Business of Freelancing

Social Media Not Exempt From Disclosure Laws Says FTC

March 13, 2013, by 2 comments

Federal Regulators say the same legal standards that applied to those old-skool print ads also apply online — even to short-form media like Facebook and Twitter.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Whether it is including the average effectiveness of a weight-loss shake or noting that a celebrity was paid to push a product in a Twitter post, marketing company need to apply the same standards to online ads as they long have to older media, according to guidelines released Tuesday by the Federal Trade Commission.

That means making room for full disclosure even in a 140-character tweet on Twitter.

The agency suggested that marketers could flag Twitter ads by including “Ad:” (three characters) at the beginning of the post or the word “sponsored” (nine characters).

Also…

The FTC said marketers need to be conscious of the location of disclosures and ensure that users can still see them easily on a smartphone.

If a company can’t find a way to make its disclosure fit the constraints of social or mobile ad, it needs to change the ad copy so that it doesn’t require a disclosure, the agency said, making that point explicit for the first time.

Disclosures must be clear enough that they aren’t “misleading a significant minority of reasonable consumers,” the FTC said.

The Journal offers up an example or two (apparently provided by the FTC), but it’s mostly common sense stuff. Seems only logical to me (and I’m touchy about misleading advertising), but I could easily envision an instance when a copywriter might feel pressured to fudge disclosure “just this once.”

Pointing out the FTC thinks that’s a bad idea should help you avoid doing something stupid. And yeah, lest we forget, it’s the ethical thing to do.

Keep writing (and disclosing), Tom Chandler

What’s Online Writing Really Worth? Editors: “Not Much…”

March 6, 2013, by 1 comment

I’m still safely tucked away in a remote corner of Hawaii, where it’s always warm and chickens rule the earth (16 inches of snow fell at home last night, so I’m feeling a little smug about being here).

Still, chasing the kids around the beach all day means you miss the handful of truly interesting online discussions that occur, especially this Branch discussion about among editors of online publications about paying writers.

I don’t play much in the online journalistic space (only when I’m paid to by a client, rendering most of the Branch discussion moot), but freelance journalism used to support a fair number of writers, and with that number pretty clearly on the decline, any discussion of writer’s fees, revenue, online advertising and the related goodies is worthwhile.

How much is even well-researched, good writing worth in the digital age?

The answer — at least for online publications — may be “not much.”

(UPDATE: Writer Nate Thayer relates his experience after the Atlantic contacted him to condense an article he’d written for another magazine into a 1200 word post…. and could he do that by the end of the week and for free?)

Keep writing (but try to get paid for it), Tom Chandler

“Mr. Chandler, The Universe Is Calling.”

January 25, 2013, by 4 comments

At the end of last week, I was sitting in my office chair after a lot of hand-to-hand combat with a pair of websites. Consulting is a good gig, but I do recall leaning back and wondering if I couldn’t scare up a pure writing gig.

No web responsibilities. No integration. No project management.

No connecting the tech dots.

Early this week, the call came. “You want to write our annual report?”

No, I haven’t written one in years. And yes, I’m pleased to write yours.

You ask, and sometimes the universe answers.

Keep writing (and asking), Tom Chandler.

An Annual Review: The Questions Freelance Writers Should Ask Themselves About Their Business

January 9, 2013, by 2 comments

Around the holidays I typically subject myself to a “Where Am I Going” exercise, where I invest a weekend reviewing the prior year’s work, revenue, clients and yes — my satisfaction level.

In simple terms, I figure out what’s working, what isn’t, and what I’m going to do about it. There may be more interesting ways to spend a weekend, but not many that offer a better return on your effort.

The numbers behind this year’s review were easy; I worked less due to the arrival of my second daughter, and made no sudden moves regarding clients or contract matters:

  • Four clients dominated my job list
  • I stopped accepting new gigs after the first quarter due to the arrival of another daughter
  • My numbers — given the state of semi-retirement imposed by our daughter’s arrival — were OK

So what were the issues? What has to change next year? What’s working well?

Let’s take a walk around my brain.

Problem Area #1: Nice Client, Bad Situation

Over the last two years I invested a lot of energy in a client. I like their mission — enough that after we built their racy new website, I took a contract deal to manage their online presence that paid a bit less than normal.

Sometimes you calculate return on investment in terms other than money.

Unfortunately, the communications issues that plagued us have grown worse, and a quick review of my timesheets tells me I’m now spending more than 75% of my contract time putting out fires or handling low-level online tasks.

