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Two very useful items I'd like to draw attention to.
Firstly, the NUJ has revised its Freelance Fees Guide. This extensive list of typical rates for the job is incredibly handy for working out what to charge clients or what rates to expect from the press. I consult this several times a year when something outside my usual range of services drops into my lap and I need a helping hand to price a job.
Secondly, a very handy post from the Freelance Switch blog, which is always packed with good tips and advice. This post on banishing lonely freelance syndrome will strike a chord with many. Working from home can be really isolating so it's important to use all your options to maintain contact with the outside world. You have to create your own water cooler, basically. I use almost all of the 11 tips and techniques - the cat keeps me company (even if he annoys the hell out of me at times by commandeering my desk as his personal bed), I chat on Twitter, Facebook and forums with colleagues and friends, and I aim to get out of the house at least once a day, either just for a walk in the fresh air and to enjoy a change of scenery or to do something - pop to the butcher for my dinner, meet a colleague or client, or drop in on my neighbour (also self-employed) for coffee.
Most of these tips will also refresh your brain, giving you renewed zip as you plough through the editing of that tedious 600-page tome on insurance risk, or helping generate ideas for features if you write. Both of which will, of course, earn you money and send you back to the NUJ fees guide for the right rate...
Win-win!
Showing posts with label NUJ. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NUJ. Show all posts
03 December 2008
02 December 2008
A very worthy cause
Just spotted on Press Gazette's website that they are teaming up with the NUJ to launch an appeal to help journalists in Zimbabwe.
This is a very worthy cause to support and you don't need to be a journalist to help. If you have any unwanted mobile phones, laptops or cameras, or even stuff like Dictaphones, they can be donated. What's become obsolete here in the UK can make a huge difference in a country where journalists have a shortage of such things - without kit, they struggle to get the news out.
Please spread the word and help if you can.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_ulWjrm9UdpQQ9_4qjKNAEwn7VnOQKGwOIaQy6ygTEiBT2Kru23xsvZB7Vwp-6kX9lUuwsun4ba1Lm5aBhFyspgY-ulO2mT2WVrNetDQZn0HzxFuCGFp_KEPe4wp3ZW3TX6oqMTW36PLqqK0p2f6Ver=s0-d)
This is a very worthy cause to support and you don't need to be a journalist to help. If you have any unwanted mobile phones, laptops or cameras, or even stuff like Dictaphones, they can be donated. What's become obsolete here in the UK can make a huge difference in a country where journalists have a shortage of such things - without kit, they struggle to get the news out.
Please spread the word and help if you can.
28 August 2008
Going freelance - getting started
A couple of days ago, a journo friend of mine dropped by for a coffee during the mid-afternoon lull. I could see she was really stressed and it didn't take long to find out why. She works really hard on our local paper and we all know that salaries on British regional papers are a joke. My friend has real talent for writing but is struggling to raise her family on her pitiful income. Unsurprisingly, she's looking to freelance on the side until she can make the leap and do it full-time. Time for a brain-pick.
My top tips?
1. Get a blog. Build it in Wordpress or Typepad so you can have static pages as well for showing clippings, adding a biog and a contact page. And the blog is not only ongoing proof you can write, it's a chance to specialise in niche areas you are passionate about. Result - instant website at minimal cost.
2. Join a good freelancing forum. I always recommend Journobiz as it is supportive - members are very generous with advice and contacts, and it's a good watercooler when you feel alone. I wouldn't survive the working day, stuck at home as I am, without dropping in regularly.
3. Get an accountant. When you're still on a contract and PAYE, freelance earnings are easy to declare on the tax return. But once you make the leap, the time you'd spend struggling to fill in the form is time better spent earning money. My accountant takes a day maximum to verify my accounts and file my tax return. If I did it myself, it would take a week. I save money by paying the accountant to do it for me. And she's a tax-deductible expense. The same theory applies to other situations. It would take me half a day to clean the house (which I do actually do right now) - hiring a cleaner would be cheaper. Ok, the char is not an allowable expense but the convenience frees up my time to earn.
4. Pick your listings. I pay for listings in several professional directories. None are massively expensive (each averages at £55 pa) but they have to earn their keep. I only need one really well-paid gig from each to justify renewing the listing when it's time. Anything else is a bonus. I choose my listings with care - any that don't pay their way get discarded. Well, you wouldn't run an ad in a magazine that didn't bring in business, would you?
