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Tip Sheet on Getting Paid

Posted on 23 June 2009 by Barbara Beckwith (1)

You’ll probably get a go-ahead for an article by phone. Make sure you ask — is this an assignment, or will I be writing on speculation? If it’s an assignment, you’ll want to know, before you get off the phone, when it’s due and how much you’ll be paid, whether payment is on acceptance or on publication, whether expenses like phone calls, travel etc. will be paid & up to what amt. (& the procedure for submitting expenses). If the amount you’re offered disappoints you, say: “Sounds a little low” which may raise your rate and may even raise rates for writers who come after you. And you’ll want to agree on what rights you’re selling. If the publication wants more than First North American Rights — reprint, anthology, website or other electronic rights, for instance, ask how much you’ll be paid for each use. Argue for “non-exclusive reprint rights” (in other words, you can resell the article yourself and keep 100% of the reprint fee; the publication can also resell the piece but should pay you at least half the amount made on any reprint). Or ask for time limitations (1-year website rights).

You might want to send the editor a friendly/casual letter that mentions the terms you agreed on by phone, plus the due day, # of words you promised to deliver etc. (shows you’re reviewing YOUR obligations as well as theirs).

If the publication sends you a contract, and you don’t understand or don’t like its terms, call a National Writers Union contract advisor (note: you have to be an NWU member to get this free service: join today at nwu.org). Talk through your contract, and get help on effective ways to get the editor/publisher to make the changes you want.

Newspapers usually don’t bother with contracts and writers had to insist on putting contract terms in writing to give you legal leverage if things go awry. But lawyers have now re-written contracts to grab up an enormous array of rights, so some writers now WANT to do without contracts. The law assumes that without a written provision taking subrights, all that is assumed to have been sold are First North American have been bought.

Note: keep notes on the date and content of every telephone call, and person (even underlings) you talked to. That way you later be able to say “on Jan 13, Bob Smith told me your office received my manuscript on Jan 3” or “Jon Argon agreed on March 3 to pay $500 plus $100 in expenses within 30 days after publication.” This may come in handy if the publication stalls on paying you.

Some writers, when first paid by a particular publisher, record the publisher’s corporate name, address and corporate bank account number, so if the publisher “disappears,” you can still go to court. If the court decides in your favor, it can freeze the publisher’s bank account until you’re paid.

Some dastardly publishers write “work-for-hire” on the back of a check. Such one-sided rights grabs were ruled illegal by the 1999 Tasini v. NYT case. You can sign the check and later refer to the ruling, or you can call the publisher and say, “I am selling only lst N.A. serial rights plus non-exclusive reprint rights.”

When Things Go Wrong: Use the NWU Grievance Procedure:

A publisher may send you less than the agreed-on fee or a fee that doesn’t include agred-on expenses. You may find your piece reprinted somewhere else, sold to an anthology, made available on a database without your permission or additional pay.

Sometimes they’re simply waiting for you to bill them. Send a page marked “Invoice” with various official-sounding info. (social security #, title of article and word count, editor’s name, date submitted, date article was published or is scheduled to be published). You can also call the accounting office–sometime the check was held up there and not at the editor or publisher level. Or you can send a letter naming the publication’s stated policy is (payment on acceptance, for instance) and how much time has passed.

Follow up with a phone call to the editor or to the accounting dept. Again, be polite. “I’m calling to follow up on my article, which appeared in your March issue. Since your policy is payment on publication, I expected to be paid by the end of the month of March. Can you tell me when I can expect my check?” Keep a record of exactly what was said by whom and on what date. Or write (and keep a xerox) a letter saying the same thing.

If you still don’t get your money and are a member of the National Writers Union, call your NWU Grievance Officer. Call and explain what your situation is. The grievance officer will help you decide if it’s a “grievable” issue. You’ll be asked if you have copies of a letter or contract that confirms the amount you’re owed. Note: I once tried to pursue a grievance but soon I realized I was in a weak position because I hadn’t gotten written confirmation of the terms that had been agreed on. The Union sent a letter protesting the magazine’s treatment of my article, but I agreed we didn’t have grounds to go any further. So get the terms in writing from the start!

Usually, you’ll be advised to write one more letter saying you are considering filing a grievance with the National Writers Union if you aren’t paid by [specific date].

Of course, to do this, you have to be a member of the NWU. If you’re not, join today at nwu.org.

The Union will then take over. Their letters will be firm but polite, escalating to reminding the publisher of the number of members in the union, threatening to advertise the publisher’s inaction in the Union’s local and national newsletter, and reminding the publisher that they should want to have a good reputation among freelancers in order to get good writers. You can escalate up to threatening a small claims court suit or telling the story to the press.

Individual grievances can become joint grievance if many members are being mistreated. NWU grievance officers sometimes call the publisher’s advertisers, or influential writers, who may then put pressure on the magazine, and once won a book author’s grievance (after her lawyers got nowhere) with a national letter writing campaign. He got three dozen support letters and decided to pay.

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One Response to “Tip Sheet on Getting Paid”

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