In simple terms, instead of writing, I’m supporting other people (in one case papering over a lack of online marketing experience).

That’s good for the client but only occasionally gratifying for the freelancer, and when a client relationship starts to give you an uneasy feeling, you have to ask a few questions:

  • Am I producing new, high-profile or groundbreaking work?
  • Am I learning, or getting anything more substantial than a paycheck?
  • Is the paycheck (or satisfaction level) big enough to offset the hassles or lost opportunity costs?
  • Is it furthering my career?

Freelancers are always tempted to stay with the devil you know, but remember, you’re not just working for the next paycheck.

You’re building a career.

Jobs that don’t move that career forward should be viewed with suspicion, the idea being you’re creating something lasting, not crafting the freelance equivalent of a series of one-night stands.

Problem Area #2: Not Pitch Perfect

I lost a competitive project pitch despite being uniquely qualified, the kind of thing my wife describes as an AFGE (Another F*ing Growth Experience).

Do enough of these and you realize 1/3 to 1/2 of the Requests For Proposal (RFP) you read are decided before the RFP is written, though in this case I’d suggest the prospect’s personal relationship with a less-qualified competitor doomed our proposal.

Still, I realized my proposal wasn’t sharp. And I’m having trouble defining my business, the description of which largely lacks the accomplishments of the last four years.

These include efforts like building (from scratch) an organization’s online presence and revitalizing another’s stagnant email program.

In other words, my “story” has changed, but my approach (and website) haven’t.

The moral? It’s easy to drift, and even our own perceptions may not match reality. I’ll fix it before the next pitch.

Time To Play A Little

What us geezer types used to call “multimedia” holds a growing fascination for me, and the technology is so ridiculously cheap and simple I decided it’s criminal I haven’t mucked around with it yet.

Screencasts, podcasts, videos. They’re ripe for experimentation.

In other words, stop learning, start dying.

I file this under the “Things to do because they seem fun” category instead of the “Things to do because they could lead to revenue” niche, but it’s surprising how often the former translates to the latter.

Big Win: Writer Gear

In 2012 I finally cobbled together something approaching the friction-free writing environment I’ve long wanted.

It’s damned efficient (though not beautiful).

I write 95% of my work in the very fast, hugely configurable Sublime Text 2 text editor, which — after the addition of a couple free plug-ins — allows me to write in a simple text markup language (Markdown), then copy and paste HTML for online use. If I want a document, I can create a formatted version (in .docx, .odt or .rtf formats) with one simple command.

In seconds.

Ahhhhhhh. (The sound of a happy writer.)

The 2013 Manifesto

After two years of minimal client prospecting, I’ve identified two organizations for pitches and a whole industry for exploration.

I’m giving myself until April to whip the supporting bits (website, collateral, pitch, etc) into shape.

For the last two years, it’s safe to say my wife and I have been in a state of overwhelm at the hands of our two adopted daughters, but a freelance career is a little like a shark; stop moving forward and you might just die.

Anyone else endure their own year-in-review exercise?

Keep writing (and working, and changing, and evaluating), Tom Chandler.

My daughters

The reasons I’m technically insane yet wholly in love.

So Much For Planning (or, Consider Writing Video Scripts)

December 3, 2012, by 2 comments
Video Script

The plan was to dial back the work for a few months to welcome the latest addition to the family, then tidy up my own online presence before I even thought about accepting more work.

You can guess what happened next.

An existing client needed extra hours. A legacy client popped up. A very interesting new project appeared (and I’m tempted enough to respond to their RFP).

So much for careful advanced planning.

Interestingly — and despite the fact I don’t market scriptwriting — I received a handful of contacts about writing video scripts (they came courtesy my screenwriting blog posts).

It seems a lot of organizations — seduced by the ease with which you can post a video online — are dipping their toes in the medium. And discovering the very real (and painful) pitfalls of just winging it.

A million things can go wrong during video production, and shooting without a script (or at least a “talking” outline) means every one of those million things will try to bite you on the ass.

I don’t know if other copywriters are experiencing a similar spike in interest.

Video Script

Hey, this scriptwriting stuff isn’t so hard (uhh, yes it is, actually).

But I learned the hard way the perils of ignoring the market when it reaches out and smacks you on the head.

I’m not about to become a video scriptwriting specialist. But nature hates a vacuum, and I suspect you could fit more than a few copywriters in this particular space.

More to come. Perhaps even a “How to get started” post from someone who isn’t a screenwriter, but apparently plays one on the Internet.

Keep writing (or even scriptwriting), Tom Chandler.