5. Join your union. It's no secret that I have deep misgivings about the NUJ, which I recently rejoined purely for practical reasons. When you're staff, you get the press card automatically. When you're flying solo, if you want accreditation, you need to join something. It's not just about the press card. The union does offer other benefits too, like free legal advice and cheap professional indemnity insurance. And it's funny how when redundancies loom at a workplace, the NUJ sees a spike in membership applications... But seriously, it's better to be in the tent pissing out when you work for yourself, and have at least something behind you.
The bonuses? No boss, no commute, no office politics and complete freedom to work for whomever you choose...
My top tips?
1. Get a blog. Build it in Wordpress or Typepad so you can have static pages as well for showing clippings, adding a biog and a contact page. And the blog is not only ongoing proof you can write, it's a chance to specialise in niche areas you are passionate about. Result - instant website at minimal cost.
2. Join a good freelancing forum. I always recommend Journobiz as it is supportive - members are very generous with advice and contacts, and it's a good watercooler when you feel alone. I wouldn't survive the working day, stuck at home as I am, without dropping in regularly.
3. Get an accountant. When you're still on a contract and PAYE, freelance earnings are easy to declare on the tax return. But once you make the leap, the time you'd spend struggling to fill in the form is time better spent earning money. My accountant takes a day maximum to verify my accounts and file my tax return. If I did it myself, it would take a week. I save money by paying the accountant to do it for me. And she's a tax-deductible expense. The same theory applies to other situations. It would take me half a day to clean the house (which I do actually do right now) - hiring a cleaner would be cheaper. Ok, the char is not an allowable expense but the convenience frees up my time to earn.
4. Pick your listings. I pay for listings in several professional directories. None are massively expensive (each averages at £55 pa) but they have to earn their keep. I only need one really well-paid gig from each to justify renewing the listing when it's time. Anything else is a bonus. I choose my listings with care - any that don't pay their way get discarded. Well, you wouldn't run an ad in a magazine that didn't bring in business, would you?
5. Join your union. It's no secret that I have deep misgivings about the NUJ, which I recently rejoined purely for practical reasons. When you're staff, you get the press card automatically. When you're flying solo, if you want accreditation, you need to join something. It's not just about the press card. The union does offer other benefits too, like free legal advice and cheap professional indemnity insurance. And it's funny how when redundancies loom at a workplace, the NUJ sees a spike in membership applications... But seriously, it's better to be in the tent pissing out when you work for yourself, and have at least something behind you.
The bonuses? No boss, no commute, no office politics and complete freedom to work for whomever you choose...
31 July 2008
Freelances and the DPA
The latest NUJ Active email (a regular containing news snippets and reminders for various union things) exhorts members to register as a "data controller" under the Data Protection Act - apparently freelances are required to do so and not registering is a criminal offence (on the basis that we have contact books full of people's phone numbers, email addresses and physical addresses). The NUJ handily includes the link to the Information Commissioner's Office to find out more info. Which would be fine if looking for said info was a tad easier than hunting for the proverbial needle in a haystack.
I spent 20 minutes struggling to find where I might learn more on whether I need to cough up £35 a year or not to be a data controller (can you guess I'm not one?). I looked in all the obvious places, including the FAQs (useless) and the site map, where I used R for register and H for how to... , to no avail. Eventually, more by chance than design, I stumbled across a Notification page. Riiiiiight! How remiss of me not to intuit that I should have been looking under N instead of R for register.
Anyway, I'm still none the wiser. The NUJ says I must, yet over on a journalism forum I use, others say no. One freelance colleague mused on whether his milkman should be registered as a data controller by dint of the fact he keeps his customers names and addresses and how much they owe in a notebook he takes on his rounds. Another said she'd actually called the ICO some months back to enquire if she had to comply and was told that as an individual, she didn't need to be on the register.
So, is the NUJ right? Or do we freelances not need to bother? I'd really like to know what others are doing and if anyone has any kind of solid guidance on this issue.
I spent 20 minutes struggling to find where I might learn more on whether I need to cough up £35 a year or not to be a data controller (can you guess I'm not one?). I looked in all the obvious places, including the FAQs (useless) and the site map, where I used R for register and H for how to... , to no avail. Eventually, more by chance than design, I stumbled across a Notification page. Riiiiiight! How remiss of me not to intuit that I should have been looking under N instead of R for register.
Anyway, I'm still none the wiser. The NUJ says I must, yet over on a journalism forum I use, others say no. One freelance colleague mused on whether his milkman should be registered as a data controller by dint of the fact he keeps his customers names and addresses and how much they owe in a notebook he takes on his rounds. Another said she'd actually called the ICO some months back to enquire if she had to comply and was told that as an individual, she didn't need to be on the register.
