Brace Yourselves

From the looks of the financial markets we're headed into a very lean period for freelance writers.

The calculus is brutally simple. Publications depend on advertising. Companies cut back advertising and marketing in a recession. From the looks of things we're in the worst financial mess since the 1930s. That doesn't paint a pretty picture.

If you've been a freelancer for long you've been through this before. I've seen it at least twice : Once in the early 90s and once in 2001 when a combination of the dot com implosion and 9/11 restricted activity and killed a lot of my clients.

So what can you do? Well, there are a number of things. If writing is a significant part of your income there's one thing you're going to have to do. You're going to have to work even harder to find assignments. This is not the time to sit back and let things come to you. You've got to go after them vigorously.

There's some other stuff I'll share with you later. Meanwhile I've got to get another query out.

--RC

WORDS FOR WRITERS TO LIVE BY

"What one conceives well can be stated with clarity and the words to say it come easily."
--Nicholas Boileau, French literary critic

Thinking Ahead

One of the most important, albeit most difficult, parts of being a freelance writer is keeping the past, present and future in synch.

In the magazine business the check that lands in your mailbox today represents the work that you completed between one and three months ago. The stuff you're working on today won't pay off for another one to three months. And you've got to be scrambling for assignments today that will have deadlines one or two months out.

If you do all this right you maintain a nice, steady cash flow. If you don't, you're going to have holes in your income that will have your Significant Other fretting and your creditors calling.

It's a balancing act. Fortunately you don't have to think about all three at once. But it's best to spend part of each day on each of the three areas. Monitor your payments for work submitted, work on the stuff that's current and spend part of the day thinking about ideas and submitting queries for more articles.

--RC

The Baby Bird Effect

If as a free lancer you're not on the verge of biting off more than you can chew, you're not working hard enough.

That doesn't mean you should accept assignments with impossible deadlines, etc., but if you can possibly do the job, take it. If you can't do the job, know some freelancers you can suggest to do the job in your place.

Freelancing = Firing proof

One of the advantages of freelance writing is you can never be fired. In fact if you manage your business right no one client can ever shut you down because you're always working for several clients at once.

Of course the down side of that up side is that you've got to keep hustling for work and you've got to maintain a balance. Letting any one client account for more than about 20 percent of your income on a regular basis makes you too dependent. Diversification is your protection.

"Can You Send Me A Copy Of The Story Before It Runs?"

Sometimes you'll get an interviewee who wants to see the story before it runs. The reasons range from a fear of being misquoted to an effort to influence the overall shape of the piece.

Since the relationship with sources in technical journalism (where I earn my money) is seldom adversarial, and since you often want to come back to use the source again, the request puts the writer in a difficult situation.

First, of course, keep in mind who you're working for. You're working for the magazine, not the source's company, and your first loyalty has to be to the magazine.

It's a sticky question for writers because the last thing you or your editor wants is to have the story reviewed by some outside entity. At the same time you don't want to lie to your source.

There are several ways to handle this situation. One is flat refusal, explaining it is against the magazine's policy -- whether there is any such formal policy or not. Most of the time the source will accept that, although some of them get testy about it -- limiting the source's use in future stories.

A more sophisticated version is to say you'll take it up with your editor, then mention it to the editor without making a big deal about it.

Personally I never provide a source with a copy of the story. If they have a copy in hand the sources' instinct is to run it by his boss. The next thing you know the guy is calling back demanding changes because the legal department, PR agency, vice-president, etc., didn't like what the guy said.

A compromise I'll use is to tell the person you will call them after the story is written and read them their quotes. In making the offer you explain that you're under a tight deadline and the window may be as little as a couple of hours and you're not sure when that window will fall. You have to make contact in that time frame, you explain, or the opportunity for review will be lost.

This has the advantage of being mostly true and it limits the time available for other people in the company messing with the story.

Getting It Right

One of the most important things you can do when accepting an assignment is make sure you understand what you're being asked to do.

I just got my nose rubbed in this when I discovered that a story I've been doing interviews for isn't the story I was actually assigned. They're close enough I can salvage most of my work, but it's annoying as heck. If I hadn't caught it before I submitted the story I would have looked like a right fool to an important editor.

