You don’t have to be a freelancer for very long before swallowing the bitter pill of fail: freelance job rejection. Frankly, I’m good with it: Don’t want me in your club, I don’t want to be a member.

In that vein, I got a good laugh a few weeks ago. A representative of a custom publishing company—which had declined me as a freelancer sometime around the holidays—inadvertently copied me on an email…which said some unflattering things about me! I chuckled, then proceeded to forward it to a few of my freelance pals who had also applied and gotten dinged, as well as one who’d reached the second round and was so appalled by their byzantine and awful process that she declined.

A day or two later, the sender realized what she’d done, and sent me a pleasant apology, and I responded to the effect of “no worries, thick skin, made me chuckle.” Bottom line, I can’t get too worked up over such things.

So, the reason I bring this up is the recent social-media-induced kerfuffle over an editor who sent out an epic job rejection letter to 900 applicants to a Craigslist classified ad.

• Gawker: Here’s How to Condescend to 900 Job Applicants With a 3,000-Word Rejection Letter
• The Guardian: “The Job Rejection Letter to End All Others”
• Salon: “Sorry, Gawker: My 42-point Plan Helped Job Seekers”

Check the links and you’ll see what went down. Personally, my take is that it was presumptuous of him to approach it the way he did, not to mention a violation of short email conventions. 1) He could have avoided a lot of the flak by simply including a link to a page that contained his 42(!) pointers. 2) It makes no sense at all that he sent it to the second-rounders as well as the rejects.

That said, the backlash is over the top—I can’t believe people don’t have something better to do than hit “delete.” Spend the time cold calling, doing your taxes, or screwing around on Twitter. And for that matter, the whole affair underscores how Craigslist isn’t an ideal hunting ground, since you’re competing against such a large audience. (For a better route, here are some great tips from a Jenn Mattern guest post on “Where Can I Find High-Paying Freelance Writing Jobs?”)

In the comments: Would you rather get a detailed explanation of why you didn’t get a freelance job, or is “thanks but no thanks” enough to go on with your life?

Photo courtesy of Soho13.

I don’t have all the answers, but do pride myself on providing ideas, tactics and strategies that can help you in your freelance career. The below video is *not* one of those times.

Thanks to Cathy Miller of Simply Stated Business, whose comment on a post a few weeks ago prompted me to get back into the video “studio.”

Can’t see the video? Please go here: Freelance Follies: “It Depends.”

To view past episodes of Freelance Follies, just head to the archives.

You see the ads all the time: “Article writer wanted…” or “Blogger Wanted” or “Ghostwriter Needed.” These often lead to freelance job boards, classifieds and bidding sites that resell your writing to clients. Many are content mills of one sort or another that pay, if you’re lucky, $2 or $3 per 500 word articles when you can collect it.

Others, however, are more legitimate and are looking for better quality writing and often for something more than relatively short pieces. They also pay reasonable rates to writers. I’ve never found a certain way to tell from the ads which are which. Those ads with websites are more apt to be higher paying, but that’s not always the case. Most will also publish the name of the company in their ad, but not always. I actually stumbled into a decent ghostwriting broker answering a blind ad.

The freelance writing companies that are pay reasonably well are looking for everything from longer articles through white papers to ghostwritten books of 200 or 300 pages. They advertise their services in a wide variety of places and attract an equally wide variety of clients.

In the best of circumstances they pay promptly and you’ll be able to get fairly predictable freelance writing assignments from them.  Worst case, they will disappear and neither you nor the client will have any real idea what happened.

That said, there are some things you should know when you’re considering working for a freelance writing company that’s selling your work to their clients.