Are You Really Planning To Freelance Until You’re Dead?

October 10, 2012, by 11 comments

A Silicon Valley client I hadn’t heard from in almost a decade sent an email asking about my availability.

I’m still in new daddy mode and dodging work like Wall Street dodges responsibility, but instead of a simple referral to one of my Bay Area copywriting friends, I found myself writing:

“I’d refer you to another copywriter, but over the last couple years the small handful of Bay Area tech/response copywriters I can personally vouch for have all been snapped up for regular gigs or fallen into Marketing Director jobs.”

“Feeding the online monster has become a fulltime gig at most organizations, direct response experience is more valuable than people admit, and these days it’s hard to argue with benefits.“

That’s more explanation than my contact wanted (in the interest of not whining I omitted the second sentence), but it does shine a light on an interesting question.

Are you planning to freelance until you’re dead?

Lots of friends ended up in the construction business, and while pounding nails is OK at 30, it’s a tough way to make a living when you’re 55. Some of them recognized that earlier than others.

I’m not sure how copywriters fit into that picture.

I like what I do. And I was working under the assumption I’d write (at least a little) until I toppled forward onto the keyboard.

But the marketplace — with its emphasis on change and youth — may not make that possible. I’m 51, an age that some have suggested disqualifies me from “regular” employment at an ad agency, the idea being I’m too impossibly old to form a truly creative idea or speak to younger audiences.

I’m not looking for a job and I can’t say I’ve suffered even a moment’s age discrimination, but in a decade, will clients trust their shiny new social media campaign to a 61 year-old copywriter?

I honestly don’t know.

It is harder to write a hundred headlines today than it was two decades ago, but I’d like to think a lot of hard-won wisdom more than fills any creative gaps.

And while I don’t tumble for every new digital media channel like some of the younger marketers, I also know the value of more traditional channels that newer marketers seem bent on ignoring.

Which is precisely why so much of my revenue comes from consulting.

I suspect that’s normal for freelance copywriters.

Still, in most of my small business consulting, we talk a lot about exit strategies and adding value to the organization beyond the founder.

Thinking which also applies to freelance copywriters. Is it time to start thinking about alternate revenue streams, or selling more than simply your time?

I’m not going to pretend I’m one of the last copywriters who started their writing career on a typewriter, but I do know it’s getting to be something of a distinction.

What happens when you’re fingered as one of the geezers who used to receive their checks in paper form, or when computers sat in big boxes under the desk instead of in your pocket, or when people actually typed copy?

What’s your plan for that day?

Keep writing (until you’re dead), Tom Chandler

Freelance Video Friday (You Know, Get Paid, OK?)

August 17, 2012, by 2 comments

“The problem is there’s so goddamned many writers who don’t know they’re supposed to be paid every time they do something”
 –Harlan Ellison

I stumbled on the first video which reminded me of the second (stolen quote above), and I thought it was time to run them side by side.

 

The first video ran atop an article about a freelance writer who rewrote a badly ghostwritten book, and not only didn’t get the second half of the payment, she actually gave the first payment back.

Cringeworthy.

(If any of my readers ever do something that stupid, I’ll find you and beat the crap out of you)

Keep writing (and getting paid for it), Tom Chandler.

“You send me the goddamned DVD now or I’m going to come down to your office and burn it to the ground. How about that?”
 –more Harlan Ellison

How Should The Modern “Meta Copywriter” Charge For His Work?

August 16, 2012, by 2 comments
typewriter

Today’s Copywriters Do More. Are We Getting Paid Enough For It?

Essentially, there are so many low-cost, easy-access media channels popping up that every project ends up in several pipelines.

typewriter

Today’s projects are more complex. How do we charge?

For example, you don’t simply write a video script. My checklist on a recent video project included not just the script, but a lot of extras:

  • The video outline/treatment
  • The video script
  • The copy blurb for Vimeo/YouTube
  • The 2000 word article that runs alongside the video on the blog
  • A couple tweets
  • The Facebook post
  • The email announcing the video
  • The press release

Today, that’s probably the bare minimum of projects needed to support a video. And at small and medium-sized organizations (and most nonprofits), the person stuffing all that content into pipelines might just be me.

Clearly, times have changed; we’re doing more than simply writing text and dumping the finished draft on some art director’s desk.

Simply put, we’ve gone Meta.

And how, exactly, should a “meta” copywriter charge for all those pieces?

Meta Charging

For literally decades I advocated setting project fees instead of charging hourly rates. It was always easier to project revenue when selling projects, and hourly simply made no sense.

