Maybe I just shouldn't write, period

ATP said:

I don't know how long you've been in the business, but from what we have all seen clearly is your inexperience.

In the first instance, it does pay - literally and figuratively - to thoroughly read your contract. By doing so, you would have saved yourself a lot of time and grief. And saved yourself time here. However, all vets. have had to start at the beginning, so no fault is ascribed.

Might I suggest that you do more homework - the finer points of contracts and copyright; negotiations; marketing. There are plenty of resources found on these within the archives of the business-related forums such as Trade and Custom Publishing, Business and Technical, and some material in the Freelance forum. There are also good books found on Amazon.com concerning these areas. Or, depending on your finances, you can probably get quite a number via your local community library.

One good online resource is found at www.writing-world.com.

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Hi ATP,

First of all, thanks for the Web link. It was a good one. With the few posts I've had here, you've always responded with blunt, but often times, needed direction or information.

I took at look at some of your posts on the Trade magazine thread, and it seems that you are currently dealing with some of the same issues that I have posted about.

Even with your experience, it seems you just finished a long piece, for which you had to expend a lot of research time, in order to grasp the subject matter.

You mentioned that you received 'low pay' for the job, but you realized that you could now market yourself in a new area.

As well, I read some great posts that you left about dealing with editors who try to low ball you, even with all of your "experience."

It's good to know that these issues are universal, given the nature of the profession, whether "experienced," or "inexperienced."

A little about my background, so you know: I worked as a technical writer for about 9 years--independent contractor--and I made great money. However, I got really sick and could not work for a couple of years.

Last year, I finally started again and I realized my skillset was not current, and the pay scale that I was used to, was not the same as it was a few years ago.

You responded to my first post about the first tech writing job I was able to get, after my recovery.

Print is a whole other issue. I haven't written for print since college, and as a tech writer, I was used to negotiating a contract usually through an agency. My rate per hour was negotiated with the agency, who then went to the client on my behalf.

So, the whole contract negotiation, with no middle-man, is something new to me. It really is. I've been working with three print clients--one for about a year--and each gave me a standard contract. The client I've posted about on this thread is the first one that has been less than honest, however it is my responsibility to know what I am signing.

No doubt that "we" all know I am inexperienced.

I hope that explains where I am at this point, and thanks for the link.

Boo

dahmnait said:

I would be hesitant to take anything more from this person. Slipping this information in was such a sleazeball thing to do that I would be concerned what else he might pull. Now if the business wants more, and he is not involved, it may be different. Unless you are desperate for the work, I would think twice, and then think again before accepting any work while he is involved. Of course, that is just my opinion.

Sorry you have to deal with this. I am glad to hear that you are taking the experience as a learning experience though. And thanks for posting. It is not always easy to post our own mistakes. It is a helpful reminder to us all on the importance of reading every paper.

Take care.

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Dahmnait,

I appreciate your feedback. He emailed me, yesterday, just to tell me that he received the rewrite, but hasn't had a chance to review it, yet.

It's embarrassing, in a way, that I let myself get involved with this. I did it because I had never written an article for this industry, and it was a chance to write a 'white paper' type article. At the same time, it is my fault for not really reading that last page, no matter what.

I'm just waiting to see what he says about the re-write, and I have a feeling that will be the end of the professional relationship. It seems I have a lot of studying to do about what my rates should be, and being pro-active in having my own contract and terms ready.

Thanks for the comments.

Boo

Here is the latest.

I emailed him yesterday, and I asked whether the revision was good-to-go, since I had not heard from him since Monday.

He wrote back and said, "We've got it this time," and said he was happy with the revision..."However..."

He was very nebulous but told me that he had some questions for me to clarify and answer, and that some editing needed to take place within the article, "to correct some things." As well, a study that I referenced cannot be used in the article, he said.

So, I feel like if the edits and changes will take me--at the most--two hours, no problem. If he is wanting a complete re-write, or if I am going to have to find other sources, which will take me much longer than two hours, I do not think I can continue re-writes for free to "infinity and beyond," as this is starting to feel.

The other part of me feels like, "Hey, you were dumb enough to sign that contract, so just finish it to his liking, stick it in your portfolio and NEVER work with him again."

We are supposed to talk about the edits, etc. on Monday. I just want this over with, period. I guess we shall see. I'm just hoping that the edits are minor, and I can wrap this up on a positive note.

Good Word and kohuether: thanks for the support.

Boo

kohuether said:

You're welcome. And you know, it might get to the point where you should say something. What does your contract say about revisions? Sorry if that is a repeat question. If your contract doesn't say either way about them, I would probably find a way to politely tell them that you can't take it anymore! There's a fine line between doing what the editor wants and standing up for yourself. Seems like you're teetering on the tightrope.

