by Rachel Smith
09 November 2016
Hi Rachel and Leo. I’d love some guidance on invoicing. Say an editor asks me to write 1000 words, I submit 1000 words and invoice for that. They will also specify what they pay for images and the invoice will include a request for payment based on how many were used from those I provided. But recently an editor asked for a lot more words and cut it by a third. They also said they paid for images but didn’t say how much. No payment yet so I have to remind them, but what do you think? Should I have invoiced for words written and determined payment for images first? P
I think so. The trouble with freelancing is often we can be so pleased to get a job we jump the gun and accept before all the details are in place. But this is a good reminder of what not to do when you accept a commission.
The fact that your editor asked for a lot more words then ‘cut it by a third’ – I’m assuming you were asked to invoice for a third less than the word count you had filed. Which is really unethical and basically, just not on, especially if it’s something the editor sprung on you AFTER you filed the copy. I’ve had an editor openly tell me to write a certain number of words then say, ‘But our new thing is that we’ll only pay for the words we actually print’ – which is just unacceptable on any level and I don’t write for that editor anymore.
But, I think before accepting ANY commission you need to have the following nailed down in an email:
1. The word count they’re setting
2. The word rate or fee for the writing
3. The fee they pay for images
4. Their payment terms (ie, paying on publication, if they might sit on your story for a year, probably won’t work for you)
Then you can send an email back saying, ‘Hi Editor A, very excited to be writing for you. Just to clarify, I’ll be writing X story of X number of words, at the agreed-upon X rate. I will also be supplying X number of images and will be paid the agreed-upon rate of $X per image. I’ll assume all of the above is ok and confirmed unless I hear from you. Thanks for the work! I’ll get cracking’.
What other details do you make sure you get from an editor / client before accepting a commission?
