Online June 2011: Freelance Writing Update & Writing Earnings…

{img credit: aless&ro}

June’s been a fairly good writing month for me:

 – I found another client to write for …in the celebrity/music niche….at the rate I wanted. Not sure if it’ll be long-term but I’m working on making myself indispensable! Would be good if the gig was regular as I like the person I’m writing about, someone who’s genuinely talented, is young and very new to the scene, so it would be interesting to follow their growth.

– The other celebrity/film blog I mentioned I was on a trial for, but hadn’t gotten back to me in some time — well, they eventually got back to me and offered me a position. Like I mentioned in a previous post, the pay’s really not that sexy, but I applied for it at a time when I wanted to get into the celebrity niche and thought it would be good for experience. I feel I kinda owe them as I used the posts I wrote there as a basis for other celebrity work I secured. I also still think it’ll be good for experience. They’ve asked me if I’d like to attend and review a new film that’s coming out, so that’s a great perk of the job that I didn’t know was on offer when I applied.

– The other celebrity blog I write for is going well – it’s my favourite as I get to be as sarcastic and opinionated as I wanna be, plus the pay’s good, plus the client rocks. 🙂

…is the food blog I mentioned I applied for. Rate was agreed. A 50% deposit was sent. I wrote and delivered two pieces on time, and never received the rest of the money that was due ($26). Sent an email. Skype’d him. Received an apology, a promise to pay, but it never surfaced. Sent another email, sent another, gave him a piece of my mind as professionally as I could, then I let it go. Karma will take care of the rest.

Thinking back, he did offer to pay the full amount before I started, but I declined as I felt he needed security, so a 50% deposit was OK with me. I should have taken the full amount when it was offered, but hey, I wasn’t to know how it would turn out. More than anything, I was disappointed by his chosen action as he really came across professional when we were Skyp’ing and trying to finalise details for the gig. I even stayed on longer than I should have as we started talking about other things (he’s achieved a lot for his age and I was inspired by it).

Based on those two articles I wrote, I was hoping to be taken onboard for his food blog – it was a reeeeally cool blog, really cool – but things happen the way they do, so that’s that – it comes with the territory, unfortunately. However, it sort of balances out because whereas he didn’t pay the rest, one of my other clients overpaid me by about $35 and told me to keep it! And then another client actually paid me in full before I even started, even though I only asked for half. So, yeah, though I would have preferred to be paid what I was owed, it balances out.

(this is just for writing – will do a wider earnings update in my next post)

Writing-wise, I made $390.67 in June, over $300 more than I made in May.

Blog writing – $297.37

Web copy – $60.76

Article writing – $26.00

Forum posting – $6.54 (been doing a bit of forum posting – will write about that in another post for anyone who’s looking for that type of work)

Total: $390.67

I’m happy with that and I’m aiming to top that this month. No reason why I shouldn’t.

If I’m to offer any advice from my experiences in June, it’s this:

 – Always ask for a deposit before you commence any writing work. I guess the same goes for any freelance work, really. There may be times when that’s not possible – for example, some companies don’t pay that way, or some individuals may not pay that way either and may refuse to when you suggest it. In which case, you’ve got to go with your gut over whether you feel they’re kosher and whether it’s worth the risk.

– Stick with your rate. However, if you’re going to accept anything lower, think of other ways it can work for you. Also, consider prioritising your workload accordingly – push the less-paying writing gig lower down your to-do list and concentrate on the completing the ones that pay you better first.

– Not every potential client is out to scam freelancers. There are some really lovely people out there. Just exercise some caution.

Right. I’m done here.

Toodooloo,

MissEb.