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Yes, I teetered on the tightrope, but like a good Wallenda, I gave an exciting show and still made it to the other side.

I spoke with my editor on Tuesday, and he only found a few minor edits that I needed to make. It didn't take me very long, so I finally handed the final draft off, and sent my invoice. He said that was fine.

He also said, given the fact that I knew nothing about this topic when I started, that I did a really good job.

I am just glad I am finished.

Thanks!
Boo

Update

Well,

I thought I would post and update to my soap opera.

Okay, finished the project from hell, knowing that I had really gotten screwed. So, now, I am waiting for payment--it will be 30 days on August 29--and he has yet to post the white paper/article on his Web site.

Several of the professionals that I interviewed for this article--one, a CEO of his own computer software company--continue to email me, wondering when the article will be out.

It's been about a month. The editor keeps emailing me, telling me, "Oh, I'm putting it up this week," and then nothing. This has been going on for three weeks. Each time I email and say, "some of the contacts for the story are wondering when it's going up on the Web site," I get a reply with excuses as to why it's not published, yet.

If this continues, I want to know what rights--if any--that I have. What I mean is that in my contract, I sold rights to him for this story. However, if he's never really going to publish it, can I ask for the rights back? This paper was intensive, long, and it was very good. If he's not going to ever publish it, then I want it back so I can re-sell it.

I have a feeling I am royally screwed, but I am very angry over this. This guy is so passive aggressive, as someone pointed out when this thread started, it's not even funny. He sure wanted this paper in a hurry, and rode me to get it, but he's taking his sweet time posting it.

Any suggestions on how to handle this tactfully, but get my point across to this guy that if he's not going to publish the article, I want my rights back?

Right now, I just want to call him and rip him a new one. I found out the editorial assistant he hired (that was the original part-time job I was going for, with his company, but he wanted me to write for them) quickly quit the job. Imagine that?

If any veterans have any advice for me, I would appreciate it. Trust me. This will never happen again.

Thanks,
Lisa

Hi Good Word,

Yep, you were right. Actually, I happened to look at the Web site, yesterday--the first time this week--and it was posted.

As my posts indicate, this project really messed with me. Well, they are supposed to pay 30 days after invoice, so I should be seeing the check next week.

I'm just glad I can send the article to the folks that I interviewed. So, technically, he didn't have to post the article at all? He could have kept it and never used it?

I didn't realize that. Next time, I will not be signining over rights in perpetuity, etc.

Thanks for the response!

Lisa

Tish Davidson said:

One thing you may be able to do in the fiuture is sell the story as a one-time rights story instead of a first-rights story. Then you don't have to wait for the publisher to publish the story first, as you would if he bought first rights. However, most publishers want first rights if the story is significant and has a national audience. I have been able to negotiate one-time rights stories only in regional publications, and then only with the guarantee of exclusivity in each publication's circulation area.

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Tish,

Thanks for the direct advice. I am finally learning about all of this, and your information helped. Hopefully, you will read the next post in this thread.

Lisa

The saga continues: Long post alert

Okay,

Received the payment for the job, as my refusal to respond to his excuses as to why the check wasn't in my mailbox after thirty days, sort of made him somewhat anxious.

It turns out he just didn't bother to send my invoice to Accounting, upon original receipt of my invoice. He apologized, etc. His contract specifically states that I will be paid 30 days after receipt of invoice.

So, then I get a voicemail from him, as he told Accounting to cut a check for me. This is so embarrassing for me, somewhat, to even admit this, but I hope what I've dealt with will truly help another new writer.

The original contract I agreed to with this editor was $300 for 1500 words. At that time, I was only working for one other trade publication and averaging a little lower than that for print articles.
As well, because I am not an expert in accounts payable processes, I thought this would be a way to break into another genre of business reporting.

As you can read, previously in this thread—though, I did delete my initial post—the contract was really shady, but I was not attentive enough to each detail. I also didn't understand the concept of writing for the Internet, and the concept of first rights, one-time rights, etc. The contract was very pro company, obviously, and basically it said that they owned my work and could reprint it forever and I only get paid once and that's it.

Plus, they could decide to put a byline on the story or not. Now I realize that I own my work and that I can negotiate for first or one-time rights, as well as a byline.

I didn't know this going into this project. As well, I didn't know it would take me 35 plus hours of research and writing to get it done.

As you can read through the thread, he added "case studies" to the article, but told me that he felt I could still make it with a 1500 article.

That wasn't the case. The first version totaled over 3000 words. I thought I would take my lumps and just move on, but suddenly this version wasn't what he wanted. It was what he wanted when I met with him and I took copious notes, but suddenly it's not what he wanted. Okay.