So make sure you understand. Ask questions. If you have follow up questions email the editor. You'll be happier for it.

Beware the Ides of August

August is almost upon us. The month in which freelancers' income traditionally goes to hell.

The problem, basically, is that August is vacation month in New York. It's when everyone who can packs up and goes somewhere else. Unfortunately that includes the people who normally handle dreary details like cutting checks, not to mention the editors to whom you can appeal.

Their replacements are, perhaps, less motivated and certainly less experienced. So things slip. Like payments to authors.

Result: Every August freelancers' receivables balloon, income shrinks and writers suffer.

I've already had my first taste of this and August is nearly a week away. Ah well, to paraphrase SuperChicken: You knew the job was silly when you took it, Fred.

GRAPHICS SOFTWARE FOR WRITERS

"Always use the proper tool for the job. The proper tool to fix a television is a television repairman."
-- John W. Campbell Jr.

When it comes to graphics, the best thing most writers can do is hand the job off to someone else. But sometimes in these days of the web that's just not possible. You've got to have a picture or diagram to illustrate something, the publication doesn't have a staff artist who can produce what you need (or there is no staff because you're self-publishing) and you've got to turn out what you need.
My first piece of advice is to simplify your graphic as much as possible. My second is to use the available tools to simplify what you're doing. For example use digital photos rather than attempting to draw a picture of someone doing something.
When it comes to tools there is an enormous range of them and an equally enormous range of prices. Fortunately graphics software is an area where those two axes are orthogonal. In other words you can get extremely powerful tools for very little money.
Example: The GIMP, or just GIMP. GIMP is roughly the equivalent of high-end commercial graphics programs like Photoshop. The big difference from your perspective is that GIMP is free and Photoshop is over $500.
That's both good news and bad news. The good news is, it's free. The bad news is that GIMP is not significantly less complicated than Photoshop. In other words it will probably take you as long to learn GIMP as it would to learn Photoshop to the equivalent level.
That's important because one of the major differentators of graphics programs is the learning curve. In fact given the availability of open source graphics programs that curve is one of the major differentiators -- certainly more than price.
Photoshop is a classic example. It is truly a professional program and a professional can do damn near anything with it. But to become a professional with Photoshop takes a lot of experience, probably a course or two and using the thing at least several hours a week. Graphics programs get their power from their complexity and ones like Photoshop or GIMP are complex indeed.
I am in the process of learning GIMP and having played with Photoshop I'd rate the two roughly equivalent. Photoshop is a little more powerful (IMAO) as well as being the professional standard, but GIMP is somewhat easier to learn and use.
If you need to do a lot of fancy graphics stuff and you're willing to put the time into learning, you should probably check out GIMP or Photoshop.
The next consideration is the kind of graphics program you need. There are actually three broad classes of graphics software and two of them are easy for the novice to confuse. These are drawing programs, painting programs and specialized graphics programs.
To take the easy one first, specialized graphics software is designed to do a single job, such as drawing flow charts or making graphs. (If you need graphs, don't ignore the features built into spreadsheets.) They tend to be easy to learn if you're familar with what you're trying to represent. A program for producing diagrams of molecular structures, for example, won't do you much good unless you understand chemisty. If you have a specialized need, check on the web for specialized software.
The other two categories are commonly referred to as drawing programs and painting programs. The ones called drawing programs are good at creating graphics from scratch. "Painting programs" can also create graphics from scratch but they shine at modifying existing graphics, such as photo modification.
You can illustrate the difference for yourself by playing around with Microsoft Draw and Microsoft Paint, which come with Windows. (Or their equivalents which come with Macs -- or at least they used to.) These are simple programs but if you try to do the same thing in MS Draw and MS Paint you'll get a feel for the differences.
I don't have a recommendation in these classes because I haven't found anything I really like yet. Currently I'm playing with Ultimate Paint, but it doesn't seem to have layers -- a vital feature when you're creating a graphic combining text and pictures or you just don't want to screw up all your work by a mistake in the current operation. I don't like Paint or Draw because they seem too limited. So I'll keep looking and if I find something I like, I'll report back here.
In the meantime, remember the quote at t he top of the page and, if possible, fob the job of creating graphics off on an artist.