So, is the NUJ right? Or do we freelances not need to bother? I'd really like to know what others are doing and if anyone has any kind of solid guidance on this issue.
26 February 2008
Five things...
...you didn't yet know about me.
1. I once had an on-off fling over several years with a very famous Fleet Street hack* when I was a teenage apprentice journo. And no, before you ask, it did not advance my career. Probably quite the opposite.
2. I never completed my indentures as the mag I trained on went bust 6 months before I would have qualified. This was in the days before you could study hackery at university, so I don't have a degree in journalism. Or any NCTJs.
3. I don't have any shorthand either and I type with 1 and 1/2 fingers. Why? Because the mag I trained at was run on a shoestring and couldn't afford to send me to day release college. I manage.
4. My favourite meal is roast chicken with all the trimmings and when I'm not slaving over a keyboard I am slaving over a hob. I have twice been a professional cook (between hacking jobs) and am damn good at it.
5. I sometimes pick fights with colleagues. But only over professional issues I feel passionate about. These might include the NUJ, the correct use of English and whether one ought to fiddle one's expenses. Well, you might think that, but I couldn't possibly comment.**
* Ask all you like but my lips are sealed. I don't kiss and tell.
** Disclaimer: I have never fiddled my expenses. I hate it when others do.
1. I once had an on-off fling over several years with a very famous Fleet Street hack* when I was a teenage apprentice journo. And no, before you ask, it did not advance my career. Probably quite the opposite.
2. I never completed my indentures as the mag I trained on went bust 6 months before I would have qualified. This was in the days before you could study hackery at university, so I don't have a degree in journalism. Or any NCTJs.
3. I don't have any shorthand either and I type with 1 and 1/2 fingers. Why? Because the mag I trained at was run on a shoestring and couldn't afford to send me to day release college. I manage.
4. My favourite meal is roast chicken with all the trimmings and when I'm not slaving over a keyboard I am slaving over a hob. I have twice been a professional cook (between hacking jobs) and am damn good at it.
5. I sometimes pick fights with colleagues. But only over professional issues I feel passionate about. These might include the NUJ, the correct use of English and whether one ought to fiddle one's expenses. Well, you might think that, but I couldn't possibly comment.**
* Ask all you like but my lips are sealed. I don't kiss and tell.
** Disclaimer: I have never fiddled my expenses. I hate it when others do.
25 February 2008
Hacking kit
I tidied my desk yesterday and unearthed my brand-new, all-plastic, credit-card-style NUJ membership card, which had got buried under papers. The letter it came with suggests I "keep it with me". Well, er, yes. I'll probably sling it in my filing system - the one marked NUJ. But seriously, I can't see the point of shoving it in my wallet and schlepping it wherever I go when I venture outside. For one thing, my purse is already crammed full of plastic - bank cards, loyalty cards, discount cards, my EHIC card - the stuff I do actually need on me. Secondly, I have a press card, which frankly would be far more useful should I find myself suddenly caught up in a newsworthy incident and need to ID myself.
But it got me thinking about the kit I use, whether on a regular or occasional basis. As I'm home-based at the legendary Wordsmith Towers, most of my kit is straightforward. On the general front, I have a Skype phone that doubles as a landline phone and is pretty useful. I don't often use it for Skype calls, but I love the professionalism of the chat facility (MSN/Yahoo I view as for kids). My mobile phone often lurks forlornly in my handbag or on my desk, unused and unloved. I rarely give out my number - I'm home all day so if people need to reach me, they can ring my landline (or Skype me). Mobile phones are purely for calling cabs when out. I'd be stuffed without my Rolodex and my Excel file of contacts.
On the editing front, I have a pretty large collection of dictionaries and reference works (plus bookmarked sites in my browser), which pretty much covers what I need for that line of income. I don't work on hard copy so don't need huge stocks of pens in various colours.
On the writing front, my favourite toy is my wonderful Olympus WS-200s digital recorder. I bought it last summer and it gets used a lot. I'm almost exclusively interviewing over the phone and I tape every one. I even used it last week to tape a lengthy briefing discussion with a corporate client so I wouldn't miss anything vital. I have 2 adapters for it - one being a jack-plugged extension that sits between the phone and the recorder, the other being a sucker thing on a lead that you can stick to a handset. The recorder sits in my desk drawer when not in use, for safety, but is small enough to cram into even the tiniest pocket when I'm on the hoof.