1. They’re charging at least double what they’re paying you. Freelance writing companies have to charge at least twice as much as they are paying you, and sometimes more, simply to cover their own cost of doing business and making a profit. If you get $50 an hour from them it means that on your own you can charge at least $100 an hour. This may seem unfair until you really look at what it costs to run a business, then it seems more reasonable. By the way, this is an indication of what you could be charging if you found your own clients. The trick for you, of course, is finding the clients.
2. You’ll sign a contract that precludes you ever working for their client without them. In order to write for the company you’ll have to agree never to go around them and work directly for the client. This can be frustrating, particularly if the company doesn’t do a great job of relaying what the client wants. On the other hand, you don’t have to find or manage the client.
3. You may never get to talk directly with the client. On shorter projects you may never get to even speak to the client or even know who they are.  If the company does a good job of finding out what the client wants and communicating that to you, it can work well. On longer projects like books you will be in contact directly with the client. The potential problem is that the company may have given the client unreasonable expectations about how the project will evolve.
4. If the project starts to come apart the company may not be able to help. On short projects you probably won’t even know there’s a problem – just that the nature of the writing you’re doing has changed. Or you may be told a client has been lost, but you’ll never know if it had anything to do with you or not. Probably it didn’t, but it’s frustrating not to be sure. On longer projects where you’re dealing directly with the client, the writing company may not be able to help if the wheels come off. I had this happen once on a book ghostwriting project; the person assigned to help was barely a college graduate and had no idea how a project like ours should evolve. Everyone was frustrated.
5. The contracts tend to favor the company and may not be negotiable. You will be offered some sort of a contract which is good, but mostly it will be drawn in favor of the company. If the company is a large one dealing with lots of writers and clients there’s little if any room for negotiation over price or anything else. You can always ask, and if your skills are excellent and something they need you may be able to get a higher price or a longer deadline, but don’t be surprised if there’s little or no room for change.

It’s often not difficult to pick up an assignment or two from a freelance writing company. That can be a good test for you. If they pay promptly and things proceed more or less as advertised, great.

If, however, the pay is slow or the writing isn’t what was described, move on. You don’t have to put up with an unprofessional company.

Writing for freelance writing companies can also give you decent credits and exposure, which always helps when you want to find additional work.

Anne Wayman blogs about freelance writing at www.AboutFreelanceWriting.com. She also ghostwrites books and does great press releases for clients.

Dear Dr. Freelance: I was asked to write an article for a popular website that puts out a digital magazine periodically. The stories in it get advertised all over several popular websites. I’m something of an expert in my field and a freelance writer. The editor tells me it will be great exposure, but has made no mention of payment. I get the feeling she is treating it like free PR for me and that if she chooses to use my submission, I should be grateful. I don’t have a lot of writing (for bigger sites or magazines) under my belt. Should I do it for the exposure and experience, or turn it down if there is no payment? — Underexposed

Dear Underexposed: There’s no hard-and-fast rule here—you kind of need to use your spider-sense to determine whether it fits your business model. I do plenty of guest posts elsewhere for free, because I enjoy it, it is good for exposure and link love, and it encourages guests to share their wisdom here. (Best-selling author Chris Anderson, whom I interviewed for Speaker magazine, has made a career out of extolling the virtues of free. Lining up on the other side of the argument is legendary sci-fi writer Harlan Ellison, who said, “I sell my soul, but at the highest rates.” And we all know how the Huffpo fiasco worked out.) Somewhere in the middle ground, I’ve written on the lower end of the pay scale when I’ve been trying to break into a new market.

In formulating your decision, I think there are a couple of factors a freelancer needs to consider:

• You say it’s a popular website, but just how popular? Are we talking a couple of thousand hits a month…or millions?
• Is a clip from this website going to give you a legitimate piece that you can add to your portfolio and tout to prospective clients?
• Will they allow you to put a brief bio and a link to your website or blog, or an email address for people to contact you directly? One of my regular niche magazine gigs has been a decent source of referrals as well as the pay for the articles.
• If you do write something for them, is it a 1500 word story that’s going to take tons of interviews, research and effort, or is it something you can write quickly and easily based on your expertise?
• Did you ever ask directly if it is a paying job? Do they pay for other content, but just not in this case? From your initial comment, it sounds like you may not have asked, but doing so politely might be worth it. It sounds like she’s interested in what you can contribute, so the worst she can say is “no pay,” right?
• How busy are you right now? Could the time be better spent cold calling for new clients or extending your marketing efforts with existing ones?

