I was wondering if freelance writers should charge for meetings? I have a client whom I regularly meet with weekly, which is fine, but recently she’s been asking to meet with me three or four times a week, and they tend to run long and often not need me for much (when they also involve others); this is time I’m losing from other projects I’m working on. What would you do?

Also, the same client has me writing and sending daily e-mail blasts–including weekends, which was simply assumed that I would do. I know it’s my own fault for not clarifying what “daily” meant in the first place–on my own part, I had made an assumption that daily meant week days!–and making it clear that I don’t want to be up at six AM every single day sending these things (especially on holidays), but I’ve been doing it for a couple of months now and don’t want to be a jerk about it! What would you do in this situation?

Thanks Anne, you rock!
Sara

Sara Schmidt’s last blog post..May is Save the Wetlands Month

Jennifer L’s last blog post..Goodbye, Dean Cleghorn

Autumn’s last blog post..Info for Gamers

The poster of the ad has an affiliate account with an online dating site or casino. He posts an ad looking for writers, offering good pay. When contacted, he asks the applicants to join the site he is affiliated with, which is free, and write a review about it. He collects the reviews and disappears forever – because he got paid by the site in question for the members he delivered to them.

Rinse, repeat.

Benjamin Hunting’s last blog post..How To Protect Your Car From Mice

No one who sent the “tests” ever heard from the company again. And yet, lo and behold, a few months later, on a totally differently named site an article cobbled together from the “tests” appeared under another company’s name. No one who supplied the “tests” was paid, the address to which they were originally sent was disabled, and there was a good deal of legal wrangling.

Another example: An ‘aspiring’ novelist posted an ad for an editor. Several other freelancers and I answered it. We all got a request to edit 5 pages so the author could see if we were a good fit. I emailed back my rate for such a test, and never heard from the person again. Three people sent in edits and were told they didn’t have the job. Later, when a group of us got together to catch up, the rest of the members found out everyone was sent different pages to edit and all were told they didn’t have the job and wouldn’t be paid– in other words, Ms. Aspirant set it up to get it all done for free.

Both of those are reasons I don’t do unpaid samples. If you need something project specific, we negotiate a special rate. If you can’t tell from my clips if I’m what you need, you either don’t know what you need or you’re a scammer.

My experience.

- The company/potential client is reputable (and I can find something that tells me/shows me that).
- I already have a sample I can send, OR, in the case of having to write a new one (which I seldom do unless it’s a job I really, really want), it won’t take very long.

Bottom line: Protect time and property

Alicia’s last blog post..Don’t Avert Your Eyes: Know The Symptoms Of Mental Illness