In my handbag, I keep a small notebook which is handy for jotting down ideas or other important work-related stuff (I got sick of scrawling phone numbers on the backs of bus tickets). At the last count, I had at least 7 pens in there. At least 3 are red as I have a habit ofdefacing correcting menus full of spelling errors and grocers' apostrophes (I have no shame). I also keep spare batteries for the recorder because it's sod's law that on the day I need to tape someone the battery will go flat and I'll have forgotten to bring spares. Otherwise, it's just my business cards, my press card and my diary.
But it got me thinking about the kit I use, whether on a regular or occasional basis. As I'm home-based at the legendary Wordsmith Towers, most of my kit is straightforward. On the general front, I have a Skype phone that doubles as a landline phone and is pretty useful. I don't often use it for Skype calls, but I love the professionalism of the chat facility (MSN/Yahoo I view as for kids). My mobile phone often lurks forlornly in my handbag or on my desk, unused and unloved. I rarely give out my number - I'm home all day so if people need to reach me, they can ring my landline (or Skype me). Mobile phones are purely for calling cabs when out. I'd be stuffed without my Rolodex and my Excel file of contacts.
On the editing front, I have a pretty large collection of dictionaries and reference works (plus bookmarked sites in my browser), which pretty much covers what I need for that line of income. I don't work on hard copy so don't need huge stocks of pens in various colours.
On the writing front, my favourite toy is my wonderful Olympus WS-200s digital recorder. I bought it last summer and it gets used a lot. I'm almost exclusively interviewing over the phone and I tape every one. I even used it last week to tape a lengthy briefing discussion with a corporate client so I wouldn't miss anything vital. I have 2 adapters for it - one being a jack-plugged extension that sits between the phone and the recorder, the other being a sucker thing on a lead that you can stick to a handset. The recorder sits in my desk drawer when not in use, for safety, but is small enough to cram into even the tiniest pocket when I'm on the hoof.
In my handbag, I keep a small notebook which is handy for jotting down ideas or other important work-related stuff (I got sick of scrawling phone numbers on the backs of bus tickets). At the last count, I had at least 7 pens in there. At least 3 are red as I have a habit of
05 February 2008
Productivity and annoyances
The bug that's been haunting me for the last month appears to be in retreat at last. Despite problems falling asleep last night (which required a quantity of brandy to rectify), I felt more energised today.
Cue a flurry of activity - I pitched several mags and papers with some feature ideas, sent a cheque to my web host for services rendered and invoiced some clients, which I should have done on Friday last week but didn't due to lack of energy and general feeling of illness.
Next, it was time to overhaul my CV. The last time I applied for a job (and got one) was well over 6 years ago. Since then, I've tweaked the old resumé as needed, especially when attaching it to client pitches, but I have decided to apply for a full-time job (don't panic, I'll still be freelancing, IF I get it {fat chance} ). The CV needed major surgery. I chopped and cut and slashed and burned. Then I sent it to a trusted hack pal who has the ability to hire, for an honest opinion. It came back scrawled in the digital equivalent of red ink. I was momentarily shocked, but the trusted colleague was bang on the money. Hey ho, there are several more hours' work ahead. 'T'will be worth it.
Fingers crossed...
Meanwhile, I may be back in the union, but the union's not backing me... I have my reissued membership number, but will the NUJ recognise it on the website and let me log in to all the exciting behind-the-scenes stuff? Of course not. That was too much to hope for. Hey-ho again, I'll have to get on the phone. Tomorrow's phone round also includes booking a haircut I should have had a month ago except I've been ill, ordering a bottle of calor gas in case of a cold snap, so I don't die of hypothermia in my office, and chasing a company that promised me a refund several weeks ago. Oh, and chasing some of today's pitches.
Cue a flurry of activity - I pitched several mags and papers with some feature ideas, sent a cheque to my web host for services rendered and invoiced some clients, which I should have done on Friday last week but didn't due to lack of energy and general feeling of illness.
Next, it was time to overhaul my CV. The last time I applied for a job (and got one) was well over 6 years ago. Since then, I've tweaked the old resumé as needed, especially when attaching it to client pitches, but I have decided to apply for a full-time job (don't panic, I'll still be freelancing, IF I get it {fat chance} ). The CV needed major surgery. I chopped and cut and slashed and burned. Then I sent it to a trusted hack pal who has the ability to hire, for an honest opinion. It came back scrawled in the digital equivalent of red ink. I was momentarily shocked, but the trusted colleague was bang on the money. Hey ho, there are several more hours' work ahead. 'T'will be worth it.
