Ask and You Shall ReceiveIn a recent conversation with a writer friend, he was a bit taken aback by the contract terms sent to him by his latest client, which we’ll call Big Name Publication. He spelled out a few, which had to do with kill fees and reprint rights. He was concerned and didn’t…
Your Financial Picture Terrific blog post by Kristen King – it’s a must-read for every freelancer. Inkthinker: What Is Your Freelance Financial Picture?
Job Listings – June 4, 2007When the Customer is WrongI had a conversation with a writer friend this past week regarding one of her current clients. Her “editor” had made some friendly criticisms of her work – and from this chair, incorrect criticisms. That was disconcerting enough, but when he took her well-crafted sentences and…
I’m Pretty Sure I’m Right This Time
In a really strange conversation with an interview subject yesterday, the man I was talking to was dead wrong and I could prove it. But I chose not to. His pronunciation of my last name was waaaaay off the spelling of it, and when I corrected him, he said, “No, it says right here in…
Job Listings – May 29, 2007Newbies – One Key to Financial SuccessI’m busy – maybe as busy as I was last year at this time. But last year, as some of you may remember, was the year Lori nearly took (gasp!)a “real” job. Why? Because as busy as I was, I was busy on big,…
Playing Emotional Hardball Expanding on this week’s theme – difficulties with bad clients – I think it’s time we touched on what I think is the toughest speed bump to ignore – emotional hardball. That’s when you, the professional writer, follow your invoicing procedure up to and possibly including the threat of litigation only to…
Did I Just Step in Something? I love creative people, except when they think they’re being creative when in fact they’re being skanks. Just experienced an incident with one particular creative who owes me money. In fact, the check’s been absent since somewhere around January. I sent yet another invoice, this time with a late…
Job Listings – May 22, 2007Writer Bill of RightsI’m very glad to see this week’s topic has generated so many responses! I’m somewhat sad to see that I was getting lots of agreement – that we’ve all been victims of Clients Behaving Badly. For the most part, we have great relationships with our clients (I…
Client Gaffes and No-Nos I’ve preached plenty about what we as writers should or should not do. Professional etiquette must be followed even in the face of the most wretched humans to hit your in box. For the most part, we writers listen and respond well. However, not all clients understand proper etiquette when dealing…
Job Postings – May 15, 2007Supply and Demand Yesterday’s rambling about traffic held a hidden gem of a topic – how compensation for freelancers would change if the corporate world were to suddenly embrace telecommuting. Two thoughts went through my head simultaneously as Mike Seiber commented on the idea of better compensation in a “new”…