by Author Name Withheld 67

Created on: March 20, 2007   Last Updated: May 08, 2007

If writing is something you do for money, then take a professional attitude about money. When you buy groceries or pay the rent, do you haggle over the amount and delay paying for months? Of course not. So when you sell your pieces, why should you expect anything less than prompt payment in full?

Tips for Getting Paid

1. For every assignment, confirm in writing (this can be by email) what you will deliver, when, how much it will cost, and when payment is due. Sometimes you will have a written contract with these terms spelled out. Special terms like a kill fee, photos, the nature and scope of rights you are selling, should all be included. They are out of scope for this article, however.

2. Some editors are notorious for requesting multiple rewrites with no extra compensation. If you want to write for these people, you are asking for headaches, but unfortunately sometimes you can't avoid them. In these cases, it's even more important to confirm the terms (see #1 above) AND to specify that there will be one set of revisions not exceeding 20 percent (or whatever) of the word count, included in the price. After that, revisions will be charged at $X per word. (You may set any price for revisions, and it need not be by word).

3. Deliver the work on time and to the specifications agreed upon. After all, you can't insist on payment if you haven't done the job.

4. Deliver an invoice with your work. The invoice should say "Payment now due", provided the confirmation you sent out in #1 had that as a term.

5. Your invoice should say, "Overdue accounts will be charged interest of [fill in rate] beginning 10 days from the due date".

6. When you receive payment, send an email confirming that you received your money and thanking the customer for their business. Pitch your next piece.

When the Account is Overdue

7. Be reasonable but strict. At 10 days, start charging interest. If you receive payment before 30 days, as a matter of goodwill and convenience, reverse the interest charge - the customer has ignored it and so should you unless you want to make yourself more trouble than it's worth.

8. At 30 days, phone the editor to say, "Your account is 30 days old, when can I expect payment?" No matter what they say, send a reminder letter and an invoice with interest added.

9. At 45 days, send a second reminder letter and an invoice with red on it, the overdue amount highlighted, and interest added.

10. If you get the runaround - "Oh, your bill must be with Accounting" - or whatever, send

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>