Pushing for faster payments
And our work experience scheme is open once more!
I don’t know about you but I am skint at the moment. January was a long old month and of course I took that almost two week break at Christmas (when pitches would have disappeared into the void anyway).
If I’m honest, unpredictable cashflow might be the one thing that I hate about freelancing. I love working for myself and having the freedom to choose my hours and work so much that I would never go back to being employed by one publication.
In January I have been inundated with work and I have worked full time since coming back after Christmas. Working for trade and medical titles, I attract fairly decent rates of pay. Having a niche and building up a stable of clients over many years means work comes to me more often than I have to go looking for it.
Yet my bank account is empty. I am always owed many thousands and it’s incredibly hard to get ahead of yourself. The one thing that would completely transform my working life, is if everyone paid quickly. So this year, rather than sitting and moaning about it, I’m going to take action.
I am going to publicly highlight the media outlets that pay me quickly. And I will not be shy about talking about those that take an age to move my money through their clunky systems. Last month I was commissioned by the BMJ. Here’s the timeline:
I pitched on the 22nd January (Monday)
My editor replied that day to ask how quickly I could turn it around and we agreed I would submit on the 24th (Wednesday) and she gave me some detail about what else I needed to include
I hit my deadline for the 1,200 words and they sent me queries on the 25th (Thursday)
Some extra comment came through that we added to the final version on the 26th (Friday) and I submitted my invoice
The piece was published online on the 29th January (Monday)
I was paid - money in my bank account - on the 2nd February (Friday)
So in under a fortnight, I pitched and was commissioned, I stuck to my side of the bargain by moving things around so I could hit their deadline and in return I was paid immediately. It is perfectly possible and if everyone did this, I wouldn’t be constantly moving pots of money around to pay bills and avoid overdraft charges.
At the moment, I have just over £3,500 that I’m owed and in the general scheme of things this is on the lower end of money that’s usually just floating out there waiting to find its way into my bank account. But its not great.
So in addition to calling out slow payments, I am also basically going to put all my clients into a hierarchy of how quickly (and easily) they pay. Those that are speedy will get my pitches first. I will also say yes to them when they ask if I’m free to take on work. I know I’m in a fortunate position to be able to pick and choose in this way but I will feed back exactly why I am making the decisions I am.
We need to put pressure on where we can to stamp out poor payment practices. Getting paid as quickly as the BMJ did needs to be the norm. The Lancet are another who tend to turn my invoices around in a week or two and they are owned by one of the world’s largest publishing companies. If they can do it everyone can. Last week I took on a complicated commission from them that I didn’t really have time for because they pay well and pay fast. By contrast, I completely blacklisted another publication that had low rates and took two months to pay.
The more we talk about this openly, the more we will realise that waiting many weeks (or even months) to get paid is unacceptable. They can and should do better. I wonder how many of our editors would be happy to not get their pay packet this month, or only a bit of it. They may not even realise this is the situation freelancers are in so let’s make sure they do know.
Who’s with me?
Freelance work experience scheme now open
We’re very pleased to announce our 2024 remote work experience and mentoring scheme is now open for registration. We have opportunities working with journalists in the UK, India, Nigeria, Kenya and Spain. You can find out more about how it works via the link below.
If you can't make the induction briefing in March then don't worry as everyone who is registered is sent a recording. If you are a freelance journo who would like to offer work experience or mentoring then please email us freelancingforjournalists@gmail.com. You can be based anywhere in the world.
Triumph of the week
Fitting five days worth of work into four
That feeling when
You get to write about a topic you really care about. Doesn’t feel like work does it?
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Bye for now!
