Clients sometimes ask me to clarify the copyright position with text I write for them. (I also receive the occasional enquiry about ‘copyrighting’ someone’s intellectual property.) Since I’ve had to research copyright for myself, I thought it might be helpful to share my knowledge in a post.

Please note that this post refers only to UK law on copyright.

Who owns copyright in text?

In simple terms, if you write something, you own the copyright in it. No-one else can copy, distribute, publish or adapt it without your permission.

Written materials – or ‘literary, dramatic and musical works’ – are protected by law under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA). They must be recorded in writing or otherwise to be granted copyright, and copyright subsists from the date at which recording takes place.

The fact that a third party is a subject of the work makes no difference. For example, if I take a photo of you, I hold the copyright in the photo, even though it contains your likeness. If I interview you and write it up into an article, I hold copyright in the article, even though it contains words that you spoke.

Only content can be copyrighted, not ideas. If you’ve written a book and I write a summary of the ideas in it, copyright in that summary belongs to me – regardless of how unique or new your ideas are. However, I can’t quote your text word for word, only quote short passages to review or refer to your work.

How do I acquire copyright?

You don’t have to do anything to get your writing ‘copyrighted’. You automatically have copyright in anything you write. You can assert this with a statement somewhere in the work (such as ‘© 2010 ABC Copywriting’) but this is purely for information – you hold copyright whether you say so or not.

How long does copyright last?

Under the CDPA, copyright in written works lapses 70 years after the death of the author. Given the likely lifespan of most written marketing material, that effectively means that copywriters hold copyright in their work forever.

Assigning copyright to copywriting clients

Even though a client might pay you to create some text for them, you still hold the copyright in that text unless you assign it to them. They have paid you to do some work, not for the right to exploit the product of your labour.

(Note that this only applies to freelance writers. If you are employed and you write something as part of your work, your employer holds the copyright in it.)

In practice, most writers and their clients act as though copyright passes to the client when the invoice is paid. But legally, that’s not the case. To make it so, you need to include a clause somewhere that explicitly states how and when copyright in text you write will pass to the client. You could put it in your terms and conditions, on your invoice or even ask a lawyer to draw up a contract (something you might consider for longer works, such as books).

Wherever your clause appears, you need to make sure the client actually agrees to it in writing – by confirming their acceptance of your terms in an email, for example. This is the method I use. My own terms and conditions include the following clause:

Copyright in all published content (such as text and designs produced on your behalf) will pass to you on payment of your invoice.

Before I start a job, I make sure the client confirms their order in an email, along with their acceptance of my price and my terms and conditions. Then, if there’s any query later on, I can state with confidence that they have copyright once they’ve paid.

In some cases, you might want to retain copyright in your work – for example, if you write an article for publication in a magazine and you want to retain the right to publish it elsewhere as well. In this kind of situation, it’s probably worth having some sort of letter of agreement that clarifies exactly what rights you’re granting to your client in return for the fee, just to avoid any doubt or confusion.

Protecting against copyright infringement

One interesting question is whether you could have recourse to legal action if a client uses your text without paying. For example, if they published your text on a website without settling your invoice, they would technically be infringing your copyright, and you could take (or threaten) legal action. However, I’ve never tested this in practice or received legal advice about it – so consult a solicitor before you consider it.

Another possible scenario is writing material as a sample of your work, or as part of a proposal. If you don’t know the client well, you might feel there’s a risk of the content being used without permission or payment. To give yourself ammunition for a dispute, you can send your content to a trusted third party (I use my accountant) and simply ask them to retain it. You need to use a despatch method that incorporates the date, such as email or post. This allows you to establish later on, perhaps during a dispute, that you had created the content at a particular time.

To make it clear that any copyright infringement will be challenged, you can include a warning somewhere in your proposal, alongside an explicit claim to copyright. I use a form of words along these lines:

The content of this proposal is © 2010 ABC Copywriting and is not to be used without permission. ABC takes active steps to protect its intellectual property.

Finally, just in case you were wondering – the keystroke for the © symbol is alt-G on Macs, and Ctril-Alt-C on PCs (in Microsoft Office). In Microsoft Word, you can simply type (c) and it will be corrected to © if you have AutoCorrect activated.

