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So you’ve got a new gig, and you have checked the ad pages (the magazine looks healthy) and the place’s reputation (you haven’t learned of any problems from colleagues). What next?

Sorry to say, icky business stuff.  

None of us likes this part. We want to believe that if we do the work and the work meets the standards and parameters we all agreed on, then we’ll get paid, which will let us move on to the next piece of work.

A housecleaner has it far easier. There is no reason for a housecleaner to want to clean your dirty toilet or vacuum under your bed unless she is paid. Everyone understands this: If you don’t pay, she won’t work. It makes things easy.

But we creative types are different. We want to work, because that’s who we are and what we do. it takes more to stop us from working than the piddly little strategy of not paying us! It takes YEARS of nonpayment and rejection and failure before we cry “Uncle!” And even then — we might swear off writing women’s magazines (or whatever your personal bete noir is) forever, but your basic creative type is as close to falling off the wagon as an alcoholic with that first drink in hand.

I have to admit that I’m not any different, so this post is a little bit of what I actually do — as well as (unfortunately) a bit of “Do what I say, don’t do what I do,” and a bit of “Oh crap, here’s what I SHOULD have done.”

• Wait for the contract before you start work. A lot of us get gigs, and we get all excited and start working – and THEN the contract comes in with its “All rights forever” and “the author will pay all court costs, even if the Devil himself brings a frivolous lawsuit” clauses. In the day of the Internet, contracts can be delivered instantaneously by click, so there’s no excuse to have to wait. At the very least you should be able to insist on seeing a boilerplate before you begin work.
• Once you get the contract, READ it. See what it says about payment. Kill fees are bad, but they tend to be standard so there may not be much you can do. What I am most concerned with is the “when” factor: If the contract says “on publication,” that’s a huge cause for concern. (You wouldn’t hire a builder to build you a house and not pay him until you moved in….). If the contract says “on acceptance” you  need to find out what that means to your publisher. On acceptance is supposed to mean that you turn in an article, and the editor reads and accepts it within a reasonable time period. It may not be perfect, but once the editor termined that it’s the article she contracted for, payment goes through. I also think it’s okay for “on acceptance” to mean “after any required revising has been completed” — but there needs to be some sort of a timeline. I don’t want to submit an article on deadline in January and be asked to revise it in July (and not be paid till September). Finally, in the last few years, at some major consumer women’s magazines, “on acceptance” has turned into “when we have finally finished editing, fact-checking, illustrating, and designing the article and have put it physically into the issue it is going to run in.” That is not at all the same thing — and in my book, it’s not acceptable. In this scenario, the fact that you have done the contracted job is irrelevant — if, for reasons beyond your control, the article doesn’t run, you don’t get paid — and you can wait months to find out, during which time the article loses its value because it loses its timeliness. We can be talking more than a year from when you write the article to when you are paid for it. 
• Make an appointment to speak to the editor to clarify these details or resolve any issues. This not only helps you understand and possibly negotiate the payment schedule — it also puts her on notice that you ARE one of those writers who expects to get paid and who pays attention to business issues (just in case she’s one of those editors who sits on invoices for too long and can’t ever get them over to accounts payable). Ask about invoicing procedures and payment schedules, and whether there are any circumstances under which payment might be delayed.
• Make sure you know who is accepting your work, and who is paying for it: Here’s a potentially tricky situation: A packaging company contacts you to write an article for one of THEIR clients — and the piece must be approved not only by the assigning editor but ALSO by some unknwon-to-you person who represents the client. Warning: Clients can change their minds, leaving YOU holding the bag.
• Make sure the contract is enforceable.  Another tricky situation: A packager contacts you to write a book or an article for a third party. Some  or all of the payment will be from this other entity. I have signed two book deals like this, and both were mistakes. (For one thing, these kinds of deals are uusally bad for authors because the author gets less money… but that’s not even the issue here; the issue is being able to get the money that IS due down the road). In one of my cases, the third-party  company was supposed to pay me a certain bonus every time a certain number of books got reprinted by the publisher…. This is aboluteley unenforceable because there is no mechanism in place at a standard publisher to inform outside parties of print runs. In this day and age, when companies merge and are bought and sold and traded like baseball cards, three owners down the line, your puny little contract will be forgotten or ignored or deliberately and knowingly violated (as happened to me). ALWAYS run unusual book packaging or third-party assignments past knowledgeable colleagues, a publishing attorney (some writers groups such as the Authors Guild and ASJA provide some level of legal review as a member benefit), or your agent.  General hint here: Unorthodox publishing contracts usually benefit someone OTHER than the author.
• Try to make your writer-editor relationships collaborative rather than confrontative. Most business relationships involve both collaborative and confrontative aspects; the editor-writer relationship is typical in this regard. People enjoy working in collaboration, and they treat each other better when they feel that they are on the same side.  Personal conversations inject a human element. Understand that your editor is (probably) neither a cheats nor an ogre; she’s just trying to do a job. Make it pleasant, and remind her that that’s what you’re doing, too. If you have a personal relationship, then you are responding to each other as fellow humans, not e-mail messages.
• Try to deal with contract and payment issues with someone who actually has the authority to act. Having a phone conversation might clue you in as to whether the editor you are dealing with is senior level or entry level (her title will, as well). This is tricky — you don’t want to insult the editorial assistant who is assigning you a story. But on the other hand, you want to know the process by which your story is accepted and paid for. The more layers of authority you have to go through to get your article approved, the more potential problems there may be when it comes to getting paid. 
• Don’t be apologetic: Simply state that “This is how I make my living, so these are my paychecks. I’m sure you know that a lot of other magazines are having trouble paying their writers, so I’m trying to avoid problems.” 
• Get your invoices in on time. 
• Be alert to any indications that an editor seems resentful or irritated that you are bringing up payment issues This is a professional relationship, and these are valid issues: You do not want to be working for someone who doesn’t understand that.   

Next up: What to do when it all goes south.