Fingers crossed...
Meanwhile, I may be back in the union, but the union's not backing me... I have my reissued membership number, but will the NUJ recognise it on the website and let me log in to all the exciting behind-the-scenes stuff? Of course not. That was too much to hope for. Hey-ho again, I'll have to get on the phone. Tomorrow's phone round also includes booking a haircut I should have had a month ago except I've been ill, ordering a bottle of calor gas in case of a cold snap, so I don't die of hypothermia in my office, and chasing a company that promised me a refund several weeks ago. Oh, and chasing some of today's pitches.
03 February 2008
The writers' strike
Over the last 12 weeks or so, I've been following the news about the writers' strike in the USA. At first, I just sort of dismissed it as "one of those things". I mean, it's only about TV scriptwriters, right? Do I care if Scrubs production grinds to a halt? Not really - I don't really watch a lot of TV and I'm not really a huge fan of US TV programmes (the last time I watched a US series was way back when, when I developed an unhealthy liking for Thirtysomething). But I've been thinking.
The Writers Guild is clearly very powerful, if it can wreck award ceremonies and disrupt the production of TV programmes. And I'm impressed by the solidarity shown by actors across the pond in not crossing picket lines.
As I confessed in my last post, I have rejoined the NUJ after a break of some 15 years. One reason I hesitated rejoining for so long is that I think it is toothless. Granted, any union is better than none, but despite being a believer in the power of the union, I've never felt the NUJ was much cop. When I first entered my trade, the union had a stranglehold on Fleet Street that could only be described as unhealthy. I knew the person who had invented "unworked overtime" which the union forced employers to pay - a top-up on top of overtime rates, which the workers got on an overtime shift even if there was no work for them to do and they spent the time in the pub. That's just daft. And it was scenarios such as that that encouraged Thatcher to trash the unions, a situation from which they have never recovered. I'm glad the closed shop has ended; I never approved of it as it encouraged a "jobs for the boys" atmosphere and nepotism.
But what power does the NUJ have now? Not a lot, I'd say. When my reapplication was approved, the accompanying letter said "see below for details of your local branch officer". I looked and it said "position vacant, call head office if you need to talk to someone". How depressing is that? I live in a city that has two commercial radio stations and three local rags and between them they can't muster a branch officer. I wonder why I bother for £15 a month.
I'd bend over backwards for a union that had the power of the Writers' Guild. Can you imagine if the NUJ called a strike? No newspapers appearing every day, magazine production somewhat erratic, and picket lines and boycotts supported by those on the periphery of the industry...
I guess not. I'll just keep taking the pills and dreaming.
It would be nice, though, wouldn't it?
The Writers Guild is clearly very powerful, if it can wreck award ceremonies and disrupt the production of TV programmes. And I'm impressed by the solidarity shown by actors across the pond in not crossing picket lines.
As I confessed in my last post, I have rejoined the NUJ after a break of some 15 years. One reason I hesitated rejoining for so long is that I think it is toothless. Granted, any union is better than none, but despite being a believer in the power of the union, I've never felt the NUJ was much cop. When I first entered my trade, the union had a stranglehold on Fleet Street that could only be described as unhealthy. I knew the person who had invented "unworked overtime" which the union forced employers to pay - a top-up on top of overtime rates, which the workers got on an overtime shift even if there was no work for them to do and they spent the time in the pub. That's just daft. And it was scenarios such as that that encouraged Thatcher to trash the unions, a situation from which they have never recovered. I'm glad the closed shop has ended; I never approved of it as it encouraged a "jobs for the boys" atmosphere and nepotism.
But what power does the NUJ have now? Not a lot, I'd say. When my reapplication was approved, the accompanying letter said "see below for details of your local branch officer". I looked and it said "position vacant, call head office if you need to talk to someone". How depressing is that? I live in a city that has two commercial radio stations and three local rags and between them they can't muster a branch officer. I wonder why I bother for £15 a month.
I'd bend over backwards for a union that had the power of the Writers' Guild. Can you imagine if the NUJ called a strike? No newspapers appearing every day, magazine production somewhat erratic, and picket lines and boycotts supported by those on the periphery of the industry...
I guess not. I'll just keep taking the pills and dreaming.
It would be nice, though, wouldn't it?
01 February 2008
Media diet week 5
Press: another week of illness has kept me confined to the house for all but the briefest forays into the wider world. As usual, I've been reading the papers online. The only new publication I've glanced at is The Journalist, in-house publication of the NUJ.*
Blogs: no new discoveries this week. Intriguingly, the TV Controller is back and blogging again, and it looks as though he's backing down in the face of possible libel suits...