I spend an increasing amount of time providing SEO advice to my clients. They’re usually the kind of firms you’d expect to need such advice: sole traders, SMEs, firms inexperienced in digital marketing, startups without a site. And what all those clients have in common is a strong need for sound advice coupled with an even stronger need to invest resources wisely.

Often, there will be a discussion about what I could do for them before they commit to buy. And that discussion is usually pretty wide-ranging. To illustrate the services I can provide or broker, I’ll propose many SEO tactics that would be specifically useful for them – as opposed to generic tactics that would work for anyone.

In fact, if they were taking careful notes, they’d end up with a passable SEO strategy just from the conversation. What’s more, the follow-up tasks involved are sometimes relatively mechanical (directory submissions, article marketing), allowing them to be handled in-house or overseas. The prospect could easily take what I’ve given them for free and use it to create significant value for themselves – and I’d never know. In other words, my effusive proposal could easily lead straight to being jilted at the altar.

It’s a serious issue for freelancers, and service providers generally. When does advice stop being an incentive to purchase and start being a product in itself? Where does a comprehensive proposal become a suicidal value giveaway? How much valuable knowledge should you share without payment? And just what is your advice really worth?

What you want

Let’s say you’re submitting a proposal to a client. On the face of it, your aim couldn’t be simpler: convert the prospect to a sale. But there are subtler concerns. The negotiation or proposal stage offers a valuable insight into how the working relationship might pan out. What will the client be like to work with? What if they question your advice, or refuse to act on it? How will differences of opinion be dealt with? Working through a proposal now could give you a chance to find out before any commitment is made. That gives you the option of walking away, or (more likely) quietly incorporating some ‘messing around money’ into your price.

Even if they’re not going to buy right now, you want them to remember you fondly and come back later – possibly after trying someone cheaper. And even if they’re never coming back, you should be mindful that people do talk to each other. Not just locally, but globally, through social media and other networks. Deal or no deal, you’re putting your reputation out there every time you pitch.

What you don’t want

So there are lots of reasons to submit a detailed proposal, offer useful advice and answer your prospect’s questions in some detail. But there are just as many reasons to hold back, or at least carefully consider what you want to share.

The first and most obvious reason is that you’re not being paid. The time you spend preparing and discussing your proposal must be either written off as an overhead (effectively, spreading the cost across all your clients) or charged to this particular prospect when they become a client (not explicitly, but as a tacit element of the price). For freelances, this sort of accounting is largely notional, since they rarely tot up every hour and assign it to a cost centre. But it’s still worth considering how much time you’re investing for an uncertain reward. Think of the opportunity cost – the money you could have earned elsewhere with the time you’re spending. Is this prospect actually worth that many hours?

The second reason is that you don’t want to give away valuable knowledge for free. For freelances who are paid for tangible deliverables (text, designs, websites), it can be tough to get clients to recognise the value of advice. The idea that ‘talk is cheap’ is pretty powerful. Indeed, it can be hard to recognise the value of your own consultancy, if you’re stuck in the same materialistic mindset.

Remember: if your free proposal can help someone add value to their business, in any way at all, you’re effectively giving them something for nothing. From this perspective, it’s worth thinking more like a lawyer, who charges for every conversation regardless of its content. That might be an impossible goal for most freelances, but it’s still a worthy principle: the band don’t play for free.

Thirdly, you don’t want to cede negotiating power. You want the prospect to understand what they’re buying, but not gain the ‘little knowledge’ that would allow them to misguidedly pick and choose from the service menu, or attempt to impose an alternative pricing model (for example, hourly rate instead of price-per-service). You also don’t want to give them the confidence to go back to the market for a different provider (say, one from a low-cost economy) – or, again, use the threat of doing so to secure a lower price.

Finally, and most subtly, you don’t want to seem too needy. Giving away the farm at the proposal stage suggests you’re desperate for work, which won’t instil confidence in the prospect. Remember the negotiation adage: ‘she who cares least wins’. So you need to respect yourself and do the right thing by your business – although, obviously, without striking an arrogant tone that will turn the prospect off.

