Posts
A few months ago, I joined an online network for women in business. A young mum on there was busy setting up a website for mums working from home. She works from home herself (unsurprisingly) and asked members for tips about getting the balance right. I responded with a lengthy post offering top 10 tips for homeworking. She mailed me to ask if she could use my post on her website. I agreed, even though it would be unpaid, because I wanted to help her out with some content, and I turned it into a full-blown article.
Earlier this afternoon, I was hunting around for said article on the net. I eventually found the website in question, only to discover the home page is currently inactive. However, a google search showed she had posted my article on another networking website (of which I am not a member). I was quite stunned, as I had offered her free content for her site, but had certainly not given her permission to post it elsewhere. At least I still have a byline on it.
I've e-mailed the website in question to complain and to try and find out how come they had published it. No one has bothered to ask me if it was ok to republish. If they had, I probably would have said yes. But I'm just very pissed off that people seem to think it's ok to just nick other people's hard work and post it anywhere they choose. I await a response with interest...
This is not the first time someone has just reproduced my work without permission. Last month, while tinkering with my MySpace profile, I found a MySpace member in California had "borrowed" an article on glam rock I wrote in late 2004 and posted it on her profile. A message to her ensured it was quickly removed under threat of legal action.
This has left a bad taste in my mouth, just when I was looking forward to an exciting weekend of partying and mayhem.
30 June 2006
Admin
One of the downsides of being a freelance is that you have to do everything. And I mean everything. As well as doing the stuff I get paid to do - the editing, the writing, the proofreading - I have to type my own letters, do my own research, chase clients who are late paying me, do the accounts, answer the phone and reply to e-mails (plus deleting all the spam I get sent, which is really annoying and a waste of my time), do the filing and find new clients. I don't have anyone to do these tasks for me. Only on the days when the cleaner is here, do I have the luxury of being offered a cup of tea or coffee by someone else, without having to make it myself.
Possibly the worst of all the chores is the bookkeeping. I have an accountant, of course, who does my yearly accounts and files my tax return for me. But the day-to-day burden of keeping track of the money falls on my shoulders. I use Sage Instant Accounts to do this. It's a pain to learn it, but plain sailing once you've grasped the basics.
Today is Friday and it's also the end of the month.
Every Friday, without fail, I send out invoices for jobs I have completed for clients. Depending on how many separate jobs I have done in a week, this can take up to half an hour. After I've posted the bills, I open Sage IA and enter all the amounts due. I also use this time to enter expenditure. The whole process takes about an hour.
On the last day of the month (or the last working day), I do my monthly invoices, as I have several regular clients for whom I do basic copy-editing - these are all sole traders or small businesses who understand the importance of sending out letters that are in impeccable English, or producing published materials that are readable and error-free. It's not worth anyone's while to charge per job, as many of these are small projects that can take between 5 and 30 minutes. It's pointless billing someone several times a month for a fiver here and a tenner there, and the client having to write and post several small cheques in return. For these clients, I run a monthly Excel spreadsheet, in which I note every job, how long it took and the cost. And then, like today, I tot it all up and send one invoice, detailing all the work done. This saves a lot of hassle.
Much as I hate dealing with numbers (you'd never guess I used to be a financial editor for a major Dutch investment bank!), I actually quite enjoy doing the books. It's a time to switch off from the finer points of punctuation and wading through the thesaurus. It's an opportunity to see how much I'm earning (or spending), who still owes me money, and reconcile the bank account.
I've just finished this month's books, which means I can watch Andy Murray at Wimbledon this afternoon on Centre Court, free of guilt. The bills went in the post box two hours ago, my accounts are in good order and I have a cup of tea steaming next to me. Bliss...
Possibly the worst of all the chores is the bookkeeping. I have an accountant, of course, who does my yearly accounts and files my tax return for me. But the day-to-day burden of keeping track of the money falls on my shoulders. I use Sage Instant Accounts to do this. It's a pain to learn it, but plain sailing once you've grasped the basics.
Today is Friday and it's also the end of the month.
Every Friday, without fail, I send out invoices for jobs I have completed for clients. Depending on how many separate jobs I have done in a week, this can take up to half an hour. After I've posted the bills, I open Sage IA and enter all the amounts due. I also use this time to enter expenditure. The whole process takes about an hour.