TV/radio: last night's episode of EastEnders was a cracker. June Brown held the entire episode as Dot Cotton in a ground-breaking one-hander. The half-hour flew past and I almost shed a tear or two several times. Very emotional and draining stuff.
Books: I'm well into Rupert Everett's autobiography now, at least halfway through. Which means it's unputdownable and has been a welcome companion as I settle for sleep at night. The only other books I've picked up this week have been finance dictionaries and other reference works.
* Confession time - I bit the bullet and rejoined after a very long absence.
Blogs: no new discoveries this week. Intriguingly, the TV Controller is back and blogging again, and it looks as though he's backing down in the face of possible libel suits...
TV/radio: last night's episode of EastEnders was a cracker. June Brown held the entire episode as Dot Cotton in a ground-breaking one-hander. The half-hour flew past and I almost shed a tear or two several times. Very emotional and draining stuff.
Books: I'm well into Rupert Everett's autobiography now, at least halfway through. Which means it's unputdownable and has been a welcome companion as I settle for sleep at night. The only other books I've picked up this week have been finance dictionaries and other reference works.
* Confession time - I bit the bullet and rejoined after a very long absence.
09 January 2008
Late payment (revisited) and the NUJ
Late payment is a real bug bear of mine but I honestly hadn't expected to be kicking off about it yet again so early into 2008.
The following true story would be funny if it wasn't so bloody tragic and ironic.
A freelance colleague was commissioned by the National Union of Journalists to write an article on the issue of late payment for The Journalist, the union's magazine. The hack duly submitted an invoice and waited out the terms of payment, in this case 30 days. By the end of the payment period, no payment had been made by the NUJ. There then ensued a number of calls and emails, in which the journalist concerned was fobbed off with excuses about the Christmas period. And when they requested the statutory compensation and interest for late payment, as is their right, the response by The Journalist's editor was, apparently, laughter.
Now bear in mind that the NUJ prides itself on campaigning for better payment practice pretty much across the entire industry. Not to mention campaigning for better rates, ie above NUJ minimum (our journo in question had taken the NUJ's own advice on accepting this commission and asked for more money, only to be told the fee would be NUJ minimum!). The irony of a campaigning union failing to adhere to its own policy on this very issue is staggering. Not to mention the hypocrisy.
As freelances, we run businesses. And like all small businesses, we want to be paid on time so that we in turn can pay others, and our bills. Picture this scenario - you go to a supermarket, fill your trolley with groceries, queue at the till and are told "that'll be £100, please". Do you a) say "sorry, I'll pay you in 45 days' time, and then only if you chase me for payment" or b) pay up? It's not like we have a choice, is it? If you want to eat, you better be able to pay on the spot (unless you are the Queen, in which case you probably have a nice line of credit at Fortnum and Mason). Picture the same scenario when it comes to paying your mortgage, the gas bill, the phone bill, your plumber, the car mechanic who serviced your Skoda... Not one of these businesses will allow you not to pay until you feel like it. If you haven't shelled out within 30 days, you can expect a red bill, followed by legal action. And probably being cut off, in the case of your utilities.
Yet, for some reason, us freelances are expected to wait for payment until it's convenient. In some cases, this can be several months after publication. It is rife across the entire industry and only a very few publications pay promptly (such as The Guardian, which usually pays within a week). It's even worse when it's your own union that asks you to write about the problem then fails to cough up within the payment period and, to rub salt into the proverbial, refuses to pay up the statutory compensation and interest.
I'm not currently a member of the NUJ, for a number of reasons. Every time I'm on the verge of rejoining, an incident occurs that puts me right off again. This is one of them. And the NUJ wonders why it is so hard to recruit new members...
Times have changed. We are no longer in the world of the closed shop and 99% of members being in-house staff with a father of the chapel. Far more journalists work freelance these days and the NUJ needs to start looking after them seriously, rather than just paying lip service. And that includes paying on time when rank and file members write for its publications.
The following true story would be funny if it wasn't so bloody tragic and ironic.
A freelance colleague was commissioned by the National Union of Journalists to write an article on the issue of late payment for The Journalist, the union's magazine. The hack duly submitted an invoice and waited out the terms of payment, in this case 30 days. By the end of the payment period, no payment had been made by the NUJ. There then ensued a number of calls and emails, in which the journalist concerned was fobbed off with excuses about the Christmas period. And when they requested the statutory compensation and interest for late payment, as is their right, the response by The Journalist's editor was, apparently, laughter.