What they want

It’s worth considering the client’s viewpoint too. They want to understand what they’re buying, but they’re probably making a foray into an unfamiliar market where they must buy with incomplete knowledge. They’re not going to splurge on a ‘black box’ solution where money goes in and results come out – most firms will stick with the status quo rather than take that sort of risk. (A notable recent exception is social media – in its infancy, firms were clearly spending on ‘gurus’ with little idea of what would be delivered in return for their fees.)

Most firms also appreciate that experts must have trust in order to deliver, but they don’t want to pay for snake oil. And behind the business rationale lies the deep-seated and very powerful need of human beings not to feel humiliated in front of peers by making a mistake or being taken for a ride.

Setting the boundary

In such a situation, only those in-demand suppliers with stellar reputations can set their personal ‘paywalls’ at the outer limits of their expertise. Like film stars who no longer have to audition, they don’t have to prove their worth. The rest of us need to do our little dance to make it rain.

So somehow, you have to set the boundaries on the advice you’ll give away for free. In theory, this will dictate the point in the conversation at which you will say (or imply), ‘If you want to know more, you must pay’. And it’s clearly worth deciding where this point is before you get talking, so you don’t end up putting the phone down with the sinking feeling that you’ve given away far too much.

General knowledge

One solution is to provide loads of advice, but keep it generic. You could have a ‘one size fits all’ template that you simply adapt for each new client, tweaking the content a little and changing the title page.

This can work, but most firms have already moved this type of content one stage earlier in the sales process by offering it for free in the form of web pages, blogs, white papers or free ebooks. Available to everyone online, it serves a dual purpose: building credibility before the client approach, and building SEO profile. So you might not win many client hearts by serving up this kind of content as a proposal.

Also, it’s not really about what you know, but how it’s applied. You may have testimonials, articles and past clients in abundance, but your prospect is still asking themselves whether you can do it for them.  Will you understand what they do? Will the service benefit their business? Generic content won’t deliver that kind of reassurance.

A better approach is probably to indicate the general themes of the service you’d deliver, without going into great detail on what will be involved. This can still be very valuable to a client who knows nothing, but it should be possible to leave them a lot of work to do if they want to exploit it without you.

Buying with the heart

Another perspective on the proposal dilemma is the emotional mindset of the prospect.

No-one likes buying stuff they know nothing about. And yet most of us buy far more with our hearts than with our heads. At some point in the process of appraising a product or supplier, we’ll decide (perhaps unconsciously) that we’re going to buy. This might happen, for example, when we first step over the threshold of a property, or when we see a pair of shoes on someone else’s feet. Our subsequent ‘research’ or ‘shopping around’ is actually about building up confidence and gathering data to support a decision that’s already been made – or, perhaps, so we can justify it to others. The intellect serves the emotions, not vice versa – and we may never admit how and when the true decision was made.

So you need to be attuned to the point at which your prospect clicks emotionally with your offer. If you feel they have decided to use you, you can force the free consultation phase to a close with confidence. Continued unpaid dialogue adds no value for you and could even risk unselling them. Prospects will carry on listening to free advice even though they’re ready to buy – they won’t want to look stupid or gullible by thrusting cash into your hands for something you’re willing to give away. People need a cue to act, so give them it.

I’d be fascinated to hear your own experiences on this topic, and how you decide where to set the limits on proposals you submit to clients.

‘Pride only hurts. It never helps.’
Marsellus Wallace in Pulp Fiction

A while ago, a long-standing and highly valued client asked me to write a web page for her. As usual, we spoke at some length about the audience, the messages and the tone. I went away, produced a draft and submitted it.

In response, my client produced an entirely new draft and sent it over. ‘What do you think?’ she asked.

Marsellus (Ving Rhames) invites Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) to take a dive

The instant I read her version, I knew it was better. She’d got the right tone, the right choice of words, the right structure. Apart from a couple of minor grammar tweaks, it was good to go. And that left me with two options:

• Option 1 was to climb back on top of the situation by combing through her text, finding everything that could possibly be changed and mounting a persuasive case for a new version with my fingerprints on it.
• Option 2 was to step back, accept that I’d missed the target and simply endorse my client’s version.

