“I’m not getting paid,” a writer friend of mine said to me
the other day. She is productive and well-known in her industry and beyond. “I
hate collecting money.”
This isn’t only a problem for freelance writers, every business
in every industry struggles with getting paid on time. For some reason though,
it’s harder to stand up for yourself when you’re a writer and you say “I need
to get paid on time/ at all for my creative efforts that you liked, accepted/assigned,
promised payment for, and published” than to ask to get paid for a carton of
widgets that you delivered.
On and off throughout my writing career I have had a side
business as a bookkeeper…seems counter intuitive right? Left brain vs. right brain, good vs. evil. While toiling away in front of QuickBooks has been less
than fun, it has taught me a lot about managing a business account, and if you’re
writing for pay you have a business. I’ve been on the accounts receivable
(getting paid) side and the accounts payable (paying others) side, and I’ve had
a successful track record in collections for a long time.
So what are your options if you’re not getting paid in a
timely matter, or at all? Let’s start from the beginning:
- The best
defense is a good offense. First of all, before anything, sit down and
create some kind of system for tracking your assignments. Print out the email
with your assignment details and terms and put it in a folder. Create a
document and title it with the month you expect to get paid. Handwrite a list
with columns for publication, assignment, fee, deadline date, and payment date.
Buy a money management program or download one for free. You see where I am
going with this. If you’re not organized about tracking what’s owed to you
how do you expect to get paid in the first place? Make up a system that
works for you, even if it consists of a giant wall of sticky notes (not that I
recommend it). If you are owed a lot of money right now, the first thing you
should do is create a quick list of who owes you how much and for what. Write
down as much detail as possible. You’ll need it.
- Your
editor is not in accounting. One reason your editor is great at what she
does is that she is not in accounting. She finds writers, she juggles a
schedule, she assigns pieces. Yes, she should be the one to initially tell you what, when and how you will be paid,
and get the ball rolling, but unless there is a vital piece of paper sitting on
her desk unsigned, she is not the reason you are not getting paid. If you have
an outstanding bill you should contact your editor and politely ask who you
should contact in the accounting department because you haven’t been paid yet
for X assignment that you turned in on X date. (This is where being organized
comes in.) She would probably happily give you this information because it will
be one less thing that is not her job that she has to deal with. If it is her
job, this might spur her on to pay you.
- Just the
facts, m’aam. Now that you have the accounting person’s contact
information, prepare yourself. These people work in numbers. They aren’t
unfeeling robots, but they don’t really care if your cat needs an operation or
if your last pair of jeans ripped yesterday. THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WHETHER YOU
SHOULD BE PAID OR NOT. Be nice, but firm. You delivered a product, but they
haven’t held up their end of the deal. It’s nothing personal.
What works:
“Hi! How are you. I was assigned X
piece on X date for X amount of money working with X. Can you tell me the
status of payment for that assignment, or if I need to provide anything else in
order to get paid?”
This basically says:
“Hi, I am a professional talking to
another professional , I am giving you the benefit of the doubt that maybe I
did not provide a piece of paper you need but that by being a responsible vendor
and calling to follow up that you will pay me.”
HERE IS MY BEST PIECE OF ADVICE FOR COLLECTING MONEY AND HAS WORKED
OVER AND OVER AGAIN…ARE YOU READY? Note down who you talked to, what time
you talked to them, what you said, what they said, and when they said you would
get paid. If they don’t have an answer or an exact date your check will be cut
ask them when you can call back for an answer or to follow up on payment and MARK THAT DATE ON A CALENDAR. When you
call back on the day you said you would, and you have all of the details of
your past conversations/emails you have the advantage. Keep calling back, don’t
be rude, just persistent. Trust me, it works.
Also you need to face the fact that
with some pubs, as with some businesses, it’s up to you to follow up on
payment. I’ve had some dream clients, and still do, who are incredibly
organized and pay me in a very timely fashion once I’ve completed the requisite
paperwork. But if you’re putting off your invoicing, whether it’s due to
disorganization, lack of knowledge, or viewing these outstanding invoices as a
kind of savings account, you can’t expect your client to pay you on time.
Which me leads to...
- It’s not
you, it’s them. Usually the above actions should get you paid. If they don’t,
here are some of the most common reasons you might not be getting paid:
o
The publication
is disorganized. Maybe there’s restructuring going on, they don’t have an
invoicing system, they lost your invoice, they don’t have your tax info but
never told you they didn’t so they just didn’t pay your bill.
o
Your
editor is unaware that he didn’t get accounting the right paperwork. This should
be taken care of in your first contact with the editor, or accounting would
tell you that the editor isn’t responding to their requests. Or maybe your
editor is just disorganized, and that’s just a bummer.
o
There’s a
cash flow issue. Sadly, the bottom line is that you’re not getting paid because
there isn’t enough money. It’s very common. I’ll tell you from my perspective
of working for several businesses that have had, ahem, cash flow issues, the
polite persistent vendors get paid first. (Well, after the electric company and
payroll.) Sometimes it’s just how a business has to run for a while, and it’s
your decision whether to continue working for a business like this or not.
o
You may
never get paid. Sorry, that sucks. I once spent a lot of time writing for
one pub that had paid me in the past, but then they folded and I never got a
dime. It’s just a hazard of the business. Move onwards and upwards and chalk it up to experience.
I hope this has been helpful, and if you have any comments
or would like a follow-up post with tips for writers on accounting issues (not
tax info, just organizing your business), leave a comment below. Good luck!
