Over at the Freelance Parent blog, Tamara Berry is discussing: What to Do When Your Project Outgrows the Agreement. It seems that Tamara recently found herself in a predicament that many writers (including yours truly) find themselves in from time to time – the project required far more work than she thought that it would.
If you’re trying to make your living as a writer, then this situation can be critical to your success. In fact, if it happens too often, then your business could be headed for disaster. Determining the project agreement, or scope, of the project is critical to ensuring that a writer doesn’t agree to work at a loss.
To keep this situation from happening too often, I’ve developed a basic list of questions that I ask prospective clients, and even existing clients, before I accept a new project. I thought it would be fun today to share that list of questions with you, and ask for your comments and feedback.
(Note: Some clients are more expressive and answer some of these questions without being asked. For others, I have to ask every single question.)
Question One: What Type of Writing Project Do You Need?
There is a world of difference between writing fresh new material and editing or revising the client’s existing material.
Question Two: What Does [Insert Client’s Term] Mean To You?
Many clients throw out terms like “light editing” or “keyword article,” without really knowing exactly what they want. By getting them to define the term more specifically you are much more likely to be able to give them an accurate estimate.
Question Three: What Is The Subject of This Writing Project?
This is an important question since it determines how much research I will need to do. There are some topics that I could write knowledgeably about with very little research. There are others that I may not be qualified to write about ever.
Question Four: Who Will Be Reading This Material?
This helps me determine the audience for the project. An article about ecology aimed at elementary school children would be quite different from an article about ecology written for doctoral students.
Question Five: Can You Show Me A Sample Of What You Think The Finished Project Would Look Like?
This is a very important question, because it helps me to determine the client’s expectations.
Question Six: What Information/Materials Will You Providing?
If I’m going to need to provide quotes from individuals to include in the writing project, then obviously that will require a lot more work. On the other hand, many clients provide links to articles that they would like me to reference and/or quotes principals in their company.
Question Seven: Will I Need Supply Any Additional Materials?
Some clients may request that I provide a royalty-free image, link, or other specific detail.
Question Eight: How Long Do You Expect The Finished Project To Be?
Web content clients typically give this answer in words. Technical writing and editing clients typically give me this answer in pages. (Be sure to ask font size and whether a page is double or single-spaced.)
Question Nine: Do You Anticipate Other Writing Projects?
This question helps me in future planning. If someone is going to give me a weekly, or monthly project, I know to create a slot for that project on my work calendar.
Question Ten: How Did You Hear About Me?
This is a marketing question that lets me know what strategies for marketing my services are most effective. (While referrals are still my number one source of new work, I’m also getting a healthy number of inquiries from clients who have seen my writing on one of my blogs.)
Notice two questions that I do not ask:
- How much are going to pay for this project?
- When is it due?
I don’t ask these questions up front (although many prospective clients volunteer this information), because I’ve found that it’s best that I provide this information to prospective clients in a free customized proposal. Since I’m the only one who really knows how long a project is going to take, I’m really the only one who can put a price on my services.
Besides, the answer to the second question is usually “yesterday.” To keep from getting overloaded, I take a look at my work calendar and fit new projects into the first available slot.
What do you think? Did I miss any questions? Do you ask different questions?
Leave a comment
Contents (c) Copyright 2008, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved
15 responses so far ↓
1 Debra // Mar 5, 2008 at
What a great list of questions! Thank you for providing them. If I had thought to ask some of these things, I could have saved myself a lot of grief on some of the projects I’ve taken on.
2 lornadoone // Mar 5, 2008 at
I love this list! I’d imagine it might need to be pared down for some clients, but I’d think nearly every job could be simplified by asking some combination of these questions.
3 Matt Keegan // Mar 6, 2008 at
Excellent questions, Laura.
I had a situation come up last fall where the project morphed to the point where it was hardly recognizable to what we agreed upon in the contract.
I can’t share all of the details here, but I will tell you that I backed out of the c0ntract, risking my neck in the process — it simply wasn’t a good fit for me.
I could have been sued, but had I gone ahead with it, I would have been bogged down for many weeks and would have lost other work in the process. I don’t usually recommend doing what I did, but no money exchanged hands, therefore I got out early.