Now bear in mind that the NUJ prides itself on campaigning for better payment practice pretty much across the entire industry. Not to mention campaigning for better rates, ie above NUJ minimum (our journo in question had taken the NUJ's own advice on accepting this commission and asked for more money, only to be told the fee would be NUJ minimum!). The irony of a campaigning union failing to adhere to its own policy on this very issue is staggering. Not to mention the hypocrisy.
As freelances, we run businesses. And like all small businesses, we want to be paid on time so that we in turn can pay others, and our bills. Picture this scenario - you go to a supermarket, fill your trolley with groceries, queue at the till and are told "that'll be £100, please". Do you a) say "sorry, I'll pay you in 45 days' time, and then only if you chase me for payment" or b) pay up? It's not like we have a choice, is it? If you want to eat, you better be able to pay on the spot (unless you are the Queen, in which case you probably have a nice line of credit at Fortnum and Mason). Picture the same scenario when it comes to paying your mortgage, the gas bill, the phone bill, your plumber, the car mechanic who serviced your Skoda... Not one of these businesses will allow you not to pay until you feel like it. If you haven't shelled out within 30 days, you can expect a red bill, followed by legal action. And probably being cut off, in the case of your utilities.
Yet, for some reason, us freelances are expected to wait for payment until it's convenient. In some cases, this can be several months after publication. It is rife across the entire industry and only a very few publications pay promptly (such as The Guardian, which usually pays within a week). It's even worse when it's your own union that asks you to write about the problem then fails to cough up within the payment period and, to rub salt into the proverbial, refuses to pay up the statutory compensation and interest.
I'm not currently a member of the NUJ, for a number of reasons. Every time I'm on the verge of rejoining, an incident occurs that puts me right off again. This is one of them. And the NUJ wonders why it is so hard to recruit new members...
Times have changed. We are no longer in the world of the closed shop and 99% of members being in-house staff with a father of the chapel. Far more journalists work freelance these days and the NUJ needs to start looking after them seriously, rather than just paying lip service. And that includes paying on time when rank and file members write for its publications.
04 November 2007
Standing up for journalism
Tomorrow - Monday 5 November - is official Stand Up For Journalism day.
I won't be doing anything myself to mark the day. Firstly, I'm providing editing cover for a foreign colleague so I'll be chained to my PC all day waiting for Swedish equity analysts to send me their reports. Pity, as the main event - a big rally in Manchester - is not far from me and looks like it could be interesting, as activists will be targeting the conference of the Society of Editors (that's newspaper editors, btw, not lowly copy editors like moi).
Secondly, I'm not currently a member of the NUJ. My membership lapsed when I went abroad and when I first attempted to renew it I was told I couldn't, for a couple of technical reasons. Then my old union did a few things I wasn't terribly keen on so, for reasons too complex to explain here, I haven't yet renewed my membership. I keep toying with it - it is, after all, the only union I have ever belonged to - but nothing has yet managed to persuade me to bite the bullet and fill in the forms again.
I like the idea of a day of action, though. The day is a protest against the huge media conglomerates that own our newspapers and magazines yet keep cutting staff and budgets to boost their profit margins. It's a serious problem in an industry that hasn't seen day rates rise for freelance shift workers in more than 17 years, that means many regional papers can't afford specialist staff such as crime reporters and many national newspapers can't afford to send their reporters out to cover news on the ground. A lot of journalists are reduced to recycling press releases and ultimately it is the public that suffers as they don't get proper news. For a good summary of the situation, read this.
I'll be thinking of my paid-up colleagues while I sit at home correcting Swedish finance reports.
I won't be doing anything myself to mark the day. Firstly, I'm providing editing cover for a foreign colleague so I'll be chained to my PC all day waiting for Swedish equity analysts to send me their reports. Pity, as the main event - a big rally in Manchester - is not far from me and looks like it could be interesting, as activists will be targeting the conference of the Society of Editors (that's newspaper editors, btw, not lowly copy editors like moi).
Secondly, I'm not currently a member of the NUJ. My membership lapsed when I went abroad and when I first attempted to renew it I was told I couldn't, for a couple of technical reasons. Then my old union did a few things I wasn't terribly keen on so, for reasons too complex to explain here, I haven't yet renewed my membership. I keep toying with it - it is, after all, the only union I have ever belonged to - but nothing has yet managed to persuade me to bite the bullet and fill in the forms again.
