What Can Freelance Writers do About Unethical Clients?
How freelance writers can defend themselves against thieves and long-drawn-out payment processes
Link to the Original Article.
As it stands, I have about 8 clients. I am happy with all of them. They are all willing to sign contracts that I issue them — or, if they issue a contract to me, these contracts are ethical in nature. Likewise, they all pay me on time and by my contract. In essence, in these business relationships, everything is kept extremely professional. I feel like I am treated like an equal — rather than an employee or subordinate — by each of my clients.
However, insofar as I remind myself about these facts, I need to reinforce my gratitude for them. That’s because I understand that — through my own experience and extensive research — my situation may very well be the exception, not the rule, in the world of freelance writing.
A brief caricature
Let’s say that you are scheduled to get a tattoo. As an informed consumer, you looked at their portfolio beforehand to ensure that, at the very least, you won’t walk out of your tattoo appointment with something approximating a prison tattoo. When you go to look, it's undeniable: the tattoo artist’s portfolio looks super professional. The work they do is beyond your expectations — especially given the low prices they charge.
The day of the tattoo comes. When it's finished, you’re instructed by the artist to take a look in the mirror at the tattoo to see what you think of it. Unfortunately, it's not everything you have hoped for. What you got was the tattoo version of the destruction beyond repair of Ecce Homo, the fresco painting from Spanish painter Elías García Martínez. (1930) In your mind, you were hoping to get Jesus. But, — also in your mind — you got Cecilia Giménez’s Jesus — but, oddly, you do really think it looks good. It's just that you just don’t like it; you can at least acknowledge that it's a good tattoo — it's just not the one you wanted.
Would it be ethical under these circumstances to walk out on the artist without paying them? Or, would it be ethical to walk out on the artist, telling them that you’ll pay them eventually, only to dangle that payment over their heads for months on end? No, it would not. In fact, most tattoo artists anticipate this and serve clients' contracts before ever putting them under the needle.
If it's not ethical under these circumstances, why do so many freelance clients believe that it's essentially the norm to treat freelance writers this way?
Freelance writing and unethical clients
As the state of the pandemic has deepened and more workers are shifting towards remote work, freelance writing has become nearly fetishized. On Medium, for instance, if you’re a writer like myself, you’re likely going to be inundated with recommended articles with titles approximating, “Never work a day in your life again,” or “How to escape the toxic world of modern work.” Of course, I made these two titles up, but anyone in the freelance writing industry knows exactly what I am talking about. And, if they’re honest with themselves and others, they know just how misleading such articles can be.
Freelance writing is absolutely a great way to make a living. But, the cons are much less spoken of than the pros — and the former can totally nullify the possibility of the latter. Specifically, we fail to take note of a ubiquitous and toxic reality in the world of freelance writing: namely, that there are endless predatory clients who are willing to go to great lengths to cheat contractors out of their original ideas, their money, and therein, their livelihood. And, some of these so-called “clients” are huge name companies whose core values — superficially, that is — run in the complete opposite direction from such unethical practices.
Consider, for instance, that it took The New York Times 17-years and long-drawn-out court cases to pay 3,000 freelance journalists for work they had done — specifically, having sold the work of these freelancers without their permission, only to make a profit for which these freelancers saw none of. The example of The New York Times is only one big example. And, it is a rare one: most of the time, no justice comes to fruition in cases of clients screwing over their freelancers. In fact, most of the time, such clients are testing the ground of their potential relationship with a freelancer to see just how experienced they really are. If the freelancer gives them the slightest hint that they’re a novice, that’s generally when the predatory behavior occurs. Unfortunately, almost every freelancer has been through this stage in their career — it is that prevalent of a problem in our industry.
Preying on the inexperienced
Another form of articles I find myself being bombarded by are examples of inexperienced freelance writers getting taken advantage of by prospective clients and what they might do to avoid these clients or protect themselves as best as possible. These articles teach early freelance writers how to formulate contracts, what red flags to look out for, and other strategies to face the inevitable preditor editor or business person, who is primed to take advantage of the inexperienced.
