIn experience. It was a post in…

Monthly Assessment – March

Posted on by lwidmer

Yes, it’s time once again for us to look at the month and see what went right, what went wrong. Ready? Oh, what a month. No, not work-wise. Just oh, what a month. Too much weirdness, too many failed attempts to find work, too much idle time spent dealing with unnecessary, well, crap. Here’s how…

The Price is Right

Posted on by lwidmer

Ruthibelle asked last week how to find what other writers are charging. Great question. Anne Wayman wrote a post about this a few years ago, and it holds true today. She includes a link to Eldon Sarte’s Profit Goal formula, which I think is brilliant for determining how much you need to make to pay…

Just Call Me Disappointment

Posted on by lwidmer

I knew when I was crafting the proposal last week that it wasn’t going to fly. While the potential client had all the earmarkings of someone who understood paying fairly for services rendered, there was that underlying current of not understanding exactly what constitutes fairness. I can’t blame him for not having the knowledge of…

When to be Unreliable

Posted on by lwidmer

There are a few people from my past who keep showing up occasionally wanting favors. They don’t ask how I am, nor do they care. They want help. Free help. And they want it yesterday. They’re life suckers – they roll into my life and suck up any and all free time, help, money, etc….

Murphy’s Law and Putting Your Foot Down

Posted on by lwidmer

It never fails – the minute I’m facing a slow day and I think maybe I’ll take the laptop and disappear into the local cafe, the work comes flying at me like those monkeys in the Wizard of Oz. That was my yesterday. Two small projects that I could have finished by 11 am were…

No You Didn’t

Posted on by lwidmer

I was reading a fun post by Maria Schneider the other day about the stupid things people say to writers. Go read the “You Get Paid For That?” post. I’ll wait…. So what was the stupidest/rudest thing someone said to you upon learning you were a writer? We’ve all heard the “Oh wow! I’ve always…

Is Time Off a Deal Breaker?

Posted on by lwidmer

Good news on the work front – a call came in yesterday from what turned out to be a potential client. Honestly, the client identified his company, but having at least 12 calls a day from telemarketers, it wasn’t until I hung up I realized he was calling about work. He’d asked if I had…

Even Cheerleaders Need Prozac

Posted on by lwidmer

I didn’t want to admit it, and I tried keeping my chin up and my cheerleader game face on, but it’s no use. Work, right now, is mighty tough to come by. Maybe it’s not fair to compare one year over another, but last year at this time I couldn’t keep up with the projects….

Can We Charge for It?

Posted on by lwidmer

On Twitter the other day a fellow writer was lamenting how she’d spent quality time putting together a proposal for a client she suspected had no money. Turns out she was right. She wondered out loud (in Twitter Land) if there was something to be done so that she could stop spinning her wheels and…

Devon Ellington

I already do charge. Let’s face it, there are one of two things going on when a client asks for a free sample.

1. If the client can’t tell whether or not you’re a good fit from your clips, there’s a red flag. Be prepared to write aggravation fees into the contract.

2. The “client” is spreading the project amongst the “tests” sent out to “potential” employers and then will tell those tested that they didn’t get the job. Suddenly, under a different name and in a different context, the work appears on a site or in a report, etc.! The copyright clause most of us already put in to our contracts “I retain copyright until payment” is difficult to enforce in these cases.

I like your $50/100 words. If a client wants a project-specific sample (that’s different from anything in my portfolio), I charge 50% of the rate offered in the ad — but I think I’ll switch to your rate.

Leora

Yes, I have had this issue with my business, and I find others in different businesses (a friend in financial services, for example) who has similar complaints.

What I find is one has to trust one’s instinct in drawing boundaries. What do you feel comfortable giving out for free? When do you charge?

I will give out free advice if I can use the information for a blog post. Or if it doesn’t take me that long. If I touch someone’s code, they have to pay me!

I think each business person has to set their own boundaries.

Anne Wayman

Hi Lori, sometimes I charge for a proposal, maybe as much as $500 or even $1,000 if it’s a proposal to write a whole book… that’s for most or all of a sample chapter…

Sometimes, however, I don’t charge because I need to get a feel for the relationship before I make a firm proposal… in those cases I’ll do a two or three page sample for free just to understand the material and the client’s response.

Irreverent Freelancer

I never, ever write full proposals, articles, what have you on spec, but where do you draw the line? I’m getting to the point where I’m unwilling to give out any professional advice without being paid for it. Case in point, I recently responded to a job ad for a press release. The poster requested a headline to show what direction the writer would take the angle. Fair enough. It took me all of three minutes to devise a pretty darn good one. The job poster emailed me back and said he loved it, how much would I charge to develop it? Once I quoted him a price, I never heard back from him. No doubt, he took my angle that he loved and either wrote the press release himself or hired someone else at half my rate. Either way, it ticks me off that my creativity went uncompensated and probably brought in quite a bit of money for the cheapskate.

