I’m a higher education freelance writer who creates supplementary materials for college textbooks. Here’s my nightmare story about working for an education-content project management company…
An Education Content/Project Management Company Contacts Me
An editor working at one of the dozens of education content/project management companies finds me on LinkedIn and sends an e-mail.
Her company has landed a project to create 100 multiple-choice questions per chapter for a new edition of a major political science textbook and she needs a writer to get a sample chapter done ASAP, by Sunday evening in fact, and this is Thursday.
The pay was $6 per multiple-choice question, with substantial additional explanations needed about why the correct answer was correct and why the incorrect answers were incorrect. And a majority of the questions had to be analytical/critical thinking questions. (See Bloom’s Taxonomy for details.)
I estimated I would make about $50 per hour, my bare minimum.
More importantly, I’m hoping to be hired to write the questions for all the chapters. In the course of the many e-mails we send during that first day she tells me that $6 per question is a higher rate because this is a rush job. The standard pay will be $4 per question because the company will need to pay a “subject matter expert” (SME) to review my work for accuracy. I don’t discuss this with her, but I’m hoping that she’ll pay me $6 per question for all the chapters because I am a “subject matter expert” in political science (master’s degree in the subject and taught polisci for several years at the college level).
I Agreed to Do a Rush Freelance Job without a Contract
She states that the e-mail thread would serve as our contract, and that I’d receive an actual contract the next week.
The work takes longer than I expected because it was a very complicated project and there were problems getting me all the files I needed.
I worked over the weekend and sent the files on Sunday night.
I didn’t specifically keep track of my hours, but I definitely made less than $50 per hour.
And Then No Contract Arrives
In fact, it would take several e-mails with my editor and another person before the contract arrived — exactly one month after I began work.
And Then There Were the Revisions…
Turns out the textbook publisher decided it wanted to go in a different direction with one aspect of the project, so the editor tells me that 25 of the questions need to be redone.
Fine, I say. How much will I be paid to do these revisions?
Nothing, she says. It’s part of the project. The contract (which I still hadn’t received or signed) states that I have to do revisions as needed.
You said nothing about this when I agreed to do the project, I say.
I only have $600 to spend on this chapter total, she says, and that includes all revisions, editing, reviewing, etc.
She doesn’t specifically say it, but I get the feeling I won’t get paid at all if I don’t do the extra work.
So, with no small amount of bitching and moaning, I do the extra work for no extra pay.
And Then The Hourly Rate Dropped For The Remaining Chapters
While we’re wrestling over the revisions and pay for the sample chapter, she asks if I want to work on the rest of the project. I ask if I can get the whole $6 per question because I’m a Subject Matter Expert and I have a lot of experience doing this, etc.
She says that, unfortunately, no, she can’t do that and in fact…
The pay for the remaining questions will be a little over $2 per question, a smidge more than half the $4 she mentioned on the first day when we first discussed the project, which would drop my hourly rate by nearly half.
If I had known that, I never would have taken the initial project in the first place!
Oh, And The Contract Had Two Scary Clauses
1. I Better Not Help Any Company Employee Get Another Job
‘Cuz if I do, I will owe the company a year’s salary for that employee.
Never seen anything like this clause. On one hand, what are the odds it would ever be relevant? On the other hand, I certainly don’t want to find out by getting a notice I’m being sued for $50,000 or more in a court in a state far, far away.
2. I Can’t Work on a Similar Project for 12 Months
Unless I notify them in writing first. What a hassle!
I refused to sign the contract. Eventually I dealt with someone higher up in the company. I sent a regular invoice and was paid within a few weeks, which turned out to be nearly three months after I did my original work.
Lessons Learned
1. Get a Contract Before Starting Work
Actually, I still occasionally ignore this, but now it’s only with clients I’ve worked with before and trust deeply. I don’t really fault myself in the case I describe here because the editor initially said the e-mail with the details of the project would serve as our contract. It was only later that the tune changed.
2. Education-Content Project Management Companies Can Be Problematic
I’ll have much more to say about education content management companies in a forthcoming blog post. I’ve only interacted with a few of them, and they are frequently under the gun and in a big hurry to get big and complex projects done quickly.