--RC

GETTING PAID -- 2

If you keep proper records, filed the right paperwork and invoiced your client in the right way (see last post) you've got a good chance of getting paid more-or-less on time. However it doesn't always work that way.
In some cases the check doesn't arrive even after all that. Then you have to other, stronger, measures.
Understand, in most cases you're not being cheated. Often the procedures for paying freelancers are pretty slipshod and it's easy for thing to fall through the cracks, if you let them.
So don't let things fall through the cracks. Know the publication's payment schedule, respect it, but hold the publication to it.
As a general rule, it takes 30 days or less from editorial approval of your invoice until the check shows up in your mailbox. Some pubs take more, some less. Remember that's from when the editor signs off on your story and gives the okay to pay you. If there are rewrites or other considerations it can take two or three months from the time you submit your invoice.
I keep track of when I invoice a story and when I receive payment on my spreadsheet. If payment hasn't shown up in 30 days, I send a brief, polite note to the editor asking him to check on the status of the invoice. I attach a copy of the original invoice on the theory that it might have gotten lost.
The editor is almost always your point of contact, even if you have an email address for the person in accounting. The editor is almost always on your side and he or she knows the ins and outs of the publication. The editor is in a much better position than you are to navigate those shoals. There is also the fact that a lot of the time the crack the payment has fallen through is that the editor hasn't forwarded the invoice and payment authorization to accounting.
There's a psychological factor as well. To the accounting department you're just a nuisance. To the editor you're a colleague.
Keep in mind this is a polite note, no matter how panicky you are. You want to keep the editor sympathetic, not antagonize him or here. Don't apologize for wanting your money, but don't be obnoxious either.
Usually you'll get something back in the next day or so saying the clog has been cleared and the check is on the way.
9 times in 10 this is all it takes. However don't stop there. Give a reasonable time for the check to arrive and then sent another note to the editor, saying that you haven't gotten paid yet and will the editor please check further.
Sometimes the editor has to use some office dynamite to get the check released. There's almost always a certain amount of tension between accounting and editorial and sometimes there's a state of near-war. Dealing with that can be unpleasant, but sometimes the editor has to push on your behalf.
Throughout this sequence the editor should be communicating with you. At the very least you should get a note saying the editor will check on it. If you don't get a response, or if two contacts with the editor and appropriate waiting haven't produced a result, then it's time to escalate.
The first step in escalation is the top editor at the publication (assuming that's not who you're dealing with). Again send a brief businesslike note, giving the date you originally submitted your invoice and the dates of your contacts with your editor. Ask the top editor to please look into this and attach a copy of the original invoice.
If that doesn't work, or if it doesn't produce results, the next step is to contact the publisher, again with a polite, but firm note with dates of contacts and a copy of the invoice. It's also a good idea to attach a copy of your contract, if any, and a copy of your W-9 form to make sure the publisher has all the paperwork.
If the story has already appeared (as it well might, considering the amount of time this process takes) you might mention to the publisher that since you have not yet been paid, you still own the copyright to the work. (The work-for-hire agreement in the contract doesn't apply if you haven't been paid.)
Understand that every step beyond contacting your editor makes it less likely you'll ever work for that publication again. However that's not likely to be a consideration since you haven't gotten paid.
What's next? Unfortunately not much. If you're a member of a writer's organization related to the field of the publication, you might contact them and see if they can exert any pressure. Similarly, the folks at WritersWeekly have a section of their weekly newsletter called "Whispers and Warnings". If you explain the circumstance to them they can at least publish a warning for other freelancers. Sometimes they can also pressure the publication into paying up.
Beyond that, you've got a decision to make. You can sue in your local small claims court, and there's a good chance you'll even win. However it's likely to be a hollow victory since it costs some money and you'll have to try to enforce your judgement in another state. Sometimes filing a suit will make the publisher cough up payment, but often not.
There's also the possibility that at some point you'll get a notice from the bankruptcy court that the publisher has declared bankruptcy and you're now an unsecured creditor. The notice will include a form you can fill out to make a claim against the publisher's assets.
You can file as a creditor if you want, but the chances that you'll see anything out of it are slim. Unsecured creditors are the low class on the totem pole in a bankruptcy and they seldom see a penny. If you do get something, it's likely to be a tiny amount a year or so later.
So what can you do to protect yourself against a situation like this?
Fortunately it doesn't happen often. Almost always the first or second note to the editor shakes loose your money. (This assumes you're careful to deal with non-flaky publications. The risks go way up with a new pub, or one that pays on publication.)
By the same token it does happen. It is a fact of life that in a few cases you will not get paid and in somewhat more cases you will not get paid in a timely manner. This is a fact of life in the writing business and if you can't handle it, don't freelance.
Your real protection is diversity. You never want to get into a situation where a publication's non-payment can seriously damage you. This is another reason for having a varied client list. If one of them does the publication equivalent of dropping dead, you've got others to fall back on.
This is the 'ugly' part of being a freelance writer.