On the last day of the month (or the last working day), I do my monthly invoices, as I have several regular clients for whom I do basic copy-editing - these are all sole traders or small businesses who understand the importance of sending out letters that are in impeccable English, or producing published materials that are readable and error-free. It's not worth anyone's while to charge per job, as many of these are small projects that can take between 5 and 30 minutes. It's pointless billing someone several times a month for a fiver here and a tenner there, and the client having to write and post several small cheques in return. For these clients, I run a monthly Excel spreadsheet, in which I note every job, how long it took and the cost. And then, like today, I tot it all up and send one invoice, detailing all the work done. This saves a lot of hassle.
Much as I hate dealing with numbers (you'd never guess I used to be a financial editor for a major Dutch investment bank!), I actually quite enjoy doing the books. It's a time to switch off from the finer points of punctuation and wading through the thesaurus. It's an opportunity to see how much I'm earning (or spending), who still owes me money, and reconcile the bank account.
I've just finished this month's books, which means I can watch Andy Murray at Wimbledon this afternoon on Centre Court, free of guilt. The bills went in the post box two hours ago, my accounts are in good order and I have a cup of tea steaming next to me. Bliss...
29 June 2006
Go Murray!
I've been glued to the TV all evening. Poor beloved P had to eat dinner alone as I watched Andy Murray take on Julien Benneteau of France in round 2 at Wimbledon. Nail-biting stuff. Play was suspended at 8.50pm when Benneteau snatched the 3rd set from a Murray win and the light was fading.
Damn. That means I need to find time to watch the end of the match tomorrow afternoon, when I have a big editing job lined up. Nothing exciting - just cleaning up a university prospectus but it needs to be returned by Monday morning and I can't work over the weekend as things are planned (including watching more Wimbledon).
Damn. That means I need to find time to watch the end of the match tomorrow afternoon, when I have a big editing job lined up. Nothing exciting - just cleaning up a university prospectus but it needs to be returned by Monday morning and I can't work over the weekend as things are planned (including watching more Wimbledon).
Phoning under false pretences
I'd just settled down to watch the start of Agassi's second-round match at Wimbledon when the phone rang. There was a Ms X at the other end of the line, saying that she'd been looking at my website and wondered if she could refer me to some of her clients. Ms X runs a virtual office service. I had no problem with that, but then came the real reason for her call.
Next, she offered to have my website search-engine optimised. As my website is about to rebuilt from scratch, with precisely that in mind, I wasn't interested. The graphic designer I work with is going to be doing the work and I have full confidence in his abilities. Besides, my website is really only a business card - most of my work comes in through word of mouth, so I'm not too bothered about being high up in Google's rankings. She was persistent, though.
Then she wanted to know if I'd be a reseller for her company newsletter! I thought, the flaming cheek! Why would I want to do that? Very politely, and through gritted teeth, I pointed out that I am extremely busy working as an editor and writer, and that I had neither the time nor the inclination to flog someone else's newsletter. My client list is private, anyway. I'm not interested in spamming them. I'm much more concerned with maintaining lasting client relationships.
Ms X finally got the message and asked once again if it would be ok to refer clients who need my services. Except it turned out she wants me to work under her banner! By now I was boiling with fury and I told her bluntly that I don't work for agencies, that I never have, I never will, and that I have a policy not to. Too many agencies are sloppy at passing on feedback and are late payers to boot. I know a number of freelance creatives who have tried agency work, only to get nothing but grief from the association. Besides, why work for an agency when you can work directly for a client? It cuts out the middleman, who is basically taking a very large cut for facilitating a transaction. I'm not short of work, anyway. I certainly don't need an agency to generate any for me.
I finally got rid of Ms X. I do not need people like her trying to tell me how to run my business, sell me things I don't need or want, and take a cut of my earnings.
I missed two games of the Agassi match while I was fending off Ms X.
Next, she offered to have my website search-engine optimised. As my website is about to rebuilt from scratch, with precisely that in mind, I wasn't interested. The graphic designer I work with is going to be doing the work and I have full confidence in his abilities. Besides, my website is really only a business card - most of my work comes in through word of mouth, so I'm not too bothered about being high up in Google's rankings. She was persistent, though.
