Write and Get Paid: How to Keep the Money Rolling In

You write, and you get paid. Simple, yes?

Unfortunately, that’s sometimes not the case. You write, you send an invoice, and then you wait… and wait…

I’ve had several questions this week about getting paid for your writing, so it’s time to revisit the topic.

I gave you some good tips in this blog post, Freelance cash flow: getting paid what you’re owed | Angela Booth’s Fab Freelance Writing Blog: Make Money Writing, saying that you need to have policies in place:

“Whether you write full time, or hope to write full time, the payment for your writing is what puts food on the table. So you need to have policies in place to ensure that you get paid on time.”

Payment up front, and complete payment on delivery

Your first policy needs to be: payment up front, and complete payment on delivery.

Yes, you ask for an up-front payment. Here’s why.

Usually, your prospective client knows more about you, than you know about him. He knows you via your website, via a recommendation — whatever. He knows that you write for money. It’s what you do, just like bakers bake and plumbers fix your plumbing.

You, on the other hand, with a new client, have no idea who he is. (It’s always a good idea to do a Google search on the company.) You don’t know whether the company’s solvent, and even if the company’s rolling in cash, you don’t know how eager they are to part with it.

Years ago, an editor had the nerve to tell me: “But we’re a six billion dollar company, OF COURSE you’ll get paid!” Huh — that six billion dollar company had blithely owed me $1800 for four months. Since the editor was disbursing the cash, I had no confidence I’d ever get paid, so I turned (politely) nasty. It didn’t help that on the day I spoke to him, I’d just had dental surgery and was in considerable pain — how much the company was worth was immaterial, and I told him so.

Therefore, with a new client — get some money up-front. Always, no exceptions.

On your invoice, you need to add, in red, so that it’s clearly visible: “Payment is due on invoice. All rights remain with me until payment in full, at which time copyright devolves to you.”

“On invoice” means precisely that. If you haven’t been paid seven days after you send the invoice, send a polite reminder. Send another reminder seven days after that. And if you haven’t been paid in 21 days, call your contact, reminding him that the copyright is yours, until you’re paid.

When you’re working with clients you’ve worked with previously, if they’ve paid on time, they get more leeway. Unless it’s a huge project, you don’t need money up-front, you can invoice at the end of the project, or if the project’s likely to go on for months, you can invoice monthly. However, you need to stay on top of it, so that your invoices are paid on time.

As a freelancer, keeping the money rolling in is a matter of attitude. Set your policies, and stick to them.

Become a freelance copywriter: it’s the most fun career in the world

Want to become a copywriter? Download your free copywriting report now. In “Copywriting Confidential: How To Become A Freelance Copywriter 2011″ top copywriter Angela Booth helps you to get started.

Copywriters are essentially business writers, and are some of the most highly paid writers in the world. You can start and run a copywriting business entirely from home, setting your own hours — in just seven days.

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