I went for option 2.

It was less work. It didn’t put me at odds with the client. And, most importantly, it was the right course of action.

Was it humiliating? Maybe a little. But I reminded myself that…

• I’d done the spadework. On the face of it, it might seem that my client could have just written her version alone, without any input from me. But her version, though very different from mine, still came after it. I’d conducted the initial discussion and drawn out a brief from it. I’d conquered the blank page, allowing her to learn from my mistakes. And, before I even sent my draft, I’d already rejected a number of non-starter approaches.
• I was still involved. Again, on the face of it, my client could have proceeded to publish the content without me. But she didn’t. She still wanted me to be involved in the process, however tangentially.
• Approval adds value. A lawyer might read through a contract, confirm that it’s OK as it stands and charge you £1000. They might not have ‘done’ anything tangible, but they’ve still helped you. Without their input, you’d feel much less confident about going ahead. By confirming that my client’s version was OK, I was still adding value to the project.
• Only results matter. Often, the path to the goal is more circuitous and time-consuming than we would have hoped. Or perhaps it doesn’t allow us to shine as we might like. But the point is that we get there. Better to get something that works for the client – by whatever method – than something that just makes you look good.

It all comes down to a focus on adding value, rather than feeling valued. Ultimately, clients remember outcomes rather than processes. (They’ll only remember processes if you make them more complicated than they need to be.) It’s not all about you.

If you sell services, whether as a freelance or an employee, you know the scenario all too well. One day you and your client are getting on like a house on fire. The next, the phone stops ringing. What happened? Here’s a few clues:

• They’re broke. These days, many firms are tight for cash, or choosing to safeguard their reserves. Don’t take it personally. If you got paid, count yourself lucky that you got the heads-up in time.
• They got bored. B2B relationships are like marriages. First comes the thrill of getting it together. Then the satisfaction of developing deeper understanding. Before you know it, the spark is gone. The flip side of reliability is predictability, and sometimes people just want a change.
• They moved on. Businesses change. Their strategies, priorities and cultures develop. Perhaps your client, once a perfect fit for your services, is a different company these days.
• Your service wasn’t sexy enough. People like to feel cutting-edge. They don’t want to miss out on trends. Shallow, but understandable. If you’re an established player using proven methods, however effective, a new kid on the block can make you look staid and uninspiring. It may not be fair, but it could get them a foot in the door.
• You weren’t sexy enough. Buyers are people. All else being equal, they’ll go with the provider who gives them an emotional thrill as well as a tick in a box. What’s more, they’ll bend the rules for someone they like. Being fit for purpose might not be enough.

Now, here’s why all that doesn’t matter:

• Plenty more fish. There are always more clients out there. Look at your remaining clients, identify the common thread and profile your ideal customer. Now go and find more clients like that. Your existing clients might be able to introduce you.
• Everything flows. Companies are formed, go bust, merge, split, buy each other. People move on, change role, get fired, start companies. Change throws up opportunities every day. Remember: ‘every exit is an entrance somewhere else’.
• Go where you give value. If your client moved on, it could mean you can’t meet all their needs. But that’s a reflection on them, not on you. Now you need to find new clients for whom you can add major value. There’s no point chasing a gig that’s not right for both parties.
• You are still you. You’ve lost a client. You have not lost your ability to gain clients, or to add value. Your offer is still just as strong as it was yesterday.

The psychological theme here is attribution: the way we think about the causes of events. Natural optimists attribute negative outcomes to others, while taking credit for success. Pessimists do the opposite, blaming themselves for setbacks while putting success down to fluke, circumstance or the actions of others.

If you want to move on from losing a client, cultivate optimistic mental habits. The client has moved on for reasons of their own, not because you fell short. And you already have all the resources you need to find a replacement.

• This is a guest post from Melissa Breau of Jargon Writer as part of Be My Guest month.

One of the assignments I pitched for recently decided to go with another writer. I wrote up two sample pieces (which they paid me for), but ultimately they decided I was not a perfect fit for their brand.

Naturally, this sucks. Rejection always sucks. But as a writer, it’s important that you learn to deal with it.