Then she wanted to know if I'd be a reseller for her company newsletter! I thought, the flaming cheek! Why would I want to do that? Very politely, and through gritted teeth, I pointed out that I am extremely busy working as an editor and writer, and that I had neither the time nor the inclination to flog someone else's newsletter. My client list is private, anyway. I'm not interested in spamming them. I'm much more concerned with maintaining lasting client relationships.
Ms X finally got the message and asked once again if it would be ok to refer clients who need my services. Except it turned out she wants me to work under her banner! By now I was boiling with fury and I told her bluntly that I don't work for agencies, that I never have, I never will, and that I have a policy not to. Too many agencies are sloppy at passing on feedback and are late payers to boot. I know a number of freelance creatives who have tried agency work, only to get nothing but grief from the association. Besides, why work for an agency when you can work directly for a client? It cuts out the middleman, who is basically taking a very large cut for facilitating a transaction. I'm not short of work, anyway. I certainly don't need an agency to generate any for me.
I finally got rid of Ms X. I do not need people like her trying to tell me how to run my business, sell me things I don't need or want, and take a cut of my earnings.
I missed two games of the Agassi match while I was fending off Ms X.
Media in the north-west
I just came across an interesting website called ConnectMedia North West. Lots of local media links, including to our new regional paper, the North West Enquirer. I've become quite fond of the NWE, even though I don't buy it as often as I ought. It's rare to find a newspaper that offers a truly regional overview and sees the bigger picture. Our local paper, the dear old Chron, is pretty good for a city paper - it covers plenty of local news and has some interesting features - but it doesn't position itself within the region, so it has a kind of stand-alone aura about it. If you were a Martian landing on Earth and you found yourself in Chester, picking up the Chronicle would give you a very narrow view of what's going on around you.
No spec
Like many creative people, I refuse to work on spec, and I wholeheartedly endorse the No Spec campaign.
Working on spec involves working for free for someone on the basis that I "might" get offered paid work if the speculative work meets with their approval. They are saying: "I'll give you a project or assignment. Let's see what you can do with it. If I like it, I'll use it and pay you. If I don't, I won't. But if I do use it and pay you, there could be more work in the pipeline for you."
I don't work for free. I, like many, need to earn a living - I have bills to pay, a shoe habit to feed, pub rounds to buy when it's my turn... I believe the quality of my work speaks for itself. I have many satisfied clients to prove it.
Granted, novice journalists, copywriters and editors may well need to work on spec to get a foot in the door or a step on the ladder. When you are starting out, it may be the only way for many creatives to get that first, important break. But even beginners usually have some unpublished work they can show to a potential employer or client that demonstrates the talent they have.
Working on spec could be compared to walking into TopShop, "borrowing" a pair of combat trousers and telling the sales assistant; "If they fit well and my friends tell me I look good in them, and if I wear them to a club or pub and I get compliments, I'll come back and pay you for them. And I may buy a trendy t-shirt from you to match the combats. But if the combats turn out to be less than flattering, I'll return them, worn (so you can't resell them), and I'll never buy anything from TopShop again."
Now, how daft does that sound? You can't take stuff from a shop on the basis that if it fulfils your needs or dreams you'll cough up later, but only after a trial run. Tesco would go bust in a week if their shoppers took food on spec!
Potential clients who contact me often want to know what I've already done. I send them my CV, if requested, and point them to my website, where I have links to some of the work I have done for satisfied customers, such as web copy. Then they can decide for themselves if I can provide for their needs. At which point we can discuss various approaches to the job required, cost estimates, time frames and so on. If we agree to work together, I ask the client to sign a contract and I usually operate on a draft basis - that is, I will draft the copy, we'll discuss any changes they want to make and I'll finalise the copy. A job may go through several drafts before all parties are happy. But I get paid for all of my time and creative energy. What I won't do is draft anything for free to see if they like it. My time is worth more than a promise.
On spec is no go.