It's difficult to gauge just how prevalent this issue is, but it's clear enough from the necessity of guides to counter it that it is pervasive in the world of freelance writing. Indeed, many blogs and articles that have spoken on this subject allude to the fact that it is almost the intrinsic nature of a beginner freelancer to get screwed over and bossed around by clients. That is, if you have somehow managed not to experience this, you are a rare case.
It’s not only a beginner’s problem
While the problem of fraudulence and immorality are most concentrated amongst freelancers who are early in their careers, it by no means follows that these problems somehow disappear as time goes on. As the philosopher Immanuel Kant famously stated, “out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made.” And, indeed, as with all industries, freelance writing comes with its intrinsic crookednesses at all of its levels and domains. As I recently reported in Newsweek, these timbers derive from freelancers having no occupational protections. Our union is not a real union — though it is fairly admirable in its ability to provide resources to freelancers so that they can obtain benefits on their own. The freelancer’s union has a guide on dealing with clients who do not pay or who drag their feet with payments, but these immoral practices still occur at high rates, even to experienced freelancers.
As you grow in experience, however, you will notice that the problem is less about having your ideas stolen or not getting paid and more about having clients drag their feet to pay you. If you are smart with budgeting and have savings and investments stockpiled, this shouldn’t be a problem. But, most of us do not have such a reserve of resources to hold them over until their next payment — whenever that might be! Studies show that freelancers get paid on time roughly 71% of the time. That might not sound too bad, but when we think about basic needs and paying bills on time, not having 30% of your income can create unnecessarily precarious and even downright cataclysmic practical events in your life — such as eviction or interest on overdue bills.
Yes, we should become more financially literate and save/invest, but as a rule, it should be expected that most people don’t do this. We’ve held up our end of the bargain by working, and therefore, further onus ought not to fall on us — an onus that is ultimately personal and untied to our work. The onus is on clients to be professional and pay us on time. We should not have to adjust our personal habits to cater to the needs of those who aren’t even willing to (appropriately) adjust their professional habits and whose needs are based on this unwillingness. Furthermore, the same study mentioned earlier shows that female freelancers get paid late at a higher rate than male freelancers. We see this effect across metrics such as age, experience, niche, and skill-set. There is no excuse for any of this, yet it persists as intensely as it did decades ago.
We should call it out, but can we?
A huge part of the problem that facilitates the injustices so prevalent in freelance writing is that no one calls corrupt and unethical editors, publications, or businesses out on their corruption and immorality. And, unfortunately, in many cases, they are simply incapable of doing so. Many clients have freelancers sign NDAs or serve them contracts with non-disclosure clauses in them. My interpretation of this has always been that something bad is about to happen, and they do not want me to talk about it — and in all of the times I have had to sign an NDA, this was exactly what happened. Hence, “calling them out” is easier said than done. I include myself in this category: this article isn’t calling out anyone in particular, but the industry, as I could get into some serious legal trouble if I called out former clients who acted unethically.
But if we cannot explicitly call them out without the threat of legal recourse, what other options do we have?
Clearly, the best option we all have is to protect ourselves through contracts and increased vigilance. And, on occasions when we are not paid, legal recourse can be made, such as sticking a commissions agency on clients or even bringing clients to court — these measures are, of course, easier said than done, which is why being a freelancer can be so precarious. But, we can also leverage the internet to our advantage. There has never been a greater time in human history to speak your mind in as detailed a manner as possible without ever getting detected. Namely, through either anonymously written works, adopting a pen-name, or giving journalists and other writers tips/stories, so they can share your story for you without blowing your cover. Whatever the solution might be, the bigger-picture problem of immorality and self-serving behavior in the world of freelance writing needs light to be shed on it; otherwise, these problems will never leave us.
