In any type of working environment, contracts play a vital role. They protect both parties and help establish a set of guidelines for the project at hand. Without a contract, there are no guarantees. Establishing expectations up front not only helps build trust between both parties involved, but also insures that everyone gets what they deserve.
It is rare that a breach of contract occurs, but it can happen. Having everything in writing protects both sides. In 15 years of construction management I only had one instance where I was forced to deal with a breach of contract issue, but I managed to stumble upon my first issue recently with a client who attempted to withhold payment after the content in question had already been pushed live to their website. It was performing poorly and they claimed that they should only have to pay half of the agreed-upon price.
Something my dad said to me years ago has stuck with me over the years: use constitutes acceptance. Once someone uses a product, they signify it is complete, that it is accepted. In this particular case I completed a project back in December and then waited--patiently--until the middle of February before I finally complained about a lack of payment. I'm sorry, but 6 weeks is far too long, especially when the content has been live on your website for 2 weeks. This was from a client who previously had always been prompt in their payments. When I asked where my money was, they replied with the statement, "well, our customers aren't happy with the product, and we feel that you need to re-write it to meet expectations. Otherwise we are only going to pay you half of the money we owe you".
The first thing I did was pull out my contract. First of all, there was an agreed upon price written into the contract. Secondly, there was a period of time they were allowed to ask for a re-write: up to two weeks after my final submission, which occurred shortly before Christmas of 2008. They accepted my product, and then proceeded to push it live on their website. So not only were they in breach of contract for asking me to revise an article well beyond the contractual time period of two weeks, they were also in breach of contract for refusing to pay the agreed-upon flat fee. Their use of my content on their website signified that they accepted it as complete, and therefore I was due a full payment. If a revision was necessary it should have been asked for in the allotted time for revisions: the two week period.
I received a prompt, full payment to my Paypal account within a few hours of my first irritated e-mail.
It's frustrating when you have to pull the breach of contract card, but sometimes it is necessary. Customer expectations are ridiculous sometimes, and the U.S. belief that "the customer is always right" is simply ludicrous at best. The customer is not always right. Sometimes, the customer has unrealistic expectations and needs to be reminded that the world is not there to serve them personally, nor is every single individual on this planet expected to bow down before them and worship at their feet.
That being said, my client and I discussed the unrealistic customer expectations and they agreed with me...after I pulled the breach of contract card. Our professional relationship is moving ahead despite a slight hiccup, and I am once again reminded that simple business sense can go a long way towards resolving issues. A contract is one of the single most important things in any venture, because it makes sure that the client gets what they expected and also insures that the person providing the service gets what they expect.
Never, ever go into a project without a contract. It's just plain business sense.
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3 comments:
Hi TW
Nice post expanding on what you wrote at fwj. I am now really scared and need to sort myself some terms.
I just wondered, as you said you like writing fiction, particularly short fiction, whether you would be interested in these sites for short story comps
www.leafbooks.com have regular comps of varying lengths- I was highly commended in their first micro fiction comp (shameless self-plug) but they are a v small publisher, although you can but on amazon.
www.fishpublishing.com is another good site, but the comps cost more to enter and the competition is fierce (15000 entries for the last short story comp apparently). Their v short fiction comp closes on 20 March (but don't you dare beat me!)
Let me know if this is your bag and if you enter
sam
Hey Sam,
I actually was starting to debate short story competitions recently. I browsed the list on your blog about a week ago when I first stumbled onto it.
This is the first year I have started doing fiction. Last year was preparing to get into this as a career (writing in general) and doing the footwork necessary to get a leg up. I wrote around 8 short stories last year along with the few projects I was able to land, and this year is the first year I'm actually shipping out short stories with any regularity. Rather than using contests, however, I've got things in submission to mags and ezines.
Thing is, I mostly do sci-fi and speculative fiction. I did some research this weekend and found a lot more contests, and I think I may start submitting to them as the spring months wear on. Last year I was kind of shocked, to be honest, because the very first short story I wrote was back in February and I pounded it out in 2 days while on a ski trip. It sold to the very first place I sent it to, which prompted me to spend the rest of the year working on some ideas and bringing them to light.
At present I have 3 of those that are "finished" and in circulation to find a home. One is a fantasy/comedy short, the other is a spec-fic piece, and the third is a character-driven adventure sci-fi piece. I also have 2 that are half-finished, several in re-write phase, and one that I'm unsure whether to re-write or leave as it is. On top of that, I have ideas for more, and my goal for the rest of 2009 is to write 1 short story per month + do at least 3 chapters in the book, as well as continue freelancing as projects come in. I'm in a unique situation where I'm not relying on the income for everyday bills because my wife's part-time job pays for the cost of living, so I'm mostly doing this for the fun of it and building towards my eventual transition to full time novel writing. We only have a few thousand of debt on the credit cards, so my freelance money goes towards that, plus our savings, and random things around the house. We actually used my earnings from December/January to buy an elliptical/cross trainer and a new digital camera, so that was nice.
I appreciate the links. I'll definitely factor them into my routine as I finalize more ideas. I don't think I have anything that would qualify at present, because most of my stores aren't short...5-7k words is my average story, and I've got a murder/mystery one planned that will likely be around 15k. I'm working on high fantasy for my novel. I've got outlines for 5 books, and they will fall anywhere between 180-200k words. I also have a 2-book sci-fi series planned, but that will happen after the fantasy series. I plan on working on this first series between now and 2015, and if it takes off and I get extremely lucky I'll expand it beyond 5 books, but I'm using it as my "learning" series and expanding my skills.
As far as the contracts go...it's worth it to take the time to set some guidelines in place. If you head on over to the Men with Pens site they have a *great* series of blog posts on the business side of writing. Most of it was already known to me from my previous business experience in owning a construction company, but there are some great tips if you are unsure how to proceed. One thing I always make sure to determine up front is that the agreement is for X amount of words, and the client is only allowed X revisions. Additionally, there is a set time period for revisions to occur, and always determine the fee before you write even a single word. Generally I figure that short articles (like 500 word articles) require 1 re-write at most, and if it's longer I'll give the client 2. But I've also been blessed to have only been rarely asked to revise an article because I generally get things right the first time by paying attention to detail and making sure to discuss things in full with my clients first.
If you have the time to Google it, there are plenty of great Freelance Contracts out there for free that people have been generous enough to showcase on various sites. I don't really have "one" contract that I use for every project. I look at each project individually and I hand-tailor the contract to fit. It all depends on how much money I want out of it, how long it's going to take me, and whether or not the client is willing to pay an advance. I would always recommend getting money up front if you can. I generally ask for 25% up front on every project, and that is something I've carried over from my construction years. If it's a particular lengthy project, 25% up front, 25% at a pre-determined milestone, and the remaining 50% upon completion and acceptance of the final product.
Anyway, that got lengthy! Shoot me an e-mail via my profile link and I'll give you the contact information for those sites you were asking about. I know they are regularly hiring content writers. My wife is actually debating quitting her part-time job because I've been making significantly more than her and I work around the same amount of hours, so it's worth looking into if you can dedicate 10-15 hours a week.
On a side note, too...depending on the client, they will often already have a contract prepared. Content generation sites, for example, already have contracts in place, as do most paying sites. I have yet to find a contract I was not comfortable working with, as most people are more than fair in their dealings. However, it's good to have your own for those times when the client might be an individual, rather than a business.
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