3. Editors Can Get Caught in the Middle
I actually liked the editor I worked with. Unfortunately, she likely got squeezed by both higher ups in her company and by the textbook publisher that had contracted with her company. Plus, like many editors, she had many, many projects on her plate.
4. Life Isn’t Fair
Things won’t always go your way no matter how well prepared you are, or how well you think you understand a situation. And this wasn’t really that big of deal. I had to do a few more hours of work, and I had some minor stress over how the whole scenario unfolded.
But nobody got hurt, and I did eventually get paid.
And I didn’t have to sign that contract!
Creating College Textbook Supplementary Materials Usually Goes Smoothly!
See the third edition of my ebook Writing College Textbook Supplements: Developing Test Questions, Quiz Questions, Instructor Manuals, Lecture Outlines, and Other Curriculum Components for all the details about landing good clients and getting the work done well and efficiently.
Your Take
What’s been your worst freelance writing nightmare? Any thoughts on my ordeal described above? Tell us in the comments!
Maurene says
John, I’m sorry to hear you had to deal with this, but thank you for sharing your experience and lessons learned. Looking forward to hearing more of your thoughts and insights about these types of companies, how they differ from the publishers you typically work with, etc. You always provide helpful information!
John Soares says
You’re welcome Maurene. I will do a major post in the next few months about these types of companies. They can provide a lot of work for writers, but the pay is definitely lower than working directly for textbook publishers.
Tom Bentley says
John, I wrote on the Writer’s Den about a no-contract nightmare I had with a client recently. It was a matter of “I know better, but I’ll take this gig anyway,” and now it looks like I’m paying for it.
Like me, you seemed to get some inklings early on that this wasn’t to be the project you first envisioned, but then you got into the work, and ….
Good lessons for the both of us. (Oh, and thanks for those RTs!)
John Soares says
Tom, I’ll have to go read your Den post; I think I missed it.
You’re right: we get started on the project and we hope for the best, and then…
And happy to retweet; you share good stuff!
Susan Johnston says
What a nightmare! I had a similar situation where I was told that they didn’t have a formalized contractor agreement (I should have known better, large bureaucratic organizations always want you to sign a contract) but then a month or two later when I inquired about payment, they sent me the agreement saying they’d just gotten the agreement finalized since they were refining the process. The agreement was a generic consultant agreement that insisted I have $2M worth of insurance coverage that wasn’t relevant to my business and there were a few other icky clauses I’m probably forgetting.
Like you, I refused to sign the contract and it wound up delaying payment. I kept insisting that I’d done the work in good faith because I’d gotten an email saying there was no formal contract and work commenced before they’d created this contract, and they insisted that the insurance clause could not be removed. Eventually I got paid but my refusal to sign the contract destroyed the relationship. The hourly rate ended for the actual work up being pretty decent but it wasn’t worth it dealing with that level of bureaucracy. I probably spent more time trying to get paid than I spent doing the work itself.
John Soares says
Whoa! They wanted you to get $2M in insurance before they’d pay you?
I’m glad it worked out and you got paid. It just shows that many companies don’t place a high priority on good relations with freelancers.
Lori says
Really? They wanted to hold you to not working for someone else on a similar job? Did they not get the “freelance” part of your title? Sheesh. That was a nightmare, John.
Oh, I have so many nightmare stories, it’s hard to narrow it down. LOL I had a similar “Must have $2M in coverage” job like Susan, which I did the gig without the insurance and I never worked with them again (mutual decision, I think).
One of the worst was a good while ago. I was writing an insurance course for a client. It was paying what I thought would be a good hourly rate. However, the parameters changed midway through, and I ended up making much less than $50 an hour and spent MONTHS finishing it (even hired help to get it all done). The dude flipped out on me one time — I’d sent him a page count, like I’d done every week. I’d superimposed the numbers, and it looked like I’d not done half as much as I’d been reporting. I realized my mistake when I opened his next email and he lost his mind on me, calling me all sorts of names (“liar” was one of them). It was weird because I sent him the file every few weeks so he could see what was being done. The page count was clearly there. I wrote back, apologetic, but more than a little ticked, and explained the mistake, once again sending the file. His response: “Oh, I thought so. No worries.”
