Do electricians, cleaning crews, the phone company, the landlord, and the office furniture suppliers give discounts to non-profits? Usually not. But non-profit organizations (whose staffs also get a normal monthy paycheck) are quick to ask for discounts from freelance writers. Should we give discounts? And under what circumstances? When does it makes sense? When doesn’t it? I was asked [...]
Archive for the ‘Freelancing’ Category
Writing and Discounting for Non-Profits
Posted in Business Issues, Freelancing, Writing, tagged Business of freelancing, linkedin, pricing, working for non protis on September 7, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Creative Careers: The Invisible Barrier to Entry
Posted in Freelancing, Musing on Creativity, tagged creative karma, Business of freelancing, balancing your work life, linkedin on August 25, 2009 | 4 Comments »
It’s the end of summer, and I am scheduling my last few piano students into their slots for the fall. Invariably, over the summer, there has been some attrition. There always is, especially when kids turn about 14. Sometimes, the kid can be encouraged to continue, but too often the parent has lost the stomach for the continued [...]
The Best Seller List: Myth and Reality
Posted in Freelancing, Writing, tagged New York Times Best Seller List on May 29, 2009 | 1 Comment »
It’s the goal of every writer: A place on the New York Times Best Seller List. A few months ago, I was at a writer’s conference, where one of my fellow writers had achieved that golden status: She was a coauthor of a book that had been solidly stuck on the list for months. There [...]
Finding Balance as a Freelancer
Posted in Freelancing, tagged linkedin on March 21, 2009 | 1 Comment »
One of the predictable and seemingly unavoidable side-effects of being a freelancer is that work comes in waves and spurts, priorities get hijacked, new enthusiasms take over, and balance can be hard to find. This blog has been a casualty of that lately. In this economy, certainly, no freelancer/self employed creative can complain about having too [...]
Paperwork
Posted in Business Issues, Freelancing, tagged taxes for freelancers on March 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Blech. It’s THAT time of year again. Well, maybe you’ve already dealt with it, but for me, pulling my tax information together is one of those uber-procrastination issues. Some of my colleagues use Turbo Tax, and I have a few friends who have recommended it highly, but to tell you the truth, I’d rather clean [...]
Writing for Pay-Per-Click Websites
Posted in Freelancing, Internet Issues, Writing on January 8, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Is it a new business model to empower writers or a new way of making money off of writers? After 28 years in the business (my first bylined article was published while I was still in college) I’m ASSUMING the latter. I’m just cynical enough to look through jaundiced yellow glasses at anything that promises writers a [...]
Show Me the Money: Getting What’s Due
Posted in Business Issues, Copyrights and Contracts, Freelancing on November 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
So, you turned the work in on time. Or your book or photo or article has been published — and the expected checks and statements haven’t arrived. The path from submission to payment can be labyrinthine, but for the purposes of this article (getting paid what’s due), we’re going to skip through all of those gnarly [...]
Show Me The Money: Proactive Defense
Posted in Business Issues, Freelancing, tagged contracts, payment on November 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
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 [...]
Show Me the Money: Avoiding Problem Payers
Posted in Business Issues, Freelancing on November 26, 2008 | 1 Comment »
I tend to believe that prevention is the best cure for a whole raft of problems in life, including hypothermia, jet lag, and deadbeat clients. I’m not going to claim that every deadbeat wears a neon sign, but some of them do give us plenty of warning. It’s our job to heed it. Keep tabs on your regular [...]