Given that I was not an expert in this subject, and given that I was pretty green, I re-wrote the article, adding a case study that he wanted, without re-negotiating. The whole article ended up being 5,000 words.

As you can see in my previous ramblings on this subject, I just wanted this over with and to move on.

He liked the second version and I sent my invoice. It took him weeks to even post the article, and when I saw it, it was basically the article I had written with a few minor edits. And I mean a few. The case studies had no edits at all.

One of the contacts I interviewed for the story wanted to see a copy of the story. Once he got it, he said it was well written and he liked it. He wanted to find out about linking it to his Web site, and reprints. I passed that onto the editor, in the same email where I inquire about payment.

Okay, editor is embarrassed about not having my check to me on time, so he then tells me to send him another invoice, with "Part 2" on it, and he decides to add another $300 dollars to my payment for this work.

He felt very benevolent doing this, and I certainly wouldn't turn it down, but once I found out the going rate for white papers, this was just a drop in the bucket.

I sent the invoice and that was that.
At the end of last week, he emails about another assignment—a news article—and he tells me to call him immediately. I send back an email letting him know that I am changing my rates for all of my writing.

I quote my rates for technical writing, white paper (I included an hourly rate and a per project flat rate, with re-write charges), and news/feature writing. I researched the going rates, as well as the rates in my market. The prices were all fair, without lowballing myself in the process.

I quoted .50 cents per word for news or feature articles.

I had another deadline I was working on at the end of last week, and I wasn't going to call him. So, he frantically calls me on Friday afternoon, telling me to call him Monday morning.

I call him, this morning, and he tells me all about this article, then asks if I can get it to him by Friday. He then starts discussing my email with my new rates.

Here's the conversation:

Smarmy editor: Um, instead of .50 cents per word, how about.45 cents per word?

Me: No. I think I stated my new rates, and I'd like to stick to them. I don't see the big problem between 45 and 50 cents, frankly, but these are the rates I need to stick with.

Smarmy editor: Well, we usually pay our consultants about 45 cents per word.

Me: Oh, well I wish I had known that before I signed the contract for the white paper. (Laughing) You didn't tell me that!

Smarmy editor: (nervous laughter) Well, um…ha ha…

Me: I really need to stand firm on my rates. I've done some research and there are some publications that are paying writers up to a dollar per word, but for my level of experience, I feel 50 cents per word is a fair rate.

Smarmy editor: Well, actually, not that the paper you wrote wasn't good. It was good, but I really had to do a lot of re-editing on it. There was a lot of work that had to be done to the paper.

Me: Really? I saw the finished version on the Web site and I didn't see many edits at all. It looks like the exact article that I wrote.

Smarmy editor: (interrupting and talking louder than me) WELL there was a LOT of work that had to be done on it….and I paid you extra for it…because, because, well you didn't ask for enough on this project. You didn't ask for enough.

Me: The price was not dictated by me. You dictated it, and based on what you wanted originally, I thought it was fair given my experience level. I appreciate the extra money that you offered, but if you wanted an AP consultant to write the paper, I believe you would have had to pay them up to $2000 or more for a 5000 word white paper, or at least $75 per hour. Also, I had no byline on the article and you own all of the rights. And when someone wants a reprint, you get the royalties from my work. I signed that contract, so therefore, I was honoring that contract, period. If I signed it, then I have to abide by that.

Smarmy editor: <nicer tone> And I appreciate that. Anyway, the article I want you to write is about [he talks about the subject matter] and I have background information for you, and a contact. Do you think you can write it by Friday?

Me: Do you think you can pay 50 cents per word and give me a byline?

Smarmy editor: Yes.

Me: Okay, send the information to me and I will take a look at it.

I remained calm, until I got off of the phone with him. Then, I was so insulted by him trying to insinuate that he had to do major re-writes on my article, I had to prove to myself he was full of crap.

I printed out the final version I sent to him, versus the version up on the Web site.

Out of 5000 plus words, he had 24 edits. These were sometimes one word edits, or he'd add something to what I had written, or he would re-word a sentence for style, strike a word, etc. One edit he made was incorrect, according to AP style.

Nothing on the case studies. They were untouched.

Another editor, from a good paying publication I work with, emailed me to tell my deadline was pushed up to this Friday, instead of next Tuesday. It's a huge article.

So, I emailed smarmy editor and told him I could not take on the assignment, since I have another huge deadline this Friday.

I resisted really telling him off. Instead, I have created my own contract, based on my research, and based on some boiler plate examples I have found. If he asks me to work for him, again, I don't think he's going to like the new terms, and that's fine with me.

For those who read this far, I thank you. This has been a stinging learning experience for me, but I'm no longer going to accept lowball offers for my writing, even if it means I have to work at Baskin Robbins part time to make my bills.

Thanks,
Lisa