I mean, the hotter you are that day, the less you make?

And who pays for the day you had a fight with your spouse and produced exactly zero good ideas (or words)?

Now — in light of what I’ll now dub copywriting’s “Meta-Age” — I’m looking at hybrid pricing.

That means charging a project fee for the creative chunk (video script, outline, script, revisions, discussions with director, etc.).

And hourly fees for the grunt work, which makes up a small percentage of the project, but sometimes vary wildly due to circumstances beyond the writer’s control.

This way, the client knows what they’re paying for the core project, yet I’m not forced to hand them a heavily padded project estimate because of all the unknowns surrounding the social media/email bits.

It also means we can neatly accommodate any brainstorms (media/blogger outreach, trailer script, Academy Award acceptance speech…) without renegotiating the whole package.

Finally, it puts an end to me eating the time I didn’t charge because the added work was simple and didn’t amount to enough to re-negotiate (yadda yadda yadda…).

Why Hybrid Pricing Might Not Work, And What To Do

Some clients suffer an intensely negative reaction to open-ended fee structures, and for them, I have an all-inclusive project estimate ready — one that necessarily includes all sorts of padding to cover the inevitable bad days, time wasters and other goodies.

For those who want a meta copywriter — with all that entails — at a fair price, I think hybrid pricing might be the ticket.

Keep writing (and getting paid fairly for it), Tom Chandler.

Stealth Bloggers, Pundits In Google/Oracle Trial Facing Exposure?

August 9, 2012, by 3 comments

The judge who recently decided the Oracle vs Google patent/copyright trial (in Google’s favor) just issued an order asking both firms to disclose any payments made to journalists, pundits or bloggers who covered the trial.

Alsup seems set on addressing a growing problem in the world of punditry: nominally independent commentators who are secretly in the pay of interested parties. “There are a lot of people on Oracle’s payroll and Google’s payroll who are industry pundits. Any of those could have triggered his concern,” Goldman told us.

But it’s not clear that Alsup’s broadly worded order is an appropriate or effective remedy for that problem. The judicial process is deliberately engineered to be insulated from outside pressures, including those from the press. So even if we make the plausible assumption that media coverage of the case has been slanted by corporate cash, that doesn’t necessarily mean the slanted coverage would affect the outcome of the legal process.

It’s safe to say the blogosphere suffers from a lack of transparency. In many markets, the stakes aren’t very high, but in the high-tech world — and in this case in particular — millions are on the line.

As the Mercury’s Chris O’Brien notes, both Google and Microsoft are paying pundits and bloggers a lot of money to influence public opinion of anti-trust issues (Microsoft was caught red-handed after hiring a PR firm to spread largely false rumors about Google)

I’m left wondering how many writers are secretly on someone’s payroll; conducting stealth marketing on an organization’s behalf.

It’s a very common practice in the political arena, but it appears the tech world has embraced the practice. Done behind the scenes, I think it’s an abhorrent practice.

If you’re upfront about it, it seems like a good way for a writer with good analytic skills to make a living.

If you’re writing from the shadows, then you might want to take a moment and consider how your work might be perceived if the curtain was drawn back on your involvement.

Keep writing (but for whom?), Tom Chandler.

Too Much Of A Good Thing: Becoming Indispensable To Two Important “Clients”

July 30, 2012, by 2 comments

Becoming indispensable to a client is the freelance copywriter’s happy place, yet because life tends to dangle the things you want when you don’t want them, it’s also a bit of good news/bad news moment.

I’m supposedly on a light work schedule, which tracks poorly with writing a video script, an outline for another script, several Op-Eds, a couple articles, a pitch, a handful of e-newsletters, a sales email, a pair of ads and a handful of blog posts.

It’s been a busy 1.5 weeks.

Tomorrow I’ve got to comprehend a very complex public works proposal and draft an organization’s response. Which means I’ve gone from writing about policy to actually writing policy.

Gratifying, but a poor fit with my real job (at the moment), which is to smother a certain two year-old girl from Ethiopia in love so she realizes she’s now a part of the family. And you realize that when it comes to the crunch, you’re really only indispensable to one group, and it’s probably not your clients.

As the now-proud parent of two little girls, I’m discovering the old saw is true.

You make it work.

Keep writing (when you’re able), Tom Chandler.

Taking A Break To Work For A Two Year-Old (or, Freelance Paranoia)

June 28, 2012, by 4 comments

Freelance copywriters rarely take breaks: the state of the economy, the sweeping changes in the business and easy availability of other writers tend to stand between us and the word “no.”