No worries? He never apologized for acting like an ass. I was done with him. I wrapped that up quickly, cashed the check, and lost his name.
John Soares says
What a jerk. I’m careful now about agreeing to long-term projects with companies I’m not familiar with. If I do it, I make sure there are bail-out points where I can complete X percent of the project and get X percent of the fee.
Susan Johnston says
Sadly, I’ve dealt with non-compete clauses in freelance agreements on more than one occasion. If I can’t get the clause deleted completely, I’ll try to get them to define “competitor” as narrowly as possible to minimize the impact on my earning abilities.
John Soares says
Susan, I occasionally have had non-compete clauses that lasted only as long as the duration of the project, and that’s rarely a big deal for me. I’ve had more expansive non-compete clauses stricken from contracts.
Cathy Miller says
Ah, the joys of the shifting terms. I can share a story, John, where I thought I did all the right things and still had problems. I had the contract in place, I received the deposit, and every step of the way, I had emails documenting various agreements regarding scope.
Yet when I delivered the final product, the response was it was not what they expected. They basically wanted me to start from scratch and do it over in a format totally opposite of what had been agreed to. I had discounted the fee (like you in thoughts of future projects), and the hours I put in hit almost exactly on my estimate.
I did not agree to redo the whole project as I felt the scope was clear, and the communication reinforced it. I did offer, as a one-time revision, to incorporate their edits to a draft copy that they would do with as they saw fit.
It took over two months to receive final payment.
John Soares says
Oh, those shifting expectations! That’s in part what happened with what I described in this post. The client decided they wanted something different.
I’m glad you received all your money, but I’m sorry you had to go through all the hassle.
Samantha Gluck says
Wowsa! That’s a nightmare project indeed! I’ve not had an experience quite that bad, but one company I worked for didn’t pay me for six months after I completed the work (which they loved) and it was published in the magazine. You would have thought I learned a lesson, right?
No!
The pay was very good (although very late) for these magazine stories, so I agreed to do more magazine stories PLUS write 100% of web copy for a website they were working on. The website was technical/medical related, so required my unique expertise in the field. I completed all the work well ahead of deadline.
I waited and waited for the pay. Called and emailed my editor and waited some more. Almost 10 months later, I finally got paid for the project! They say that they wait until THEIR client pays before they pay their freelancers. There was nothing like this in the contract. Besides, why is it MY fault that their client is late in paying, so long as I’ve completed the work and they like it? Their client had already published my work! Ugh!
I loved my editor and actually really loved the higher up head-hancho guy at this particular company….I got to know their client as I worked on the web copy and loved them too. That’s what made it so hard to break from them. It’s been almost a year since and I’ve not accepted another assignment from them, but I can’t say I never will. I’m not sure what to do about this.
John Soares says
10 months for payment! That really sucks.
However, I’ve got you beat. I had one client that took 12 months to pay me. I think he was just lazy about submitting the paperwork and following up. I’ve done dozens of projects for other editors at his company and was always paid promptly.
Samantha Gluck says
You DO have me beat, John! Twelve months? I think I would have had a seizure with the anxiety and all the hassle. I know it wasn’t that my editor was lazy or anything. She kept apologizing and I think it stressed her out as much as it did me. I’m glad it’s all behind me now and I’ve learned some valuable lessons. I’ve been adding a clause in my contract about payment in full and I require that it arrives within 5 days of delivery and acceptance of my work. It seems to be working well for me for now, at least.
John Soares says
Samantha, I really like your “5 days” clause. Most of my contracts are with very large textbook publishers, which typically take 2-4 weeks to pay, regardless of what I might ask for.
H says
It’s like there’s something in the water! Right now I’m going through something very similar.
Fortunately, I got paid some first. I haven’t done more work than the payment I’ve already received, and because of what I’ve been learning — I don’t intend to do any more than necessary to cut this client loose. The client will still get a good value (even if she will never understand that), but lesson learned on my part. Fortunately, it’s early and not catastrophic hard knocks.
