5 Tips on Dealing with a Freelance Writer

I started my rodeo with freelancing sometime back in 2008. Over those years, I have had my fair share of projects that went sour. I realized miscommunication is the most common source of problems between freelancers and clients.

Or the lack of it.

But what will help you get the most out of your money? How do you ensure you hire the right freelancer out of the millions?

Here are my tips:

Be clear with what you want
Agree on a schedule
Take the time to review the writer’s portfolio
Agree on the payment terms
Set reasonable expectations

Writing is not like baking a cake. There is no cookie-cutter formula that you can apply. Clients also sometimes expect a New York Times quality article for $5.

I often received requests to write an article that was so unique that it should be “the only one of its kind.”

And the pay?

$10.

I rejected these projects. Some clients wanted me to write a detailed review of a software tool—and that I must use the tool. But the client wouldn’t provide me access to it.

The pay proposal from the client?

$15 for 1,000 words.

And the cost of the software tool?

$47 per month, charged annually upon registration.

It does not make business sense.

I must be blunt and say that what you pay is what you get.

You can take some steps as a client so you do not get burned. It is such a horrible experience to pay for an article only to find out it is not written in the style and voice you desire.

1. Be clear about what you want.

What kind of article do you want? Is it a listicle, an essay, or a how-to?

There are many ways to write on a single subject matter. In some projects that I had, my clients handed me some keywords and nothing more. In my early days of freelance writing, I assumed I knew what the client wanted, so I wrote the article in essay form.

Only, it turned out the client wanted a listicle. He was expecting that I squeeze ten tips into a 600-word article. I re-did the article, but the client was already not impressed at the first delivery.

This going back and forth is a waste of time, and it all happens because the project was unclear. Both writers and clients are responsible for laying down the project in detail.

For example, you can give a writer the keyword “Facebook marketing.” This keyword is too broad. Writers will have many ideas on working around this topic, but they may also write something you do not like.

A better instruction is to tell the freelancers to write “10 Tips to Make an Effective Facebook Marketing Campaign”. This couldn’t be any clearer, and the writer has the full guidance of the topic itself.

If you pay for 1,000 words, telling the writer to split the words as evenly as possible between the ten tips, the intro, and the summary or conclusion makes sense. This way, the freelancer will not write 300 words in the intro, another 300 words for Tip Number 1, and then spread the remaining word count on the rest.

If he does that, the article will look awkward.

Also, you need to specify if you want bullet points or not. In my 14 years as a freelancer, I am amazed that some clients do not like standard article writing methods for the internet.

Some prefer huge blocks of text, and some want the articles to be easy on the eye.

Be clear with what you want, and the freelancer will deliver exactly what you want.

2. Agree on a schedule.

You cannot expect writers to complete one project for you in one day. Writers are not machines. They have moods, and writing is a mentally draining task. I spend over eight hours a day writing, and I am too exhausted to continue after that.

Some subjects are also tougher to write. Not all freelancers have expertise in every niche, and this causes the writers to spend days producing articles that are up to par with your specifications.

On a scheduling agreement, you need to set a milestone. Do you want the writer to deliver all ten together if you ordered ten articles?

Or would you rather that the writer send one article, and then you discuss how to proceed with the project?

The second option is better, especially if you work with a freelancer for the first time. At the very least, you can check the first article and provide feedback.

With a milestone, you can discuss the changes you want and then allow the writer to revise his work until he gets it right. And then he can move forward with the rest.

3. Take the time to review the writer’s portfolio.

Never order an article from somebody whose work you have not reviewed. Why am I saying this?

Every writer is a unique individual. Their tones of voice are different. Their vocabulary and style vary. Take the time to review a writer’s portfolio so you get to feel the writer’s style.

I, for one, am leaning towards a no-BS style of writing. I do not write with humor, and I avoid projects that force me to be different.

I can write sales materials like a business owner, but I cannot write like a mascot or persona with a specific set of characteristics.

On top of this, the portfolio should reveal the writer’s capacity to write in English. If it is his second language, does he use it in such a way that passes as a native? What about grammar and syntax?

Does the writer add value or fill his articles with fluff? Is the article rich in information or full of useless junk?

The writer’s portfolio will reveal all this.

How can you be sure that his portfolio is real—that he wrote them?

One way to do this is to ask a writer only for published materials that carry his bylines. Read the published materials, and decide.

If he has none, look for someone else. It does not take money to create an online portfolio. If a writer cannot afford a website, all he has to do is to publish his articles on LinkedIn.

4. Agree on the payment terms.

Some writers would start work without a down payment, and some will not work without it.

You cannot blame writers who ask for a down payment. I, for one, have been a victim of fraud. I have worked with some clients who promised to pay twice a month. I wrote articles daily for these clients, only to get conned.

These scammer clients kept dragging the payment date until I realized these con men had no plan to pay. I had to demand payment for the articles I already wrote, and they gave me a lot of excuses.

I was scammed.

And I learned my lesson.

Agree on the payment terms, revisions, and terms of refund. If you prefer to use escrow, then by all means, use freelance marketplaces like Fiverr. The thing with these marketplaces, though, is that they are too saturated with people who have no clue what they are doing.

They fill their profile pages with fake portfolio samples, and you waste your time. Sure, you can get a refund, but a week waiting for a product is still a week.

Freelance marketplaces are also costly because the writers have to pay a 20% fee for each project cost. If a freelance writer charges $20 for an article, he only gets to keep $16. So, he has to make up for that loss by increasing his price.

And on Fiverr, clients also pay a fee of no less than $2 for their orders.

What I would recommend is a 50-50 split. Pay 50% now so the writer can start, and then have him deliver a milestone. During this milestone, you can decide whether to continue the project or request a refund.

Again, these details and expectations must be discussed before starting a project.

5. Set reasonable expectations

You are delusional if you expect a $15-dollar article that packs a punch like movie reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

Every writer reaches a level of incompetence, commonly known as the Peter Principle. And while we get better at it over time, improving your writing skills does not work out like muscles in the gym.

No vitamins like Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Joseph Heller, Sidney Sheldon, J.K. Rowling, or J.R.R. Tolkien can make you write.

Even if you increase the payment, you cannot squeeze out something more from a writer. What you see is what you get. Writers will improve, but it takes years.

Again, I cannot overemphasize that you check a writer’s portfolio.

As far as expectations are concerned, you have to go back to item number 1. If there is clarity about what you want, your writer will deliver.

Conclusion

Writing projects go awry because of so many reasons. Even in professional environments, writers and directors quit because they have creative differences with their colleagues. As a result, the project goes into development hell.

If this can happen to them, this can happen to you and me.

But there is a solution: communication and reasonable expectations.

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