Working for free (but working for yourself)

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From Seth Godin:

Freelancers, writers, designers, photographers–there’s always an opportunity to work for free.

There are countless websites and causes and clients that will happily take your work in exchange for exposure.

And in some settings, this makes perfect sense. You might be making a contribution to a cause you care about.

. . . .

But just because you’re working for free doesn’t mean you should give away all your upsides.

Consider the major publishing platforms that are happy to host your work, but you need to sign away your copyright.

. . . .

Now, more than ever, you have the power to say “no” to that.

Because they can’t publish you better than you can publish yourself.

It doesn’t matter if these are their standard clauses. They might be standard for them, but they don’t have to be standard for you and for your career.

Link to the rest at Seth Godin

PG says “This is our standard contract” may be the oldest con known to humankind to persuade someone (including an author) to sign a terrible contract.

The “standard contract”, “standard clause” or “standard language” designation is designed to make the author think that everyone agrees to those terms. Who is an author, particularly a new author, to dare to ask for something different than all the established authors accept?

This is baloney. Publishing contracts are changed all the time.

Publishing contracts of a certain era were formatted so the changes in “standard” language were shown in a different font or otherwise highlighted. PG has seen such contracts that included dozens of changes for authors who were not best-sellers. Many agents have a set of standard changes they always make to the “standard contract” from a particular publisher.

Most publishers no longer use stone tablets for their contracts. Microsoft Word can change a “standard contract” to a fairer contract in an eyeblink.

PG says, “Ask and ye shall receive.” And if you don’t receive, you can walk away and get a better deal from someone else. The Amazon or Draft2Digital or Smashwords, etc., options are always open.

Another negotiating tip – Always have an alternative planned before you begin a business negotiation. Negotiation theorists call this a BATNA – Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement. Part of the psychology of the “standard contract” ploy is the assumption that the author is mentally and emotionally committed to having a book published by a particular publisher, working with a famous editor, seeing big stacks of books in Barnes & Noble, etc.

Prior to sending the contract to the author, many publishers encourage an author, particularly a first-time author, to think everything will be sunshine and lollipops. The author has told all of her relatives and friends that Big Time Publishing has accepted her book, imagined what it will be like to fly on a private jet to Paris for a book signing, what she will say during her Nobel Prize acceptance speech, etc., etc., etc.

These sorts of things put immense pressure on an author to not walk away from a bad deal. PG suggests that an author may want to defer any announcement until after a fair contract is negotiated and signed. However, he knows this can be a very difficult thing to do, so perhaps a cautionary element should be added to any pre-contract announcements, “But I’m going to make sure the contract and all the details are right before this is official.”

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20 thoughts on “Working for free (but working for yourself)”

  2. Am I the only writer alive who never had any dreams of sunshine and lollipops and NYC fame? Am I the only one who has just wanted to write the book the way **I** want it, to have it published with **zero editorial interference** except that which I seek out, and to be left free to **immediately** begin my next book?

    Am I the only one who loves the process and legitimately doesn’t worry about achieving massive sales? Modest sales create much less internal pressure. At their current rate of sales, my books will pay out nicely over the next thirty years (I’m 40).

    Am I the only one who feels this way?

    • I’m pretty sure you’re not.
      At least some would have looked at the rules set by the establishment and decided not to play rather than submit. (Quite a few known-good authors tried it and walked away in disgust.)

      Now, with alternative rules in force…

    • You’re not the only one. I feel the same. Also, I not only don’t expect people to design covers, edit manuscripts, or format books for free, I’m usually surprised that their offered rates are so low. (Not that I can always afford them, but you get what you pay for.)

  3. There’s a website called “Clients from Hell” that has stories about insane expectations by people wanting help with creative projects. Lots of them include clients trying to get designers to work for very little, or nothing, including some really shady behavior. It’s both amusing and scary as hell. I don’t think I could freelance.

    • Sometimes lightning strikes, Suzan. Don’t expect it to happen again for a long time. 🙂

      Thanks for the kind words.

  5. My wife is a graphic designer, and darn good too. Before she started doing covers exclusively, she was always getting people who would ask for hundreds, if not thousands of dollars of work and say “I’ll tell all my friends about you.” That line has more bull**** than a Texas ranch. That is like eating at a restaurant and when the bill comes do saying the same thing. Over the years we have both learned (the hard way) that imagination and creative skill are vastly undervalued. Instead of being in awe of a person creating something from nothing, they take the attitude of “I could do this if I had the time.” And since they think they could, they don’t value it. Drives. Me. Crazy.

    • Those who promise to recommend you never follow through.

      Those who actually do recommend you never let you know that they’ve done it.

      My experience, at least.

    • Bizarrely, though, it’s also fairly straightforward to get paid what you think you’re worth. I’m a freelance writer, and I’m always bewildered at the amount of people on bidding sites who are willing to do large amounts of work for a pittance. If you basically go seeking clients that are going to pay almost nothing, then you’ll get almost nothing.

      Here’s a fun question: Why does a Lexus cost way more than a Toyota?
      The obvious answer: Because Lexus is luxury.

      But what is luxury? Is a Lexus any *better* than a Toyota? Given that Toyota *owns* Lexus, I’m going to say no. But that is the power of branding.

  6. It’s not just freelancing. When I was blogging, someone approached me to work on a project he had that he thought would be the next big thing. He asked me to sign an unbelievable agreement that included language that would prevent me from ever blogging or writing for myself again. I told him that I wouldn’t sign the agreement. He told me it was obvious to him that I wanted to join him, steal his work, and run off with it on my own.

    I left him at the crazy train station and never heard from him again.

    • Whoah. What is that psychology term?. Projection? He was trying to make you agree with terms that would in effect be exactly what he was afraid you would try to do to him. I have a cousin something like that. No one in the family will have anything to do with him, especially me.

    • Some people starting tech companies believe originating an idea is the most important part of the entire enterprise.

      They’re wrong.

      A zillion great ideas have flopped for lack of quality execution.

      An idea can’t be patented, so an unrelated individual or company is free to use the idea to start their own enterprise.

      On more than one occasion, the first company with an idea flopped and the second or third or fourth company that used the idea succeeded.

      • I see writers do that all the time, to the detriment of their career. They think the idea is the most important part. As if there aren’t a million ideas a day. You can always come up ith new ideas, execution is something else entirely.

        • How about boy meets girl, fall in love, face impediments to their continued relation, and ultimately overcome the impediments to live happily ever after.

            • My son is one of four people running their own small game and app development company here in Scotland. They too have this ‘I have a great idea for a game’ problem – and as they say themselves, they’ve got ideas of their own in plenty. It’s the execution that matters. But it happens to writers as well – I’ve been approached by people telling me they have this great idea for a book. They want me to write it and share the ‘profits’. What I try to say as politely as possible is that these ideas are – mostly – only great for the person having them. It’s a bit like somebody telling you their dreams!

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