Sure, I could have asked for some changes, but the corporate culture was the big problem — I simply could not support writing about the topic at hand.
Even with all of these questions in mind and a contract built accordingly, it isn’t difficult to find that the original agreement may have to be revisited and changed later on.
4 Vivienne Quek // Mar 6, 2008 at
Very good questions. I asked some similar questions when I talk about marketing campaigns or design project.
You mentioned you don’t ask the client how much they are going to offer you. Do you try to get an inkling of the budget range they have in mind at all?
5 laura // Mar 6, 2008 at
Hi Debra and lornadoone!
I’m glad that you liked the list. It helped me too to think it through and formalize it in a list like this.
6 laura // Mar 6, 2008 at
Hi Matt!
I’m sorry you had such a bad experience. I really try hard not to bail when I underestimate a project because I know that will leave the client in a bad spot since they’ve already awarded that project to me. So far, I’ve been fortunate that the time I’ve had to eat hasn’t been too excessive.
I think if the job is so large that it is going to be your main project and you realize you can’t make a living from it, it’s acceptable to back out. (Just like you would resign from a traditional position if the pay was too low.)
7 laura // Mar 6, 2008 at
Hi Vivienne!
At this stage in my career I don’t usually try to find out what their budget is. If my estimate is close, but slightly over – the client generally lets me know. I do have a little room to negotiate (but not much), so I’ll usually try to work with them.
Some clients, of course, start off by telling me their budget first. Then it’s up to me to ask enough questions to make sure that I understand the scope of the work before I commit myself.
Finally, there are some folks who contact me abut work, but who simply aren’t perspective clients for me. They are looking for $5 article writers, and I’m not one of those. Typically, after I quote my prices they disappear and I never hear from them again.
8 Jeanne Dininni // Mar 6, 2008 at
Great questions, Laura!
A writer can never be too careful when it comes to clarifying assignment terms and client expectations.
Thought-provoking post!
Jeanne
9 laura // Mar 7, 2008 at
Hi Jeanne!
I’m glad you liked the post. It helped me to put it in an organized post like this.
10 Linky Love Friday | Hope Writes // Mar 7, 2008 at
[…] Ten Questions To Ask When You Are Offered A Writing Project […]
11 Solomon // Mar 8, 2008 at
Hi Laura!
I liked the post. The questions you’ve enlisted are of great benefit. If we don’t ask questions we can’t know the clients’ mind. Many clients say one thing in the beginning and come back and say something contradictory later.
These questions are a guiding light to know about the project better.
I like your blog and I can’t thank you enough for the wonderful information you share.
Thanks
Solomon
12 Laura // Mar 8, 2008 at
Hi Solomon!
You (well, you and the other readers) are the reason that I do this. So, thanks for coming by to let me know that what I’m doing is working. The encouragement helps. (It really does!)
13 Sunday Brunch - March 9th | Words of a Broken Mirror // Mar 9, 2008 at
[…] Spencer of Writing Thoughts shares 10 questions one should ask when they are offered a writing projects. No, how much and when is it due are definitely not among them, but you’ll have to see why at […]
14 Lillie Ammann // Mar 11, 2008 at
Great questions, Laura. Most of my work is editing, so I have a similar questionnaire asking about the length of the work, the genre, amount of self-editing the client has done, etc.
I also do a free sample edit (usually five pages of a book-length manuscript) to get an idea of how much work is involved. There is a huge variationin the writing skills of clients – an 80,000 word manuscript from one writer can take two or three times as long to edit as the same-length manuscript from a more skilled writer.
Even when I have the answers to the questions, my quote is only an estimate and includes a statement that if I find major problems later in the manuscript, I will contact the client to re-negotiate. I learned to do this after a project for which I quoted a flat rate then ended up spending a whole lot more time than expected because there was a huge plot problem near the end of the book.
15 Laura // Mar 11, 2008 at
Thanks Lillie!
Since your projects are so long, I really see the importance of leaving yourself the opportunity to re-negotiate. I don’t know that this would go over so well on a shorter project, though.