There comes a time in every freelance writer's career when they will be faced with the prospect of a non-paying or extremely slow paying client. It is a fact, that there are those out there who just want to get something for nothing and with the influx of Internet based freelance jobs websites it has become more and more common.
There are a number of ways you can approach this topic and what I would like to do, is to share my experiences and how I dealt with them.
When I first began freelancing I never suspected that something like this could or would ever happen. I was naive to say the least, but when it did happen I was surprised at how professionally I dealt with it.
As a freelance writer everything you write belongs to you. You own the copyright of all your material. When you take on a writing assignment such as ghostwriting website articles and content, you own the rights to these articles until such a time as you have received payment.
If you find that you are having trouble getting a client to pay you for your work there are a number of things that you can do. The first thing would be to take steps to ensure that won't happen and here are some tips to ensure that you get paid for your work.
Always ensure that you specify the terms of the assignment in writing. This can be via email. You should state your terms of payment, exactly what your assignment involves including the amount of revisions that are included in your price, how much your client will pay you and when, and the specified deadline for this work. If you are looking for stage payments, be sure to put this in your terms.
If you are using freelance jobs websites such as Elance or Get A Freelancer, be sure to use their escrow feature and do not start working on any assignment until funds have been transferred into the escrow account. If your client is slow at releasing the funds once the assignment has been completed you can e-mail the websites support team who will help rectify the situation. This point goes without saying but is worth mentioning. Always adhere to your delivery schedule and the terms you have set out. You cannot expect to be paid on time if you do not deliver your work on time.
Regardless of whether you use a freelance writing jobs website or not you should always have your own invoices which should accompany all completed work. You invoices can be used to specify how long clients have to pay and what happens if payment is late. Most professional companies will charge a specific amount of interest on late payments and as a professional you are entitled to the same. Be sure to specify the amount on your invoice and the period from which interest starts accruing. This could be 7 days after the due date.
The list of points above allow you to help prevent late payments and non-payments, but what do you do when payments become overdue?
The first thing to do is not to panic. Adhere to your own specific invoicing terms and implement them when and if they occur. You can also send a polite reminder email to your client reminding them that their payment is now overdue and that interest will be applied after 7 days.
If you are using paypal you can set your account to automatically send reminders after a certain period of time.
If by thirty days you have not received your payment, it is time to get a little tougher. First of all re-send the invoice and state that it is now 30 days overdue and state the amount of additional interest that has accrued.
At this point it might also be a good idea if writing web content to check and see if your articles have been published online. Using Copyscape should help with this. What I would suggest doing is typing the title of the article into Copyscape or into Google and see what you come up with. If you find that your article has been published online you need to remind your client that what they have done is illegal. They do not own the copyright to these articles as they have not paid for them. You can then recommend that payment be made immediately or you will insist that the articles be removed.
I have to admit, that this has worked extremely well for me on both occasions that I have had to implement it. Once clients realise that you are not going to be fooled and that you know your copyright laws they do tend to make prompt payment.
There may of course be times where you will never receive payments, where clients don't respond to emails, or answer phone calls. When this happens it is really a personal choice as to what way to take things. You will always have the option of suing for your payment if this is the route you want to take.
A final word for all freelancers is to always request a deposit on any work you carry out. If this is not possible, then try to include stage payments in your assignment terms.