Working on spec involves working for free for someone on the basis that I "might" get offered paid work if the speculative work meets with their approval. They are saying: "I'll give you a project or assignment. Let's see what you can do with it. If I like it, I'll use it and pay you. If I don't, I won't. But if I do use it and pay you, there could be more work in the pipeline for you."
I don't work for free. I, like many, need to earn a living - I have bills to pay, a shoe habit to feed, pub rounds to buy when it's my turn... I believe the quality of my work speaks for itself. I have many satisfied clients to prove it.
Granted, novice journalists, copywriters and editors may well need to work on spec to get a foot in the door or a step on the ladder. When you are starting out, it may be the only way for many creatives to get that first, important break. But even beginners usually have some unpublished work they can show to a potential employer or client that demonstrates the talent they have.
Working on spec could be compared to walking into TopShop, "borrowing" a pair of combat trousers and telling the sales assistant; "If they fit well and my friends tell me I look good in them, and if I wear them to a club or pub and I get compliments, I'll come back and pay you for them. And I may buy a trendy t-shirt from you to match the combats. But if the combats turn out to be less than flattering, I'll return them, worn (so you can't resell them), and I'll never buy anything from TopShop again."
Now, how daft does that sound? You can't take stuff from a shop on the basis that if it fulfils your needs or dreams you'll cough up later, but only after a trial run. Tesco would go bust in a week if their shoppers took food on spec!
Potential clients who contact me often want to know what I've already done. I send them my CV, if requested, and point them to my website, where I have links to some of the work I have done for satisfied customers, such as web copy. Then they can decide for themselves if I can provide for their needs. At which point we can discuss various approaches to the job required, cost estimates, time frames and so on. If we agree to work together, I ask the client to sign a contract and I usually operate on a draft basis - that is, I will draft the copy, we'll discuss any changes they want to make and I'll finalise the copy. A job may go through several drafts before all parties are happy. But I get paid for all of my time and creative energy. What I won't do is draft anything for free to see if they like it. My time is worth more than a promise.
On spec is no go.
27 June 2006
Approval
The commissioning editor just e-mailed to say thanks for the MS of the book I promised not to mention again - she's really pleased with it. She congratulated me on a very professional and well-handled job.
Talking of e-mails, you can send them to me now...
Talking of e-mails, you can send them to me now...
The last word on hedge funds
I swear! This is the last time I'm going to mention this book.
I was pretty grouchy and tired when I blogged last night, and I needed a good moan. Actually, the book is pretty good. I've no idea when it will be published (autumn, at a guess) but for anyone interested in hedge funds or thinking of investing in them or even - dare I say - has already tied up large wads of cash in them, I'd say it will be an essential read. It's a fairly comprehensive investigation into the management of offshores, most of which seem to lack regulation and have a distinct lack of accountability to their investors. The author clearly knows their stuff and has created a template for how hedge funds ought to be conducting their business.
And now, of course, the prose is perfect, polished to perfection by yours truly.
I do a lot of financial editing. I used to work as a financial editor for a major European investment bank before I turned freelance.
I've now edited two books for this particular publisher, which specialises in financial books. I'm expecting another one shortly.
But not today, thank goodness.
Today will be spent putting the last touch to a trade-publication ad for a client, chasing a payment from another client and sending invoices.
And, if it ever stops raining, watching a bit of Wimbledon...
I was pretty grouchy and tired when I blogged last night, and I needed a good moan. Actually, the book is pretty good. I've no idea when it will be published (autumn, at a guess) but for anyone interested in hedge funds or thinking of investing in them or even - dare I say - has already tied up large wads of cash in them, I'd say it will be an essential read. It's a fairly comprehensive investigation into the management of offshores, most of which seem to lack regulation and have a distinct lack of accountability to their investors. The author clearly knows their stuff and has created a template for how hedge funds ought to be conducting their business.
And now, of course, the prose is perfect, polished to perfection by yours truly.
I do a lot of financial editing. I used to work as a financial editor for a major European investment bank before I turned freelance.
I've now edited two books for this particular publisher, which specialises in financial books. I'm expecting another one shortly.
But not today, thank goodness.
Today will be spent putting the last touch to a trade-publication ad for a client, chasing a payment from another client and sending invoices.
And, if it ever stops raining, watching a bit of Wimbledon...
