The Dead Don't Write

Jennifer Mattern — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 18:10:50 +0000

Note: This post originally appeared at FreelanceTheater.com on October 30, 2009. The Freelance Theater audio play series is now a part of All Freelance Writing.

Have you ever had a “vampire client” — one who seems to suck the life out of you? Maybe they don’t pay enough so you push yourself to the edge of burning out regularly as you cram in countless projects. Perhaps they’re extremely picky or they’re the type who doesn’t know what they want until they see it, meaning you’re asked to do an unusually high number of revisions. You might even have the type of “vampire client” who constantly asks you for extra advice or guidance beyond the scope of your projects — consulting work you’re not being paid for.

These types of client-writer relationships are what we explore in our very first episode of the MadLance series, “The Dead Don’t Write.” See if you can relate to poor Kelly, trying to balance keeping her client happy while also staying sane.

Download “The Dead Don’t Write” (right-click and save the .mp3 file) or stream it now below.

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What would you do if you were in Kelly’s shoes? Would you have the nerve to lay down new ground rules with a client? Would you fire that client? Would you ride the situation out as long as possible? As a freelance writer it’s important to understand that sometimes you’ll have to make tough calls with clients. That might seem difficult to do, especially when you’re first starting out and you may only have a few clients lined up, but how you handle the client-contractor dynamic now can impact where you’ll be months from now.

Sometimes clients won’t even realize they’re putting an unusual burden on you (such as the ones who really do respect your opinions so they ask for advice constantly without realizing that time is money when you’re a service provider). Confronting those issues early on ensures you won’t feel taken advantage of later. Keep this in mind: if you start to resent your work because you didn’t put your foot down in a professional way early on, you aren’t doing anyone any good. You’ll be unhappy with your work, which means you’ll be less likely to give it your all (in turn meaning your client loses out too).

Closing thoughts: Set some ground rules in your freelance writing career. Let clients know when it’s okay (or not okay) to call you, and when you’re negotiating projects or signing contracts bring up issues like revisions up front. Let clients know how many revisions are included in your base rates, and how much you charge for further revisions (edit requests aren’t always a sign that you did something wrong, but sometimes the result of a client taking a different direction with a project they already approved — you should be compensated for those kinds of requests).

The same goes for consulting. If you’re a freelance copywriter for example, chances are good that you have some marketing expertise. If the client wants additional time to pick your brain about tactics for increasing conversions or something similar (beyond what’s covered in your initial contract) have an hourly consulting rate laid out from the start. You’ll save yourself a lot of trouble, and your client some unpleasant surprises, by preparing for “vampire clients” before they have a chance to sink their teeth in.

If you would like to embed the player for this episode on your own website or blog, please use the embed code below to get the same player you see above in this post:

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Freelance Theater has Officially Launched!

Jennifer Mattern — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:00:45 +0000

You’ll have to pardon my delayed announcement here, but I didn’t want this announcement to interfere with our word count trackers’ release and the launch of our two newest series: Jenn Escalona’s monthly DIY series and Chris Bibey’s “How to Write” series. In my continuing stream of news and launches, Freelance Theater is officially up and running.

What is Freelance Theater?

Freelance Theater is a joint project I’ve partnered with Yolander Prinzel on — a series of audio plays attempting to take a lighthearted look at serious issues some freelance writers face (while offering a tip or two for overcoming them). We started working on the first episode of this project way back in July. Although it took much longer than expected to get logistics worked out to have it ready, we’re hoping to release one episode monthly moving forward (today I’m actually finishing up the rough draft for our second show and Yo’s already working on December’s).

The MadLance Series

We were inspired by old horror-style radio shows, so you’ll see a bit of influence from that style in the first series we’ve launched — the MadLance series. Our first episode of the series covers the issue of “vampire clients” who seem to suck the life right out of you from time to time. You can listen to “The Dead Don’t Write” at FreelanceTheater.com (the “Theatre” version should also properly redirect for our “Queen’s English” folks). There’s also an .mp3 download link available in the post for the episode, so you can listen to us on the go if you prefer.

While there’s a way you can embed the episode on your own site if you’d like to (a feature we’re hoping future guests will enjoy to promote their own shows), I’m going to ask that you don’t do it for now. We’re going to be switching to another podcast host soon that will allow better embed features, iTunes inclusion and more (if I’m not mistaken), so there will be some minor changes before the next episode goes up.

In the meantime, we hope you enjoy “The Dead Don’t Write.”

Note: Oh, and the guy doing the show introduction? That’s Yo’s hubby. He’s awesome. In fact he puts the rest to shame. So a big thanks to Hubby Prinzel for his help with the project, not to mention our awesome WordPress designer and logo designer who will soon be featured on the site’s About page — I wholeheartedly recommend either of them for your coding or design projects. :)

All Freelance Writing » the dead don’t write

The Dead Don't Write

Freelance Theater has Officially Launched!