Just because you weren’t a perfect fit for this project or assignment or client doesn’t necessarily reflect on your abilities or your work – instead, it shows exactly that: this wasn’t a good match.

Try not to get too discouraged. After all, no freelancer gets every assignment her or she pitches (and if they say they do they are lying).

Instead of being discouraged, look again at the assignment and your pitch. Can you find why it wasn’t a good match? Did you know that it was a stretch before you applied?

If you did, but that’s the type of assignment you really want to be doing, consider ways that you can make yourself a more likely candidate for that type of project – perhaps having more samples of a similar nature would have helped you land the gig, and you can volunteer to write similar pieces for less money or for free somewhere else to build up your clips.

If you can’t figure out why your pitch was rejected, or if every pitch you send out seems to be rejected (it can feel this way sometimes), instead of dwelling on your failures look to see where you can improve.

Maybe picking up a new book on writing pitch letters will help; maybe doing a guest post for a friend’s blog on a similar topic will let you get out the idea and give it a home where it will be more appreciated. Perhaps you can take a writing class or join a writers’ group where you can exchange feedback, to hone your skills. Any of these options is much more positive than focusing on failure. Instead of viewing it as “rejection” view it as a chance to get better; better yet, this was practice for the assignment you will get – next time. Then make yourself pursue that next time.

If the editor or client that you pitched the assignment to gave you any information about why they didn’t choose you, evaluate it carefully. It may clue you in as to where you can improve; it may show you why you just weren’t a good match; you may see that you simply mis-interpreted something when applying (which happens to us all, sometimes); or you may decide it’s completely off base – after all, you’re the expert in your field and despite the mantra that the customer is always right, they sometimes aren’t. Regardless, thank them for their feedback.

Even when rejected, be sure to email the editor or client back, thank them for letting you know that they went with another choice and let them know that if another project comes up that they believe you’d be a better fit for, you’d love to work with them on something else. This leaves the door open – after all, maybe you were the second choice and the first choice will turn out to be less “perfect” than they originally believed. It also lets them know there are “no hard feelings,” and that you are a professional.

If appropriate, you can ask them of you can pitch them other ideas in the near future or ask permission to stay in touch. Some will say yes, others will say no. Again, this isn’t really a reflection on you, but if they say yes make sure you follow up no more than a month later with another idea. This shows that you’ve kept them in mind and are sincere about wanting to work with them.

If you still feel down, remember this:

He failed in business in ’31, he was defeated for state legislator in ’32. He tried another business in ’33, it failed. His fiancée died in ’35. He had a nervous breakdown in ’36. In ’43 he ran for congress and was defeated. He tried again in ’48 and was defeated again. He tried running for the senate in ’55. He lost. The next year he ran for vice president and lost. In ’59 he ran for the senate again and was defeated. In 1860 the man who signed his name A. Lincoln was elected the 16th President of the United States.

Melissa Breau is a freelance writer and editor specializing in business content and personal branding. She has had over 40 articles published in nationally distributed magazines in the last year, as well as writing and developing sales letters, press kits and PR materials for a number of clients. She has a masters of science in publishing from Pace University, and also works as an associate editor and web editor for Macfadden Communications Group on several of their business to business publications. For more about her, check out her blog Jargon Writer, or follow her on twitter – @MelissaBreau.

From the outside, freelancing must look pretty romantic – lie in bed until 11, work in your underpants and shave once a week. And, most of the time, it is exactly like that. But there are times that rip the ‘free’ right out of ‘freelancer’, leaving you with nothing more than a lancer – which, as we all know, is a type of cavalryman who fought with a lance. 

