As a struggling freelance writer, I admit that one of my fears is not getting paid for the work I do. It’s difficult to find a paying job in the market these days, since no one has much money to spare and everyone and their brother has a blog. Words are cheap, as evidenced by the number of Web sites and publications that offer a byline as payment for an article. The byline is nice, and I’ve certainly written some things for free, but that doesn’t help me pay off my student loans.
These days, when I receive a contract offering to pay me for my work, I get very, very excited. I’m quick to sign the contract and drop it in the mail, and I immediately start working on the assignment. Some companies only pay upon publication. Others pay when they receive a completed manuscript, but in this economy, some publishing houses don’t pay at all.
When I read the Times article about Inkwell Publishing’s inability to pay their writers for work that had already been completed, shivers went up my spine. Inkwell owes some of its writers over $10,000, and not a penny has been seen. All that work, for naught. Scary stuff for all of us freelance writers. Not good news at all.