I like the idea of a day of action, though. The day is a protest against the huge media conglomerates that own our newspapers and magazines yet keep cutting staff and budgets to boost their profit margins. It's a serious problem in an industry that hasn't seen day rates rise for freelance shift workers in more than 17 years, that means many regional papers can't afford specialist staff such as crime reporters and many national newspapers can't afford to send their reporters out to cover news on the ground. A lot of journalists are reduced to recycling press releases and ultimately it is the public that suffers as they don't get proper news. For a good summary of the situation, read this.
I'll be thinking of my paid-up colleagues while I sit at home correcting Swedish finance reports.
16 May 2006
Copyright issues
Yesterday, I was contacted bright and early (very early!) by a potential client who wanted me to write feature articles for a website. I sent some work samples and a CV and was asked for my rates. While I was calculating what to charge, based on time I'd need to spend doing the research as well as the writing, they rang me. A friendly, useful and optimistic conversation followed. We discussed rates and I asked for the upper end of what they were willing to pay. We agreed a fee per feature and the client said they'd e-mail me a transfer of copyright agreement. So far so good.
However, when the e-mail arrived, I felt very uncomfortable. The agreement was badly worded and, in effect, I was being asked to transfer all my intellectual property rights including the non-transferable ones. Also, there would be no byline - as every writer knows, getting credit for what you write is vital. Luckily for me, the beloved P was at home at that point as he was about to embark on a business trip. And he's a lawyer. And he does IPR. And contract law. So I got him to look it over. I also took some advice from some fellow journalists and the NUJ.
I mailed back, explaining why I wasn't happy with their proposed agreement and suggesting we use the standard NUJ confirmation of commission form instead, which is much clearer about both sides' rights and responsibilities. They weren't willing to sign a copy of this or accept one from me.
So I then suggested, on the advice I had sought, that if I wouldn't get a byline, I'd accept a biog on a contributors page. And, more importantly, I suggested that I'd be willing to hand over full copyright for my work if they were willing to pay me double the agreed fee. I thought this fair exchange.
Today, the client said there was no chance of doubling my fee, so I pulled out and suggested they recommission the job.
There was a huge principle at stake here - namely, my right to be associated with my work and to be fairly paid for it. I gather from the correspondence other journalists are more willing to hand over their work in its entirety (and presumably for less money than I negotiated initially as well). More fool them. I myself was not willing to cave in under pressure.
My portfolio is a demonstration of my skills and thus also my worth. If I can't get a credit for what I have done, I can't prove I did it. Any freelance could lift an unbylined article off the web and claim they wrote it for the publisher. But why should anyone believe that? There's no proof it's your work. And certainly no proof that it's mine.
I've just turned down a considerable amount of regular weekly income for this principle. I have no regrets. Money is not everything. But holding out for what's right is.
However, when the e-mail arrived, I felt very uncomfortable. The agreement was badly worded and, in effect, I was being asked to transfer all my intellectual property rights including the non-transferable ones. Also, there would be no byline - as every writer knows, getting credit for what you write is vital. Luckily for me, the beloved P was at home at that point as he was about to embark on a business trip. And he's a lawyer. And he does IPR. And contract law. So I got him to look it over. I also took some advice from some fellow journalists and the NUJ.
I mailed back, explaining why I wasn't happy with their proposed agreement and suggesting we use the standard NUJ confirmation of commission form instead, which is much clearer about both sides' rights and responsibilities. They weren't willing to sign a copy of this or accept one from me.
So I then suggested, on the advice I had sought, that if I wouldn't get a byline, I'd accept a biog on a contributors page. And, more importantly, I suggested that I'd be willing to hand over full copyright for my work if they were willing to pay me double the agreed fee. I thought this fair exchange.
Today, the client said there was no chance of doubling my fee, so I pulled out and suggested they recommission the job.
There was a huge principle at stake here - namely, my right to be associated with my work and to be fairly paid for it. I gather from the correspondence other journalists are more willing to hand over their work in its entirety (and presumably for less money than I negotiated initially as well). More fool them. I myself was not willing to cave in under pressure.
My portfolio is a demonstration of my skills and thus also my worth. If I can't get a credit for what I have done, I can't prove I did it. Any freelance could lift an unbylined article off the web and claim they wrote it for the publisher. But why should anyone believe that? There's no proof it's your work. And certainly no proof that it's mine.
I've just turned down a considerable amount of regular weekly income for this principle. I have no regrets. Money is not everything. But holding out for what's right is.
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