Lucky old Janus could admire the key to the new year and watch the darts at the same time

No, scratch that. What I really meant is that there are times when the good things and the bad things about freelancing end up balancing each other out in an intriguingly complicated way. So here are a few observations on the Janus-like, pushmi-pullyu world of the freelancer – so much more conflicted than you thought…

• Insecure yet secure. As a freelance, you never know where the next job is coming from, making your income profoundly unreliable – on the face of it. But, once established, you can build up a client base that is varied in terms of sector, geography and organisation type, and that diversity constitutes a kind of security. The employee, by contrast, is a hostage to fortune, dependent on one company’s success.
• Senior yet junior. If you’re a freelancer with a few years on the clock, you can often find yourself being briefed and managed by those with far less experience. But your role is always to take direction, never to give it. You may have to bite your tongue when asked to work with approaches or timescales that you know from long, hard experience simply won’t work.
• In control, yet constrained. The appeal of the oft-discussed ‘freedom to control your workload’ soon fades when you realise that controlling your workload means declining work. So who are you going to turn down? Will you risk alienating a longstanding client, or nipping that potentially fruitful new relationship in the bud? If anyone (including you) depends on your freelance income, saying ‘no’, in practice, takes some nerve.
• Sincere yet manipulative. As a freelance, you often find that work contacts, and even competitors, become friends. Many clients jump at the chance to confide in a knowledgeable outsider with no political axe to grind. But when friendship and work overlap, it’s hard to be sure of your own motives. Are you paying that compliment from the heart, or because the recipient could hook you up with some work?
• Rich yet poor. Unlike most professional employees, the freelancer can ‘turn up the machine’ by adding extra hours into the day that are actually rewarded with cash money. As a result, it’s possible to boost your income quite significantly. But because your future income is always in doubt, it can be difficult to pluck up the courage to spend the spoils. 
• Unfettered yet beholden. One of the best things about freelancing is being free of the tie to one company, or the obligation to work with one boss. But freelancing isn’t retirement. Instead of being under one big thumb, you’re under lots of little ones – dancing to the tune of all your clients at the same time. And it doesn’t always feel that much like freedom.
• Lonely yet connected. You’ll probably spend a lot of time alone as a freelancer. Depending on your character, that might be a plus. However, in my experience it’s particularly tough to take setbacks such as high-quality proposals that are ignored, highly regarded clients who defect and high-value invoices that are unpaid – all on your own. On the other hand, social media lets you build up an extensive network of people in just the same boat.

Is it all worth it? Well, it’s not for everyone. But if you can handle an unstructured day, motivate yourself and do without the lure of ‘career prospects’, I think the pluses outweigh the minuses. Now, I wonder if I should get out of bed?

Yesterday, I was approached by startup content mill Copify and invited to register as a copywriter. I decided not to, since the rates being offered (2p–4p per word) didn’t really stack up for someone with my experience (15 years).

Out of interest, I sought the opinions of my copywriter friends on Twitter, including @Mr603, @turnerink, @NoSloppyCopy, @shelovestowrite, @PenHire, @sarahcopywriter and others. Turned out a heated debate was already raging, with copywriters’ opinions ranging from the doubtful to the derisive, and many focusing on the fees.

Of course, we can’t really argue that any price agreed in a free market is ‘too low’ or ‘too high’. If both parties agree to make a deal, a deal is made. However, we can question whether the transaction represents good value – for buyer as well as seller.

I have no axe to grind with Copify or the other (mainly US) content mills out there, such as Examiner, Suite101, Associated Content, eHow, and DemandStudio. They’ve seen a gap in the market and they’re filling it. Good luck to them. However, I feel I should point out exactly what copywriting clients won’t be getting when they go down this road…

1.    Ability. Sounds painfully obvious, but there’s such a thing as writing skill, and people have varying levels of it. If you’re a UK white-collar professional using a content mill, you could be delegating your copywriting to someone with abilities only as good as (or worse than) your own. So what have you really gained?

2.    Experience. 2p a word does not stretch to a seasoned copywriter. But why should you pay for experience? All I can say is that the ‘broad but shallow’ knowledge picked up during my career has served my clients very well. Ideas from clients in other industries. Print techniques that work online, and vice versa. Ideas on ecommerce, SEO, social media and more. Ideas on improving value propositions. Ways to save time – and money. It all adds up – and you get a professional manner, calm demeanour and sense of humour thrown in.

3.    The right price. If you need to spend more, you should spend it. If my plasterer discovers rising damp, I want him to tell me, not just cover it up. Let’s say I’m working on a fixed-price job for a content mill. The client has directed me towards out-of-date sources. Halfway through, I realise this, but have no incentive to raise it since there’s no way to renegotiate the fee. So I just cut and run, having fulfilled the letter of the contract. The content is inaccurate, and some valuable learning is lost.

