It’s great when you reach a point in your freelancing career where people come to you with work. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to take it, and that was the case with me a couple of weeks ago. Someone asked me to blog for his site, but the monthly retainer was a bit lower than I’d expected for the number of posts required. There’s something to be said for steady work, of course, but I’d dropped a blogging gig earlier this summer that paid comparably, so I suspected I’d soon grow to resent this low paying gig, too. I tried unsuccessfully to negotiate for more money, but ultimately I decided to decline. And I haven’t regretted it for a second.
What about you? Have you walked away from a paying project? How did you feel afterwards?
Hi Susan,
I've read your blog for a long time but haven't commented before. I am a former newspaper journalist who is very lucky to have a full-time job as a documentary producer. But I still need to get my writing out somehow, and I am choosing to do it by going back to doing a little freelancing now and again.
I've already started to retreat from projects because they just don't pay enough. Oddly, however, I started doing this for "fun" as much as money. (Extra money's always great but I'm paid a salary.) I have noticed that I am now balancing the "Do I want to bother?" aspect with the money aspect. There are a lot of stories I'd do for free if they were offered to me, just because I think they're fascinating!
I recently walked away from a project – not due to low-pay (in fact, the client was happy to pay my full ghostwriting rate), but due to a specific request.
My work calendar often books two to three months in advance for ghostwriting projects (sometimes up to six months in advance). I ask for a 25% deposit to schedule a project on my calendar. This particular client's project would be a four-month job and I had an opening within two months to schedule the assignment on my calendar.
However, the client requested I add a clause to my contract allowing him to cancel the contract after the first chapter was complete, should he not like the direction the project was going. I assured him that if there were any issues with the direction, we could work together to remedy it and keep the project on track. That solution was not acceptable.
Therefore, I agreed to add the clause to my contract, which allowed him to cancel after the first chapter – but I informed him that I would not be able to schedule his entire project on my calendar, only the portion that was confirmed (the development stage and the writing of the first chapter) – and that should he decide to proceed with the rest of the project, the remaining work would be scheduled on my calendar at that time (which meant it would most likely be another two to three months before the writing for his project resumed.)
I felt I had compromised to meet his request, but I still needed to protect myself by having my calendar available for other projects should he cancel his project after the first chapter (if I don't have my calendar booked, I don't make money, I can't afford to hold it for an "unconfirmed" project).
He did not agree with those terms and I decided to walk away from the client and a high-paying job. Still, I think I did the right thing by protecting myself from a potentially bad situation.
Walked away from low pay a number of times. One in particular kept trying to yank me back, ignoring my "Sorry, can't do it for that rate" notes. After two notes, you get it. You just don't want to.
Never regretted it, even when things were slow this summer. That extra time spent marketing instead of resenting the hell out of the low pay paid off in higher-paying jobs.
BTW, congratulations on being named to Maria Schneider's Top 25 blogs! I totally agree.
@Kristen: I know what you mean. If it's a story I'm passionate about, I'm more likely to agree to less money, because I need to balance interesting work with a good paycheck and sometimes that means taking a pay cut.
@Laura & Lori: It sounds like you did the right thing! I walked away from an assignment because the editor *refused* to issue a contract or even spell out the terms in an email. No contract means no work from me! (Except in very special circumstances like a pro bono project.) Sure enough, that publication got into financial trouble last year and couldn't pay their writers. Glad I saw that coming!
I recently stopped working with a long-time, but low-paying, client.
They would always say, "Oh, we don't need anything fancy; just make it sound decent and that will be good enough." Of course, I was always too much of a perfectionist to just churn something out, so I would end up working as hard on their projects as on higher-paying ones.
One of the reasons I stuck with this client for so many years was that they gave me a number of referrals. In fact, they were one of my very first freelance clients and all of my current clients trace back to referrals from them!
I just reached the point where I was resenting the work. All their low-paying jobs did add up to a sizable chunk of my overall freelance income, but it just wasn't worth it any more. Like Lori, I will use the extra time to market myself and to hone my craft so that I can continue to land higher-paying work.
I have recently been asked to take over blogging for a new client, a small business owner, and I haven't a clue what to charge. I realize this is not the point of this thread, but appreciate any feedback and/or useful resources.
I've been a successful freelance journalist (mostly travel trade and business) for 20-plus years. Now I'm turning to writing for small businesses – what amounts to marketing communications – to earn cash during this off-time. I find pricing extremely challenging.
Thanks!
@Marilee: Good question! Blogging rates vary widely, but if you can get a sense of how many posts they want and how long they want each post to be, you can figure out how much you want to earn per hour and base your per post rate on that. For instance, if you wanted to earn $50/hour and you thought you could write two posts per hour, you'd charge $25/post. Some small biz owners would consider this a bargain and others would be horrified. See if you can feel out their budget to see if they are willing to pay for quality writing or if they want cheap, mindless content.
Aren't blogging rates weird & wide? But I don't blame you at all for walking away. I turned down a couple of jobs over the summer, as I told myself that I would not take on anything new over the summer. Two people said "ok" and one said to contact her in September…which I did, and she still had room on the project! So I'm glad I said No. My summer was a lot more manageable than last summer.