Really, it comes down to writing down an old fashioned Ben Franklin pros and cons list, and deciding which way it tips. I’m curious to know what decision you make and how it turns out, so please share anonymously in the comments when you get the chance!

When turning to other freelancers for advice on the sometimes tricky area of client management, common advice includes limiting yourself to dedicated consultation hours, or learning to say “no” when relations between you and the client have deteriorated. These typical solutions, however, come from a negative perspective—preventing or dealing with problems by putting checks and balances in place.

I prefer to accentuate the positive: The best way to achieve an effective and pleasant working relationship with your client is to focus on your qualities as a freelancer. Superior client relationships come from controlling what you can—being the best freelancer and partner that you can be.

Be appreciative and professional

From initial bid to successful conclusion, you should be completely professional both in your approach to the project and to the client themselves. Make it clear from the outset that you’re passionate about their project, and that you are willing to commit your considerable experience and insights to the successful realization of the job. Because freelance jobs can be hard to come by, you need to view every project as an opportunity to gain experience and learn from new challenges. Respect your client’s wishes and do your utmost to meet their expectations professionally, on time and within budget. That includes thanking the customer after the fact for placing their trust in you! It’s a simple but important step toward a productive business relationship.

Be open to feedback and give your own

You can never foresee every complication and hiccup that might crop up on a project. Yet, if you view your working relationship as a partnership between the dreams of your client and your experience, it goes a long way toward resolving issues when they arise. If you feel some aspects of the project are spinning out of control, it’s time for a frank, polite assessment of the issue—paired with honest and well-thought-out, viable solutions. That also means being open to feedback—never forget that the client is footing the bill for your work—and actively seeking their opinions on how the work is progressing, and being responsive to their suggestions.

Be flexible

From the client’s perspective, the project that you are working on at that time is their “baby” and the website, logo or other such task needs to meet their expectations. They get the final say on how the product should look, and the task is for you to advise the customer on the best course of action for the project—but ultimately heed their requests even if they’re not precisely what you recommend or think is best. You need to be the voice of reason and authority, but in a patient, problem-solving manner that serves to calm the fears of a customer.

Be the best freelancer you can be

Most of us love the work that we do. (If you don’t, why not?) Ultimately, you need to tap into your ability for formulating strategies and taking a client’s projects from the birth to the successful end. Keeping in touch with clients once the project is over can lead to further projects down the line, from both your previous clients and from others to whom they recommend your services. If you can combine your passion for your field with a passion for keeping clients satisfied with your work, you’ve built a strong foundation for more effective and positive client management.

In the comments: What’s your best tip for positive client management?

About today’s guest post author: David Sumner works for twago, Europe’s leading platform for web designers, programmers and graphic design freelancers. He’s passionate about freelancing and the opportunities that it brings in facilitating closer co-operation between people from across the globe.

Image courtesy of Alicia Solario.

Demand Studios and content mills? You ain’t seen nothin’ yet, my fine freelance writing friends. Forbes is the latest among a group of 30 organizations using Narrative Science software to write computer-generated stories. It’s actually kind of clever—the software uses data to create stories on sports, financial reports, real estate, local community blah blah, polling and elections, ad campaign summaries, sales and operations reports, and market research.

Is the writing going to make anyone forget Damon Runyon? No. Do I feel threatened? Not particularly. By the time Skynet truly goes feral, I imagine my writing career will have long since passed.

OK, now I’ll confess that my headline is pretty much an excuse to post the Dan Mangan “Robots” video imbedded below. It’s a song I got hooked on during our year in Canada. You’ve been warned.

Just a quickie roundup of guest blog posts I’ve contributed to other freelance sites recently.

Your Freelancer Life Cycle: A look at the stages when you move from the point where you don’t know what you don’t know to understanding it so well that it’s second nature. Some great discussion there, too.

February Resolutions: With the post-holiday mayhem tucked away till November, and most of the emergencies taken care of, why I turn to February resolutions to set my course for the year.

Used Car Salesmen Anonymous: Some thoughts on a recent Wall Street Journal article and mp3 with Dr. Robert Cialdini (author of an essential book called Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion) about changes that are taking place in sales theory—and how you can do a better job of selling yourself by establishing trust and authority.