GETTING PAID -- PART 1

So you've finished your latest opus, shipped it off to the editor and the editor has accepted it. You've submitted your invoice. Now you wait to get paid.

And wait.

And wait.

And. . .

In a perfect world you'd get paid as soon as the editor accepted the story. Since this isn't a perfect world, the process of getting paid eats and inordinate amount of the time and temper of freelancers. It saps your morale and makes it harder to get "up" for the next project.

So what do you do?

Recently Freelance Switch provided a link to a good summary of the problems of freelancers -- getting paid (why they put this under "humour" I have no idea, since it's not funny at all.)

Over the years I've developed a method of handling getting paid that is fairly straightforward. It requires a fair amount of work on my part, but I've learned that if I don't do the work I won't get paid anywhere from 10 to 30 percent of the time,.

First is record keeping. I know, I know, you hate it. I hate it. There's something about bookkeeping that's utterly antithetical to being a freelance writer. The only writer I know who doesn't feel that way is Robert Aspirin (he of the "Myth" books). But before he broke free Bob was a cost accountant.

So keep records. I know it sounds silly to say that you need to keep track of what work you did, who you did it for and how much they're supposed to pay you, but you'd be astonished how easy it is to forget that.

(You'd be astonished and your Significant Other would be appalled. I've often thought that the ideal combination in this business would be to be for a writer to be married to a CPA with an MBA. The fact that I don't know any couples like that may say something about how well such an arrangement would work.)

Then there is paperwork -- contracts, W-9 tax forms and such. Not everybody will send you a contract, but if they do, read it, sign it, date it, and send it back immediately. You can use the mail for this, but I tend to scan the contract into a pdf file and email it back unless the publication specifies otherwise.

Not everyone will send you a contract, but everybody will send you a W-9 the first time you work for them. If you don't get one, bug the editor about it. You most assuredly will not get paid until that paperwork has been filled out and returned.

Believe me, there is nothing like waiting a month after submitting an article, questioning the editor and then finding out "oh, we don't have a W9 for you" because the people in accounting didn't bother to send it. It may be their fault, but you're the one kept hanging for your money.

So, make sure you get the paperwork, make sure you send it in, and make sure the publication got it.

The next step is timely, accurate and consistent invoicing.

An invoice is a simple document, but it's got to include several items:

The name of the person the invoice is sent to. (Usually your editor, but sometimes not. Ask.)

The address of the business, which can be the email address.

The date submitted.

Your invoice number for this invoice. Make up a numbering system. I use a simple three digit sequential number starting with 001. It doesn't matter what it is, as long as each invoice gets a unique number.

The publication's invoice number, if you know it. If they give you one, be sure you get it right on the invoice.

The name of the work. This doesn't have to be exact, but it should be clear enough that the editor and others can identify the work instantly.

The kind of work (article, short story, tip, etc.).

The amount owing for each item.

Your name, mailing address, email, and phone number.

Your social security number or taxpayer ID number.

Be careful about business names. Some banks don't want to deposit checks with a DBA (I.E., "Kimball Kennison dba as Galactic Patrol") into a personal account. They want a business account, which is more expensive. Finding this out after you have the check in hand will also complicate getting paid.

Don't forget to put your tax or social security number on the invoice. Sure the publication has it on file, but you want to make paying you as easy as possible.