Kathryn

I have a proposal package that I put together for my grant writing part of my freelance writing. It only includes finding potential grants and not actually getting any money (or even applying for grants).

I had never thought about doing something similar for my online content freelance writing. It makes sense, I just have “never seen it done that way before” 😉

No more creating new content with out compensation. If they don’t like my clips and they don’t want to pay then I’m better off somewhere else anyway.

Angie Ledbetter

The whole industry sometimes makes us desperate for work when there are so many starving writers who will work for pennies on the dollar just for a clip or to get established. As for the writing/editing job scams — they abound on the Net.

Kimberly Ben

Wow, this is a timely topic. I rarely give out detailed advice without being hired first. I learned that mostly based on the experiences of other writers who have had work stolen.

Amy Derby was receiving so many questions about the services she provided that she wisely started offering consultation services.

I do charge a consulting fee for meeting with clients in person. In the early days of setting up my business I had several prospects wanting to meet in person waste my time. Besides, I had to make childcare arrangements,etc.

This is such an important topic because there are lots of unscrupulous people out there scamming for free content. Thanks for bring this up.

Joseph Hayes

Yes, it is perfectly fine to charge for any part of your expertise. Designers suggesting logo concepts charge before they actually get the job – and they don’t give away the killer design, either – and clients seem to be fine with that.

I have no fear in asking for a fee, and not giving myself away in the process either. The ones who do accept it make up for the ones who don’t, because they’re actually willing to ask for my best work. There’s something in the restaurant business called the “verbal tip” … I’m not going to tip you, but let me tell you how great the service was! I’m too old and too qualified for verbal tips.

Lori

Joseph, that’s a great analogy. I’m through with verbal tips, too. If my existing samples don’t show you what you want to see, pay for a sample. I’m happy to provide it once the check clears.

Iris

Hi Lori,

I agree with the consensus that, beyond a shadow of doubt, freelancers need to charge for proposals. I charge for my time and I charge a flat hourly rate for all the work I produce: proposals, edits, new content I write, etc. I don’t charge for attending meetings though. Just for actual work I produce.

Sometimes clients will ask about my editing fees and I’ll tell them it depends on whether they want something proofread or edited. Invariably, they’ll ask what the difference is and I’ll proofread and edit the same bit of text – usually a paragraph or so – show them the difference and give them an estimate of how long each service will take. Often, the client will want editing services at proofreading rates. This is when I have to stick to my guns and say: Sorry, I can ‘t do that. These sample edits then end up as work for which I don’t get compensated but I don’t mind that so much. It’s the nature of the freelance beast, I didn’t invest too much time in it and it’s not my original content.

Lori

I agree, Iris. There are times we’re going to find ourselves writing for free, even if it’s a paragraph or two. Like you said, in those cases (and at your own discretion), it’s fine. It’s when they want full proposals without any commitment that I dig in my heels.

Maybe keep those samples around for the next person who asks what the difference is? Better yet, maybe we should have a section on our websites where we can send clients – something that would give them an instant sample and explanation. Might work pretty well!

Susan Johnston

Lori, I think I responded to that same ad, but I never bothered to send them revision ideas, because I smelled a rat. I feel more comfortable telling prospective clients that “I’m happy to do a sample, but I will need to invoice you for it” rather than saying “if you want a sample you have to pay me.” Most understand that it means the same thing, but I think it’s a little less demanding. I had a client this week who agreed to pay for custom samples (at the same rate we established for the rest f the project) and hired me to do the full project.

Here’s another beef: last week I responded to an ad looking for a copywriter for a shoe website. Since I’ve done retail copy (and you know I’m a sucker for shoes), I emailed a detailed LOI. They quickly responded with a curt one-liner: “I like your style – what are your rates?”

For most of us, there isn’t a simple answer. If I don’t know whether I’d be writing 50 word product descriptions or 500 word “about us” and “return policy” pages, how can I send you an accurate quote? I wrote back saying “please call me at XXX so we can discuss your needs. Depending on the scope of the project, I charge by the word, the project, or the hour.” Seems like an honest answer, right? I never heard from them and I suspect it’s because they wanted someone who’d say something dumb like “you can pay me in shoes” or “$.04/word.” Puh-lease!

Lori

I don’t know, Susan – I’d probably take payment in shoes. ;))

It’s because most of our beginner counterparts in this industry will take anything and let someone else be in charge of what they make. It’s tough coming across a client who has dealt with more beggars than choosers.