This post was mentioned on Twitter by FreelanceWJ: New Blog Post: Complaining About Your Freelance Writing Clients http://bit.ly/bqMg35...

Those folks might be a PITA sometimes–and there ARE occasions when the issues inch over into *Screw You!* territory, but I see a number of writers pulling the trigger on initiating a gripe session a lot more quickly than I think is justified.

I don’t know where one draws the line between “ugh” and “I want the world to know about this massive PITA with whom I’m dealing.” I do think there are potential consequences when the line is drawn in the wrong place, though. You seem to draw it in a good spot, which is why I mentioned the blog in the first place–unlike the complaints that really make scratch my head, you’re not going haywire on someone just because they fell slightly short of Perfect Client status.

I didn’t think you sounded defensive, btw. Plus, this conversation has been valuable in terms of adding a little dimension to the original post. Thanks!

I agree with you in one regard: It’s ALWAYS best to first attempt to deal with client problems behind closed doors. One only makes an appearance on my blog when such attempts have utterly failed. And I bet a lot of your readers would be surprised with how much leeway I give my clients before I go the exposure route.

I didn’t mean to sound defensive, and I also didn’t mean to overlook your mention of my blog. Thanks for the shout-out.
.-= Irreverent Freelancer´s last blog ..The Ultimate Get-a-Clue Freelance Request for the Week of March 1, 2010 =-.

Well, you’re absolutely right that a dreadful client shouldn’t remain on the roster. A few things, though…

First, I often see client complaints that don’t measure up to “Middle Finger Award” standards taking heat on writer blogs. In those situations, it just seems more reasonable to deal with it “behind closed doors,” so to speak.

Second, I still wonder about the reaction other prospective clients might have to some of the rants I read. I know that I’d be turned off a little from working with a client who blogged big ol’ rants about his/her latest writer–even if I knew I would do a much better job than my predecessor.

Maybe when we’re out on the fringes with the crazies, it’s a little different. Railing on some of those ads you find probably has less impact in that regard than griping about less egregious offenses.

One other thing… I was thinking about Irreverent Freelancer, which I read regularly and recommend to others, and wonder if you may have found the best way to bring the heat without hurting your business. You keep the action on another website dedicated to the issue and you primarily shine a light on the Really Really bad operators. Perceptually, that may be quite different than when one bags on his/her own clients as part of their primary business presentation.

Thanks for the comment. As noted, I’m not necessarily a hardliner on this stuff.

Carson

As a sometimes client the last thing I want is to hire a writer who calls out clients or gripes about them, because I don’t want to be on the receiving end. Even if the writing is amazing and creative, I wouldn’t hire someone who publicly rants about clients. I tend to avoid negativity anyway.

I think if bloggers inform readers or traps and pitfalls, that’s never a bad thing. Nowadays clients are Googling their writers. First impressions matter. So if you’re going to discuss the dark side of freelancing, it’s not a good idea to name names.