Make sure the invoice goes to the right people. Often that will be your editor and he or she will forward it to the appropriate person. Other times it will go to someone else, usually an accounting clerk. Find out how the publication wants to do it.

For many years I did my invoices on my word processor. However finally I encountered a particularly dense editor who made a practice of losing invoices. So I broke down and got an invoicing program.

I back this up with a spreadsheet where I record the date the project was submitted, the client name, the name of the work, the invoice number, the amount, the date the invoice was submitted, the date paid and a space for notes. The amount has two columns -- unpaid and paid with a monthly total for each column. When I get the check I move the project from the unpaid column to the paid one, which lets me see at a glance which invoices haven't been paid yet. The monthly totals provide a quick check on how I'm doing financially.

The complicating factor in all this is that, as far as I know, there really aren't any invoicing programs specifically for freelance writers. Most of what's out there is for businesses selling goods and services, accrual basis taxpayers, in other words. Those are unnecessarily complicated and often don't reflect what you really need. The invoicing modules in bookkeeping programs like Quicken, for example, don't really work.

Invoicing programs designed for service businesses are better, but they tend to be built around effort rather than product. That is, they focus on hours worked on a particular project and often try to schedule your day in 15 minute segments.

I use Invoice Service from BIS Software. My solution is a long way from ideal, but it works for me. The software doesn't have an automatic reminder feature to tell me when to bug editors, which is a bit of a pain. The program also costs about $100. Again, not ideal, but I can make it work.

All this is fine, but what happens when you still don't get paid?

Well, that's a subject for the next rock.

DEALING WITH EDITORS: THE FIRST RULE

It's the editor's game, the editor's ball and the editor's rules. Do it the editor's way -- no matter what you think of it.

THE DEADLY QUESTION

When an editor says "you know what I mean?" look out!

That phrase usually means the editor doesn't know what he or she means. That is the editor, or someone in the editor's organization, has a general idea for a story kind of about something but they haven't really worked it out.

This situation is anything from wearing to deadly as the editor thrashes around trying to clarify what is wanted by butchering successive rewrites of your story. The absolute best you can hope for is that the editor will see that your story isn't want was wanted and be able to spell it out for you for the rewrite.

When an editor asks "Do you know what I mean?" The best answer is: "No. Can you clarify?"

MANAGING YOUR INCOME

Being a full-time free-lance writer isn't just about getting assignments and writing them. It's also about making enough money to survive.

That means not only making the money, but having enough of it at the right time to pay your bills. And therein, as that Shakespeare fellow said, is the rub.

One of the difficulties with being a full-time freelancer is balancing projects with needed income. One reason it's difficult is that most writers don't like to think in those terms.

The natural inclination is to look at the money you've got in the bank in judging your financial condition. With a freelancer that's like setting your course by looking in the rearview mirror. You need to be concerned with prospective income.

Prospective income usually means two things. Either projects you have completed, invoiced and not been paid for yet, or projects you have been assigned and have not yet completed. Taken together these tell you how much money you're going to have coming in over the next 30 to 90 days

As a rough guide:

If you have more than three months expenses either assigned or invoiced, you're in excellent shape.

If you have a month's expenses either assigned or invoiced, you're right at the minimum.

If you have less than a month's expenses in the pipeline, you're in serious trouble, you're going to run out of money and you need to get more work immediately.

With 30 days expenses or less prospective income you're probably not going to be able to meet all your bills on time. You are also extremely vulnerable to any slowdown or screwup in payment.

And, conservatively, you can expect a delay or screwup on one out of every 10 invoices. (More in August, of course -- see previous post on Ides of August.)

There is nothing like expecting a payment any day to meet the mortgage and, when it hasn't arrived in 30 days, calling the editor and being told: "Whoops! we lost the invoice. Just re-submit it and we'll get you paid -- in another 30 days or so."

Actually there is something like that. That's explaining the situation to your long-suffering Significant Other.

It's an ugly situation and you don't want to be there. Believe me, you really don't.

So, in addition to worrying about deadlines, you have to be thinking several months ahead in generating assignments. And you have to keep a close watch on what's assigned and outstanding.

A hassle? You bet. It's also unnatural for most writers. But if you can't do it you had better not quit your day job.