4.    Enough time. Closely allied to cost is the need for adequate time. Many copywriting projects throw up unforeseen issues. ‘The subject is more complicated than we thought.’ ‘There’s more to say.’ ‘Our structure needs work.’ ‘We need to rethink terminology.’ ‘Our industry jargon won’t work for SEO.’ ‘We’ve identified a new market segment.’ The professional copywriter works with the client to address these problems – with a time implication, yes, but what’s the point in rushing to the wrong destination?

5.    Reassurance. So you’ve chosen to use a content mill. Presumably you’re completely confident about factual accuracy, grammar and spelling, copyright and fair use, trade marks, US/UK language conventions, Google penalties, duplicate content and the legal implications of publication. If not, why not work with a professional whose reputation is on the line with every single job?

6.    Flexibility. Inspired by The E-Myth Revisited, I once dreamt of creating a one-size-fits-all ‘system’ for handling writing and design projects. I soon gave up. No one needed it, or wanted it. Marketing should be a bespoke suit, not a T-shirt from Asda. Savvy clients appreciate that service and expertise pay for themselves.

7.    Rapport. Clients who tender copywriting job by job never realise the benefits of working long-term with a copywriter who truly understands them. For them, every step is the first – every piece slightly off the mark, lacking sparkle, bringing nothing extra. They’ll never feel the thrill of receiving text from their regular copywriter that absolutely nails everything they wanted to say, and more – first time. (For a regular client, I recently wrote the president’s introduction to a brochure with no brief. He approved it without change.)

8.    Creativity. The fixed-price deal actively discourages discussion, consideration and indeed active thought. The copywriter’s only hope is to bang that copy out quickly and pray she doesn’t get RSI. She certainly has absolutely no incentive to put forward anything creative, inventive or alternative, even if it could help the client. The risk is just too great that it will be rejected – leading to a rewrite, obliterated profits and aching wrists.

9.    Intelligent SEO. Even basic SEO copywriting is an art – hitting keyword density targets for multiple terms without grammar and sense collapsing completely. But competent SEO copywriters take it to the next level, offering content that actually appeals to humans too. In other words, a landing page that isn’t a bouncing page.

10. Motivation. When prospects ask what I’d charge for ‘an hour’s graft writing fresh copy’ (a genuine quote), they are perhaps puzzled as to why their enquiry fails to excite my interest. The reason is that I prefer to strike a civilised, mutually beneficial deal in an atmosphere of respect, friendship and dignity. With that in place, I’m motivated to give my very best to the project. Without it, you’ll get ‘good enough’, but no more.  

Now, the most likely objection to all this is that it’s completely irrelevant to article marketing, or the creation of banks of SEO pages. I beg to differ. For articles posted at Ezine Articles and similar sites, your best chances of republication (propagating backlinks across multiple domains) come with a compelling, high-quality article. Better to have one killer piece than five embarrassing duds. And for SEO, as I’ve argued, you need your landing pages to convert the reader, not just attract traffic.

I also feel there’s a big cloud hanging over the in-vogue strategy of gaming the search engines by posting huge amounts of nominally relevant content, hoping to boost link velocity and backlink numbers. Google’s business model depends on search results that are relevant and deliver genuine value to users. Historically, it’s never failed to weed out any attempt to reduce quality to a formula, or mere gruntwork. Would you bet against it now?

This is the second of two linked posts on negotiation for freelances. Read the first part here.

Choosing the channel

While the content of the negotiation is obviously paramount, the channel you use to negotiate can have a significant impact on how things pan out. In other words, it’s not just what you say – it’s the way you’re obliged to say it.

• Face-to-face negotiation can be daunting, but brings the advantage that you can read the body language and facial signals of your client. The choice of venue can be key; negotiating on your ‘home ground’ feels reassuring.
• Email provides ample time and space to consider your response and a written record of every move in the game, but your only feedback is what the client chooses to include in their emails.
• Phone can be the worst of both worlds, with no visual feedback and no time to respond either. However, many negotiations do end up being conducted by phone. Help yourself by choosing quiet surroundings and using the clearest line you can (i.e. a landline).

