10 Commandments of Working with a Freelance Writer
I’ve noticed a lot of other writers are posting about their troubles with clients lately, so I decided to whip up a list of 10 Commandments of Working with a Freelance Writer. What would you add to the list?
- Thou shall have no other writers before me, working on the same project and making things confusing.
- Thou shall not pay me with graven images, cookies, or anything not in the form of spendable currency.
- Thou shall not take my name in vain (at least not to my face).
- Remember thy payment due dates, and keep them holy.
- Honor thy contractual obligations.
- Thou shall not say, “the check is in the mail,” when there is clearly no check.
- Thou shall not ignore my invoice.
- Thou shall not complain about my work only after I have sent three payment reminders.
- Thou shall not bear false witness against me in blog posts, Web sites, or forums.
- Thou shall not covet a lower price.
Words of Mouse 
Funny, but true. 🙂 I like the paying in cookies thing. I saw one ad about a year ago from someone who wanted to pay in Dunkin Donuts coupons. I thought that was pretty funny…..
Amy Derby
September 14, 2008 at 12:19 am
I think I saw that ad on Craigslist Curmudgeon a while back. I got my inspiration for the second commandment from a discussion on FWJ a while back about getting paid in cookies, ad revenue, karma, etc.
lzaykoski
September 14, 2008 at 2:36 am
Leigh
What an awesome list post – this is the sort of thing I like reading. You got your point across, kept it short, and amused me while you were doing it.
For me, it was perfect. Well done!
Alex Fayle | Someday Syndrome
September 14, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Thanks, Alex. I’m going to head over to your blog and check it out at length.
lzaykoski
September 15, 2008 at 4:23 pm