As does what I’ll label Freelance Paranoia.

You can have money in the bank and a stable revenue stream and a list of clients willing to clean your keyboard if only you’ll write for them, and it’s still hard to say no.

After all, it could all go away tomorrow.

The thing is, it all could go away, and while the paranoia whispers “you’ll move into a damp cardboard box under the overpass,” reality suggests you’d only face a slog. A reboot.

Hardly the end of anything.

Right now, my wife is in Ethiopia retrieving our daughter’s two year-old sister. They arrive this weekend, so I’m taking a couple months and attempting to smother my 3.5 year-old and 2 year-old Tax Deductions with affection.

Which is why I spent the last three months turning away all new work and jettisoning a few existing clients.

For a while, I’m limiting my workload to two clients.

You work your ass off (like my wife and I) and through teamwork and sheer dumb luck and the accident of birth, you find yourself in a position to work slightly less and enjoy life slightly more.

At least for a little while.

That “enjoyment” might take the form of longer articles for interesting causes. Or it might manifest as marathon games of kickball with a pair of daughters.

I’m not ruling anything out.

We’ve been gifted extraordinarily fortunate lives; it’s a crime not to share a little of that good fortune every once in a while.

Keep writing (I am), Tom Chandler.

Musician, Producer David Lowerey Says Musicians Now Worse Off (That True of Writers Too?)

June 20, 2012, by 4 comments

Musician David Lowerey talks about the changes overtaking the music business, and how — despite a lot of promises to the contrary — musicians are working more and netting less than when record companies ruled the earth:

In the last few years it’s become apparent the music business, which was once dominated by six large and powerful music conglomerates, MTV, Clear Channel and a handful of other companies, is now dominated by a smaller set of larger even more powerful tech conglomerates. And their hold on the business seems to be getting stronger.

On one hand it doesn’t bother me because the “new boss” doesn’t really tell me what kind of songs to write or who should mix my record. But on the other hand I’m a little disturbed at how dependent I am on these tech behemoths to pursue my craft. In fact it is nigh impossible for me to pursue my craft without enriching Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google. Further the new boss through it’s surrogates like Electronic Frontier Foundation seems to be waging a cynical PR campaign that equates the unauthorized use of other people’s property (artist’s songs) with freedom. A sort of Cyber –Bolshevik campaign of mass collectivization for the good of the state…er .. I mean Internet. I say cynical because when it comes to their intellectual property, software patents for instance, these same companies fight tooth and nail.

The other problem? I’ve been expecting for years now to see aggregate revenue flowing to artist increase. Disintermediation promised us this. It hasn’t happened. Everywhere I look artists seem to be working more for less money. And every time I come across aggregate data that is positive it turns out to have a black cloud inside. Example: Touring revenues up since 1999. Because more bands are touring, staying on the road longer and playing for fewer people. Surely you all can see Malthusian trajectory?

Before you dismiss Lowerey’s article as the whine of a disgruntled musician, bear in mind he also runs an indie label and recording studio, produces records for other bands, teaches music finance at the University of Georgia and married a concert promoter.

Lowerey notes the tech companies raking off their percentage of today’s music sales don’t — unlike the record companies he spent so many years fighting — invest back in the industry. For example, they don’t dole out advances to a lot of bands on the chance a few will make them a profit. They avoid risk, preferring to simply take their cut and run.

Uber-pundit Nicholas Carr handles the task of summing it all up rather nicely:

The net, he argues, has merely replaced the Old Boss with a New Boss, and, as it turns out, the New Boss is happy to skim money from the music business without investing any capital or sharing any risk with musicians. The starving artist is hungrier than ever.

Parallels to the writing game?

Writers can now wholly bypass the “old guard” publishing houses and self-publish, but are they fooling themselves? Are Amazon and Google the new bosses — companies taking a 30% (or more) cut of an author’s work, but who are not reinvesting in the writing universe like publishers did?

It looks a little bit that way.

In the larger sense, I believe we’re also starting to gain a clearer picture of Internet marketing through the gauzy marketing curtain hung by the Internet’s Hypesters. The value of online advertising continues to fall, monetizing traffic is more difficult than ever, and the small handful of freelance marketers I regularly speak to are finding better ROI in standard, old-school self-marketing approaches.

In other words, meet the new boss, but don’t lose the old boss’s number…

Keep writing, Tom Chandler.

UPDATE: A Salon article by Scott Timberg explores Lowerey’s post from the perspective of musicians now being at odds with fans, who copy their music and don’t feel like they’re doing anything wrong.