26 June 2006
Hedgemania but no Henman
I put in 10 hours today, finishing off the hedge funds book. I was thoroughly sick of it by the time I mailed the last file back to the commissioning editor.
Some of the problems I had to deal with:
- French punctuation everywhere;
- some completely garbled and unintelligible paragraphs;
- uneditable graphics files;
- a contents list that bore little similarity to the chapter titles, plus a list of illustrations that was somewhat different to where they had been inserted into the copy;
- a list of references that could best be described as sloppy.
I could go on, but you'd only get as bored as I was...
On the plus side, rain stopped play at Wimbledon so I didn't miss Henman's opening match.
On the downside, when I sat down after dinner with a glass of wine to catch up with the news, I logged in to the Guardian only to find this...
Bah! No getting away from bloody hedge funds...
At least I have a day off tomorrow.
Some of the problems I had to deal with:
- French punctuation everywhere;
- some completely garbled and unintelligible paragraphs;
- uneditable graphics files;
- a contents list that bore little similarity to the chapter titles, plus a list of illustrations that was somewhat different to where they had been inserted into the copy;
- a list of references that could best be described as sloppy.
I could go on, but you'd only get as bored as I was...
On the plus side, rain stopped play at Wimbledon so I didn't miss Henman's opening match.
On the downside, when I sat down after dinner with a glass of wine to catch up with the news, I logged in to the Guardian only to find this...
Bah! No getting away from bloody hedge funds...
At least I have a day off tomorrow.
24 June 2006
Work-free weekend?
I wish....
I downloaded my e-mails this morning to discover that a regular client of mine in the Netherlands had mailed me on 13 June to offer me some more editorial work (I'd completed a job for him that very day) but his e-mail took 11 days to reach me! I was gutted as this client is a prompt payer and pays the rate I asked for. So I missed out on at least one job, possibly two, when I had spare capacity to work for him on the 14th and 15th. And worse, he probably thought I'd ignored him, so I had to write an apologetic reply explaining that I hadn't been ignoring him at all but simply hadn't received his request on time.
Having despatched my apology, I logged into The Guardian website to catch up on the news. I had to laugh when I looked through the Work supplement. There, in glorious black and white was an article on hedge funds... you couldn't make it up, really!
There is no escape...
Still, I'm not planning to actually do any work. I want to be outside in the fresh air today, after being hunched over a keyboard all week. But I haven't actually decided what I want to. Possibly a leisurely walk through the local park to feed the tame squirrels with monkey nuts. A spot of gardening (my herbs need tending). Some creative cookery looms this evening - probably venison steaks with a red wine and mushroom sauce. And of course, we shall be sitting in front of the tv promptly at 7pm to watch Dr Who.
I'm trying not to think about Monday afternoon - I shall be struggling to complete the hedge funds book and am likely to miss Tim Henman's first-round match at Wimbledon. Bah!
I downloaded my e-mails this morning to discover that a regular client of mine in the Netherlands had mailed me on 13 June to offer me some more editorial work (I'd completed a job for him that very day) but his e-mail took 11 days to reach me! I was gutted as this client is a prompt payer and pays the rate I asked for. So I missed out on at least one job, possibly two, when I had spare capacity to work for him on the 14th and 15th. And worse, he probably thought I'd ignored him, so I had to write an apologetic reply explaining that I hadn't been ignoring him at all but simply hadn't received his request on time.
Having despatched my apology, I logged into The Guardian website to catch up on the news. I had to laugh when I looked through the Work supplement. There, in glorious black and white was an article on hedge funds... you couldn't make it up, really!
There is no escape...
Still, I'm not planning to actually do any work. I want to be outside in the fresh air today, after being hunched over a keyboard all week. But I haven't actually decided what I want to. Possibly a leisurely walk through the local park to feed the tame squirrels with monkey nuts. A spot of gardening (my herbs need tending). Some creative cookery looms this evening - probably venison steaks with a red wine and mushroom sauce. And of course, we shall be sitting in front of the tv promptly at 7pm to watch Dr Who.
I'm trying not to think about Monday afternoon - I shall be struggling to complete the hedge funds book and am likely to miss Tim Henman's first-round match at Wimbledon. Bah!
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