3 months ago, the client was supposed to write up an agreement within a week after our meeting. I see now that red flags were waving, but I allowed myself to look elsewhere. But the scope creep within the past 2 weeks, and the things she wants that I know I didn’t agree to — that’s made me slam on the brakes!
I am grateful this “Yikes!” moment, is not worse, because it certainly could have been.
John Soares says
I occasionally get scope creep in projects. If it’s really minor I just accept it. If it requires significantly more work I ask for more money.
Anne Wayman says
John, those folks who stand between me and the editor are often a problem… they’ve sold themselves on the idea they know exactly what’s needed and they don’t.
Glad you got paid, and those two clauses would worry me too.
John Soares says
The two clauses were quite scary, and I’m really glad the company paid my invoice without requiring me to sign.
A. P. Davis says
having worked as a freelance writer for the past three years, the most important element of accepting a project is knowing what questions to ask before you accept.
1. Always, always Double check clarity of customer intent with your contact person. It has been my experience that the go-between “thinks” the client wants a,b,c and the client wants g,h,i. Often the editor fails to ask the proper questions and clarify the direction or intent of the project. In part, I suspect that this is because the editor lacks sufficient knowledge regarding the material requested to form a coherent concept and by the time it arrives in your box, it is garbled.
2.. Always find out what the client’s demographic focus is. I recently did an ebook on Risk Management – 30k wds. That is a huge subject and the editor did not know – and was embarrassed to ask the client – what type of Risk Management his/her clients targeted. I had to do 2 rewrites for free trying to fill the mysterious needs of the client and will not work again with any editor that is unwilling to get specifics or clarification from their clients.
3. Know going in that some clients are unable to express what they actually “desire” in the written project and work on a “I’ll know it when I see it” approach. By asking specific questions before you take on a project, you can avoid researching irrelevant material and avoid wasting a lot of time for all involved.
John Soares says
Your advice really underscores the importance of making sure that all parties involved — the writer, the client, and anyone else — is in agreement on exactly what will be created, when, and under what terms.
Melissa Crytzer Fry says
My “almost nightmare” was with a university, writing monthly electronic newsletter articles. When I balked at the various stipulations of the agreement — full rights only to the university; i.e. no ability to repurpose the material — AND a clause indicating that the editor had full authority to change whatever she wanted in the article and NOT share it with the writer, BUT that if the publication were sued for erroneous information in the articles, I would be liable for all legal fees. Two years later, and this individual is STILL saying to me with an air of condescension, “I work with a LOT of freelancers, and no one else has a problem with it. You – and only one other – even blinked at the terms of the contract.” Really? I declined because I cannot afford to pay for lawsuits out of my own pocket – especially ones that may be caused at the editor’s hand.
John Soares says
“…AND a clause indicating that the editor had full authority to change whatever she wanted in the article and NOT share it with the writer, BUT that if the publication were sued for erroneous information in the articles, I would be liable for all legal fees. ”
That’s the really scary part. You were smart to say no Melissa!
Sharon Hurley Hall says
Wow, what a nightmare, John! Glad you got paid and thanks for sharing these lessons with us. I think most writers have at least one story like that – I recently turned down a writing gig because they wanted to hamstring the rest of my creative output via a non-compete clause. The clause was originally designed for software developers, but I could see how it could ruin my writing career if they tried to enforce it, so I had to walk away.
John Soares says
Sharon, those non-compete clauses are especially crippling. If companies want to use these clauses, they should pay writers far more money, enough to compensate for lost income from similar clients.
Sharon Hurley Hall says
Agreed, John.
Adrienne (scieditor) says
Exactly! I have just met a non-compete clause for the first time in 16 years. I question the legality of them. As a freelancer in Canada, my understanding is that a client cannot legally interfere with my ability to earn a living. Otherwise, I 1) deserve fair (total and comprehensive) compensation and 2) become an “employee” in the eyes of the law. I think I need to consult an expert in employment law.
Thanks for sharing your story, John. This happens far too often.
Don Wallace says
Hi, John,
WOW! That’s a great story. (Not a great outcome for you… 🙁 ) I mean – informative reading.
About the type of client you’re describing… a few years ago I received an email from a similar type of company/broker. I had been a contract software developer – because of this experience, I was approached to verify a set of test questions for an IT certification exam. The pay would have been $75. For what they asked and the time I thought it could take, it seemed like OK money.
