Now, to get up the courage and break out on my own…

A QUESTION: I am about to write an interview, arranged by the head of publicity at a big TV station. Does anyone know the price range I should be expecting, just so I’m in the ballpark?

I have a good example of what to watch for when accepting/not accepting jobs. There was a job post a few days ago for a book editor on poker. It claimed they paid $50 to $100 so I emailed for more information.

What I got back was an email stating that you were sent an ebook to read and then you had to:

1. Offer 250 words of commentary on each chapter, and draw quotes from the book to prove your point (quotes do not count in the total word count.)

2. When the book was finished, offer a 750 word summary of the book, again adding important book quotes (which again don’t count to the word count total.)

I again queried to see how long these books were. I was given the title of one and found it had 26 chapters plus an introduction. So that was 27 chapters requiring 250 words– at least 6,750 words total plus the additional 750 word summary equals 7500 word essay on these poker books. Even if you get the whole $100 payment, that’s a penny a word. And the details were sketchy about when payment would be $100 rather than $50 words.

I ask lots of questions, and in this case was able to rule out this one as being not worth my time.

I started two years ago and have definitely had my share of disappointments. The first woman I started writing for could only pay $5 an article and I know most would scoff at it. I stuck with her because the topics always amused me and I could get three or four done per hour. She now pays me extremely well so it’s paid off.

Likewise, the first very high paying job I received was for job descriptions. I did all ten as promised within a week’s time as promised. That guy walked off never paying me the $300 they owed me. His “professional email account” turned out to be one that he’d spoofed and it was no longer active as soon as I started fighting for payment. I fought them through their website domain, paypal, and the likes and never saw my money. When I learned they’d used the articles anyway, I went right to the website and the informed had hired a man themselves paying him $50 an article (he was paying me $30) and that they’d paid him so I was s&^t out of luck. They put my names on the article but that’s the most I ever got out of that.

I think like it or not, there are going to be the good and bad experiences. There are things I watch for now, but after the spoofed email one, I find myself unsure how to truly pick out the honest people.

Things I do look for –

Payment with paypal and that they have a business acct. with paypal.

Partial payment up front.

Website that can be checked out and I check with the Better Business Bureau too.

My son was born with some problems that required a colostomy and assorted surgeries over the first year of his life, so the whole idea of going back to work stopped right there. I stayed home and looked after him, but I was going a bit stir crazy. My husband finally suggested that I start going to the internet cafe for an hour a day.

At first, I would go to the internet, copy all the writing jobs onto a diskette, come home and write queries, etc. The next day, I´d send out my queries. I couldn´t take some jobs because there were a lot of days that the internet cafe would be full or closed, so I couldn´t keep tight deadlines.

Finally, we managed to get internet at home, just before my second son was born (about a year later) and since then I have been blogging and writing online. While I don´t earn enough to survive in Canada (my home country), here in Guatemala, we are doing just fine! My husband even quit his teaching job to stay home and look after the boys while I write and only works nights as a musician, his dream job. We are even building a house, slowly but surely.

In addition to the people I’d already been writing for, I also let people at my first editorial job know I was now writing full-time. As they’ve scattered around to different companies, they’ve continued to contact me for work, and have also given my name to other people. I’m working on a project now for a person I met six years ago when I was an editorial assistant making copies and trafficking material.

So if I have any advice for people who want to freelance, I’d say it’s not a bad idea to work for a little while on the editorial side of an industry that uses lots of freelancers, and build up a contact list that way.

Do you all have any suggestions for a beginner? I would appreciate any guidance…

It’s been 18 months now, after 20+ years of being a full-time employee, and so far, so good!