Final note: At the risk of being a pest—please make sure to take the Freelance Forecast survey if you haven’t done so already—thanks! It’s a wrap on Feb. 17.

I’ve been doing the Freelance Forecast for four years now, and in addition to the many thoughtful responses I receive to the survey itself, it’s always interesting when someone takes the time to offer detailed criticism—constructive, nit-picky or otherwise. So, I thought I’d pass along a piece of correspondence I received the other day for your consideration:

“[Freelance Forecast is] quite comprehensive and down to earth, but I walked away afterwards wondering what was its purpose and who is it designed to help? Most of it seemed like information a sociologist might gather rather than something useful to working freelancers. The only really useful questions I found were #10 and #13. [Dr's note: Those were the questions about your best way of finding new clients, and the advice you'd give to a struggling freelancer.] The freelance fields listed and personal situations are so different that really no two freelancer’s ‘careers’ are the same or easily compared. For this reason, most of these comparisons struck me as irrelevant.”

I have to admit, the question gave me pause. Am I running a fool’s errand?

After a hefty gulp of pride, I answered him as follows: “I started doing the survey simply because I was curious about what other freelancers were doing and how they were succeeding, failing, pricing, and handling client relationships. I was also curious about what clients (beyond my own) liked/disliked about using freelancers, and how we solo acts collectively could do a better job.

“I had my own opinions based on more than a decade of hiring freelancers while in various editorial positions, and 13 years as a freelancer myself, but I knew I was just a single datapoint. And while freelancers and clients may be unique in the micro view, there are certainly good and bad business practices that are universal.

“As far as it’s usefulness and who it’s designed to help, I can only say that I’ve received a lot of positive feedback over the years from people who appreciated the perspectives from their peers and client-siders, and the ability to get a feel for where they stand. Surely our businesses are different and endlessly diverse, but I’d like to think some of the answers in aggregate may provoke an ‘aha’ moment or two.

“Maybe it’s the coach in me who believes freelancers owe it to themselves to be more proficient businesspeople/salespeople/entrepreneurs–not simply writers/editors/designers–and I’m doing what I can to push them along the curve. If you think that’s quixotic, I won’t argue!”

I appreciate all of the time and energy people have taken in answering the surveys over the years. Thank you. Selfishly speaking, I have learned a lot from hearing the opinions from my peers and clients out there. Most important, I hope that you’ve gleaned actionable information for yourself and your business.

If you haven’t participated in the 2012 survey yet, please do so before February 15: Take the Freelance Forecast survey. And please pass it along to a client or two!

Photo courtesy of Ulrik De Wachter.

I play in a Thursday golf league here in Phoenix, and a few weeks ago one of the partners in my foursome made a comment that I felt I needed to write down: “You just gotta play like you’re rich,” he said.

Think, he said, about the über-wealthy who cruise in on their Gulfstreams to play the best courses in the world. The golf game is part of it, but so’s the camaraderie and the post-round cocktailing, and simply some time away from a high-intensity reality. A rich guy is likely hypercompetitive (read: Trump), and many of them are also highly skilled golfers…but on the other hand, many of them aren’t, and yet they still get enjoyment out of the game.

Yes, it’s time for the Freelance Forecast 2012 survey—an annual forum for freelancers and clients who hire freelance creatives to opine on the best (and worst) practices in the industry, assess their results in 2011 and offer their insights on expectations for 2012.

As in the past, there are two separate surveys. If you are a freelancer who also contracts work, or a client-sider who does moonlight freelancing, you’re welcome to take both.

• The “Freelance Perspectives” survey can be found here.
• The “Client Perspectives” survey can be found here.

Please use Twitter, Google+, Facebook, etc., to spread the word to fellow freelancers and clients—the more the merrier. All contact information and individual responses are kept 100% confidential and are used only for purposes of compiling the results.

All participants receive a copy of the results and will be entered into a drawing for a $100 iTunes or Staples gift certificate. Both surveys will close on February 15.

Thank you for taking the time to participate and share your opinions! You can download 2009, 2010 and 2011 results here.