The BIG turnoff was the bloated contract that the company asked me to sign. It had page after page of disclaimer, limitation on my activities, NDA language binding on me, etc.
I turned down the bit of work. I told them that for the money, the effort to review the contract in an informed way was wholly inconsistent with the payout. I then got a spiel about how strange I was for objecting and turning them down.
One thing I have found over the years with most businesses that employ contractors as part of their primary business model – in addition to education content management companies, I include “bodyshops” in the IT and business outsourcing world – is that they are skilled at undercutting your objections and making you feel like an oddball and eccentric for questioning ANY aspect of the contract process.
Example composite response: “We NEVER have ANY contractor who has EVER objected to ANY clause in our contract, so *YOU* must be obsessive and strange and untrusting. Perhaps you need counseling because of your issues.” I’ve pretty much received aspects of that back in response to lining out contract clauses from several contract agencies.
Life’s too short to deal with jerks and users.
Don
John Soares says
Don, sorry you’ve had a similar situation.
I understand about companies needing to protect themselves. There have been times I’ve signed contracts with nondisclosure agreements, and for good reason.
But most of the time these companies are using the same restrictive contract for all situations.
Rose Quinn says
This is one of the most frustrating things that could happen to a freelancer. I guess what’s worse is not being paid(which I experienced) and getting scammed.
Pinar Tarhan says
My client started out as a dream client. We got along well, we even met in person to discuss the projects. I should mention I was hired also because of my local knowledge and contacts as she was from another country. She liked my ideas.
But then it turned out she and I had completely different views of the industry. And while I did my best to include her suggestions, she was never satisfied with the rewrites. The problem was what she expected and what she said she expected turned out to be truly different.
I was also supposed to be the first and the only writer of the website, and this meant I had nothing to guide me to find the tone she was looking for. She’d sent me a couple of links to posts she liked, but those posts were for another country, the posts were too long and the language was different than the one she wanted in my posts. Long story short, it’s not a great idea to be the “first” writer of the project. I didn’t get paid, she didn’t end up using anything I wrote. And there should be contracts, detailing expectations from both sides.
John Soares says
That’s a painful story Pinar. I’ve found that there are more likely to be problems with a client when she or he is just starting a project. That’s what happened to both of us.
We learn from the process and move on…
st thomas taxi says
Amazing, what a bad dream, John! Happy you got paid and much obliged concerning imparting these lessons to us. I suppose most authors have no less than one story as that – I as of late turned down a composition gig since they needed to hamstring whatever remains of my innovative yield through a non-contend proviso. The statement was initially intended for programming engineers, yet I could perceive how it could destroy my composition profession assuming that they tried to uphold it, so I needed to walk a
Brian Dalton says
Your story rings sadly true to me, as well. While freelance writing for a client, I had written about 50 articles on a particular topic for a niche site. When all was said and done, he decided to go another route. I didn’t feel like arguing the issue, for it would have probably led to more headaches than it was worth. That’s a big reason why I starting developing two of my own sites. I do all my own writing and only have to answer to me. I still freelance from time to time, but I’m careful about what jobs I choose. Great site by the way.
Steven J Fromm says
John, this is a cautionary tale for many industries. In my legal practice, I do not do anything with a new client unless there is an engagement letter and retainer payment. I have gotten burned too many times. The rule for us to not do a thing until there is a contract and hopefully some up front money.
Annette Gilbert says
John, I saw the link to this post in one of your answers in the Freelance Writer’s Den. Sorry you had such a bad experience! I agree, my most frustrating experiences involving miscommunication and scope creep have been with third-party agencies. Like you, I ended up making less than my bare minimum hourly because I had a feeling I wouldn’t get paid if I didn’t do the extra work. So the lesson I’ve learned is to avoid situations (if possible) where I can’t deal directly with the actual client but need to rely on a go-between.
John Soares says
I’m sorry you had a similar experience Annette. I haven’t worked through an agency since this experience. Not that I definitely wouldn’t again; I know writers who have had positive experiences with agencies. Just definitely not my first choice.