The Article Writer

Have you ever started a project but soon realized that the work required to get the job done was more involved than what you thought that it would be? I had the experience this past week of landing what looked to be a good project but soon turned out to be more time consuming than what the client originally indicated.

The research and writing time for each article (there were to be 25) I had estimated would take about 90 minutes of my time. As it turns out the client wanted much more detailed research than what he originally conveyed to me. I had no problem with this, however I asked him to either cut the number of articles for the price or to accept a higher cost for my work.

We went back and forth with emails and I knew it wasn’t going to end favorably for either one of us. One message he sent to me was on the insulting side so I wrote back stating that, “I am a professional writer,” thus my rate must reflect the level of work he expected from me.

After his unfortunate comment I wrote back and told him that I thought it was best to withdraw from the project as we could not come to an agreement on price.

Truthfully, I am glad that this job did not get going. There was something about the project that didn’t sit right with me and all of that was borne out later in our exchange of messages.

Yes, sometimes it is best to simply walk away from a project in order to preserve your integrity and to reiterate your worth. I am glad that I did.

Technorati Tags:
freelance writer, article writer, writing projects, copywriter, editor

Since I market myself as The Article Writer you might imagine that I also submit my articles to various article directories on the internet. As a matter of fact I still do. When I submit them on behalf of my clients I have up to 16 directories that I can use with several of those directories posting these articles to their site and passing them on to other directories. I imagine that at least two dozen directories get a hold of my articles when I choose that method.

Lately, I have gotten into the habit of starting each morning by writing one article for myself and submitting it to a handful of directories. Typically, they are 700 to 900 words in length and much more detailed than the articles I write for most customers. Many of my clients are simply looking for backlinks to their sites and are satisfied with 450 to 500 word articles; enough to get a point across, but not very deep.

What I am seeing with the article directories these days is that most of the articles getting posted are “private label” rewrites. If you don’t know what I mean by “private label” then please look it up. As for me, my daily personal writing assignment is meant to strengthen one or two blogs that I run in addition to my credit card and personal finance site at Credit Card Venue.

Technorati Tags: article writer, article directory, article submission, private label articles

…and taking no prisoners!

I have to hand it to Kathy Kehrli the Pennsylvania writer behind the Screw You! blog. On the surface, the name of the blog could put you off, but if you take the time to read it much of what Kathy writes strikes a responsive chord especially with those of us who write for a living.

Kathy has detailed in her blog the troubles she has had with getting one or more clients to pay up. While some people may be hesitant to not mention names, Kathy actually does the rest of us a big favor by naming those names. Clearly, if you are more than 90 days late on your payments and you are giving no indication of ever making good on your deal, then you can and should expect that members of the writing community will want to know about your unprofessionalism.

I hope Kathy does get these people to pay up. I won’t repeat the name she has mentioned but I encourage you to read her post for all of the sordid details surrounding her unpaid project.

Technorati Tags: freelance, freelance writer, invoices, deadbeat clients