Sometimes a big problem for writers is getting paid. Commonly, when writers do work for individual clients, they work on retainers or pay as you go arrangements using PayPal or credit cards. But when you get hired by a company, a usual arrangement is for the company to pay you after the work is completed or in various stages, such as 10-25% up front, and more as you go along or after you finish the project.
Unfortunately, this arrangement of pay after completing some or all of the work can be a problem, if a company decides not to pay for some reason, which may not be justified – say because the company decides to change its direction and no longer wants to use the work, although it asked the writer to do this.
I started thinking about the problem of not getting paid by a company for work done at their direction, when this happened to me. As I experienced myself, often, when a company doesn’t pay, you may feel powerless because you are an individual up against a company, like a David facing a Goliath. In some cases, the situation can feel even more hopeless when the amount is too small to merit hiring a lawyer or pursuing a small claims case. And sometimes you can feel even worse, because the company avoids telling you what’s wrong or makes an excuse you consider unfair and unjust.
For example, I encountered this situation when a small scholarly publisher hired me to edit a very badly written academic book. Like much bad academic writing, it was overly wordy, used long convoluted sentences, and included multiple cites from other researchers in densely packed paragraphs, who repeated the same ideas in different words. After I advised the publisher of my hourly rate and got a budget cap for the project, I began editing the first 15 pages in about 40 minutes and got two more go ahead for the next two hours that I worked on the manuscript. In doing the edit, I sought to streamline the very dense, pedantic, repetitious writing, rather than just correcting the obvious typos and grammatical errors. But then the project went South. Suddenly, the editor who worked for the publisher called to tell me not write anymore and to send him a bill for the hours I already worked. But he didn’t explain what was wrong, only that the company planned to do the rest of the editing in house. After that the publisher was impossible to reach, didn’t return my calls, and sent a letter cancelling an offer to publish one of my books, with a notation to the editor to pay my bill. But soon afterwards, the editor sent me an email stating that the publisher decided not to pay because the project wasn’t completed. However, it wasn’t because the editor asked me to stop doing anything more, after previously asking me to continue writing.
Though the amount of my bill wasn’t much – only about $400, I felt the publisher’s sudden decision to not to pay me without telling me what was wrong or being willing to discuss the matter was unjust and unfair. And later I discovered this company was involved in numerous lawsuits, along with claims they were a vanity publisher disguised as a scholarly press.
But initially, due to the company’s refusal to pay, I felt powerless against a company in another state. However, then I started thinking about what I could do and how many other writers might be in a similar situation after putting in hours, days, or more on a project, only to not be paid for no good reason. For example, one writer friend described working 40 hours a week for 3 months with repeated assurances of being paid at the end of the project. But the promised check for about $20,000 didn’t come, and the company officials were elusive when she tried to contact them. Another writer hired as an advertising and PR consultant was at first paid an initial retainer and agreed to bill the company after that. But after the company hired him for several more hours, it didn’t pay, claiming that his advice didn’t help their sales, though he gave no guarantees.
In such cases, going to small claims court – or the threat of filing – can sometimes get a company to pay to avoid the time and expense of going to court. However, if a company is in another state, it may be difficult to pursue a long-distance small claims case. And even if the company is local, a lawsuit can be a long, tedious process and not worth the effort if the unpaid amount is low.
But there are a number of alternatives, when a publisher or other company isn’t willing to resolve the dispute. Ideally, these alternatives can lead to your getting paid. But even if they don’t, these strategies can enable you to share your experience, so you can warn others about possible problems in dealing with that company. Then, too, you may feel better about what happened when you inform others by writing emails, blogging, or talking, and you may feel some satisfaction from getting justice as the company’s bad behavior becomes known. Sometimes, too, once a company discovers that people are writing and talking about what it did wrong, it can be sufficiently shamed and embarrassed by the publicity, so it decides to do the right thing and pay you what you are owed.
Aside from going to court as a last resort, if it is a viable alternative, here are some things you can do.
1) Report your bad experiences on one of the websites which feature complaints for writers, such as Preditors and Editors http://pred-ed.com. Some writers’ organizations also have a complaint section for members, such as the American Society of Authors and Journalists (ASJA) www.asja.org.
2) If you have followers on the social media, such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, you can share your complaints about publishers and other companies there, and others may pass on this information. And normally, you don’t have to worry about a company taking any legal action against you, since the company’s desire to end any bad publicity by paying what they owe is likely to outweigh taking action against someone with a valid complaint, which might result in more bad publicity. Plus if you don’t have much money, which is true for many writers, a lawyer isn’t likely to take the case.
3) Tell the publisher or other company that you are seriously considering legal action, and show you are serious by describing how you have researched the court procedures and penalties the company may experience. You might also point out that once a court case is filed, it becomes a public record, which the company might want to avoid, since it will further sully their reputation.
4) If enough people who haven’t been paid by a company learn about one another through your efforts to share information about your experience, this might lead to a virtual protest through the social media or even a real protest in front of company headquarters.
In short, you have many options to get paid or at least get justice and warn others about dealing with this company.
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Gini Graham Scott, PhD, writes frequently about social trends and everyday life. She is the author of over 50 books with major publishers and has published 30 books through her company Changemakers Publishing and Writing. She writes books and proposals for clients and has written and produced over 50 short videos through Changemakers Productions. Her latest books include: TRANSFORMATION: HOW NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY ARE CHANGING YOUR LIFE and THE BATTLE AGAINST INTERNET BOOK PIRACY