Nuts & Bolts
Business of Freelancing
Bottom Line: Handling Sticky Situations
By Kelly James-Enger, Special to WIW
Regardless of how professional you are and how wonderful your clients
may be, at some point you’ll encounter an unforeseen problem. Whether
it’s a blown deadline, difficulty finding sources or a story you
love being killed, setbacks like these shouldn’t derail your freelance
career. Take it from me—I’ve run into them all (except for
missing a deadline). You will too.
Don’t let these four common article-writing challenges throw you.
Missing a Deadline
Okay. It happens to most writers. Despite your best intentions, you’re
not going to make your deadline. You were sick, your kid was sick or
you overbooked yourself. Whatever the reason, don’t ignore the
problem. Let the editor know as soon as you know that you have a problem
with the assignment.
The worst thing you can do is to fail to notify the editor and simply
miss your deadline—and then dodge calls and e-mails from your editor
who wonders what's happening to the story. That’s a good way to
ensure that you never work with this editor again—and probably
not with anyone else at that publication. Editors realize that unforeseen
problems do arise. Make the best of a not-so-great situation, contact
the editor and go from there. It may turn out that it’s no problem
to grant an extension or perhaps the editor can suggest another approach
for you to take with the story.
Trouble Researching the Story
Several years ago, I was working on a big story on oral contraceptives
for a women’s magazine. My editor wanted an angle along the lines
of “what pill’s right for you?” (For example, overweight
women should opt for this particular pill; women with migraines, this
pill; vegetarian women, this pill.) Sounds like a great setup for a story.
Problem was that as I researched the article, I discovered that oral
contraceptives don’t work that way. Yes, you can make some general
recommendations (like the lower-dose pills are less likely to produce
side effects than higher-dose pills), but every woman is different. After
wasting several days trying to figure out how to write a 2,000-word story
around this fact, I called my editor and explained the situation. Instead
of her original format, we agreed to go with the general recommendations
and include a sidebar of the different types of pills and their chemical
formulations for readers.
If the story isn’t working out or you’re having trouble
with the research—tracking down a particular expert or finding
the right sources—let your editor know. When I was writing a story
about sex, I spent six weeks searching for people who would provide
me with anecdotes. If that happened now, after a week or so of digging,
I’d call the editor and say, “here’s what I’ve
done so far and I’m having trouble lining people up. Any suggestions?” Don’t
be afraid to talk to your editor about the story you’re working
on if you have a problem or question. Better to do it than try to guess
what the editor wants and have to rewrite it.
Problems with Fact-checking
Most big magazines are notoriously careful to check the veracity of
what they publish. That means you’re expected to provide “backup,” or
fact-checking materials like names and contract information of interviewees,
journal articles and sources for statistics you cite. Sometimes editors
request transcripts of interviews, although I’ve found that most
are satisfied with source contact information.
To avoid problems later, do careful research before you file a story.
Even a minor misspelling looks like sloppy journalism to your client.
I’m careful to double-check everything I’m unsure about,
and have only had a fact-checking issue come up once. I had a physician
recant something he'd told me on the record during an interview. The
fact-checker called me. “The doctor says he never said that,” she
told me. I double-checked my transcript. Yes he did and I had the transcript
and the tape to back it up. End of problem—but if I hadn't had
the transcript and the tape, it would have been my word versus his. (In
the end, the editor decided it wasn’t worth the hassle, and let
him modify his quote more to his liking.)
Your Story is Killed
You slaved over your piece, turned it in on time and your editor responds
to you with the words, “You’ve a great start, but . . . ” You
revise the piece to the editor’s specifications, but now it’s
being killed or the story was assigned by an editor who’s no longer
at the magazine, leaving it “orphaned.” Chances are, you’ll
have a story killed at some time—that’s inevitable. It doesn’t
mean the end of the piece, though.
Several years ago, I had two stories—$2,800 worth of work—killed
during a regime change at a national fitness magazine. The editor who'd
assigned the pieces left along with other staffers. The new editor in
chief seemed determined to destroy everything assigned by her predecessor.
My stories were caught in the middle. I argued that I should be paid
the full fee, not the 25% kill fee the contract paid for. After all,
there was nothing wrong with the stories themselves. The magazine refused,
opting for the kill fee provision. I was ticked off.
After I cooled down, I called an editor I’d worked with at another
fitness magazine. I told her I had two great story ideas to pitch her,
and sold both of them in five minutes. She loved both, and accepted them.
She paid me $1,750 for the stories—which, combined with the $700
kill fee, left me only $350 in the hole on the deal. Much better than
if I'd simply accepted the kill fee and let the stories go unpublished.
Remember, that encountering problems like these doesn’t mean your
work is substandard or that you can’t make it as a writer. Every
freelancer faces issues like these. It’s how you respond to them
that’s important.
About the author: Freelance journalist Kelly James-Enger is
the author of books including Six-Figure Freelancing: The Writer’s
Guide to Making More Money (Random House, 2005.) www.becomebodywise.com |