If you can, take charge of the situation by initiating negotiations in the channel you want, rather than passively waiting for the client to choose one. There’s nothing worse than taking a client’s call unexpectedly and being pitched into a negotiation without warning. Similarly, if you feel pressure during the proceedings, consider asking for a time-out and moving the negotiation to a channel you feel more comfortable with.

Handling the negotiation

• Choose your style. Everyone has their own negotiating style, and it usually flows from their personality. If you’re naturally bullish, you may feel comfortable with an ‘in your face’, aggressive approach. If you’re more laid-back, a more conciliatory, co-operative style may work better.
• Banish emotion. It is your enemy. Handling negotiation is about presence of mind, rationality and balance – like playing chess. Remember: he or she who cares least wins. If your client gets emotional, try to defuse the situation, perhaps with a time-out.
• Look for trades. Negotiation works through quid pro quo. Determine what’s important to the client, and weigh it against what’s important for you. If you’re quiet right now, could you offer faster turnaround in return for a higher price? Or, if you’re just starting out, how about a lower price in return for a glowing testimonial?
• Get their information. Probe the client on the factors behind their stance: how they want to work, the aims of the project, budgetary constraints and so on. There may be an opportunity to trade, but you need to know what they want first. Savvy clients will know that disclosing budget weakens their position, so just get them to chat on a general level and see what comes out.
• Guard your information. Be aware of the value of certain information; by disclosing it, you may cede the advantage. For example, a seemingly innocuous enquiry about how busy you are, or your experience in certain areas, may be the prelude to price pressure. If you don’t want to reveal, try a vague or non-committal response – many clients won’t want to press the issue.
• Make space and time. Don’t be afraid to ask for time to respond. For example, many prospects ask for a ballpark price during the very first call, but quoting a big-sounding number without context can be fatal. You need the chance to put a proposal together with price and service information, communicating value as well as cost, before negotiations begin.
• Know your value. If you’re invited to make your price ‘more competitive’, but it’s competitive already, say so. Restate all the things you’re going to do for the price proposed, making it clear what a great package you’re offering. Above all, remember that although the client has a choice, they’re talking to you; they want you to do this project. You are not powerless.
• Cite authority. If you can, refer to an authoritative third party to back up your stance. For example, many industry bodies have standard rates that can be useful. However, since they’re intended to prevent exploitation, they’re admittedly more likely to bolster your bottom line than give you a target to aim for.
• Walk away. If the client repeatedly offers terms below your bottom line, politely decline the project. Do it calmly and unemotionally, with a smile, and certainly with no feeling of ‘paying them back’. Remember, it’s just business. To emphasise this, you could apologise for being unable to meet their expectations, or wish them luck in finding a supplier who can meet them. They may counter-offer, or they may not; as things stand, this isn’t a job worth going for.

After the negotiation

• Record commitments. As soon as you can, set down the agreement in writing and get it agreed. There’s nothing worse than thinking you’ve got a deal, only to find your recollections of the conversation differ.
• Chase up. If the negotiation stalls (for example, you submit a price by email and receive no response), make sure you chase up the client to find out why. Sometimes, you might feel that you don’t want to know – that the information can only undermine confidence. But it’s always better to know.
• Look for learning. Finally, review the negotiation and think about what you could have done differently. Even if you achieved your top line, there will still be details of technique that could be improved.

This is the first of two linked posts on negotiation for freelances. The second part can be seen here.

Negotiating the terms of a project can be one of the most difficult things for freelances to manage, after generating new business. For those without a commercial background, such as copywriters or graphic designers, hammering out a deal can feel a very long way from the comfort zone. It may become a source of real anxiety that taints the enjoyment of the ‘real’ work to be done.

That’s a shame, because negotiation is a skill that can be acquired by anyone. While some people have a natural flair for negotiation, the rest of us can still learn how to apply the basic principles, achieving a huge step forward from ad hoc, reactive or emotional approaches that deliver mixed results at best, frustration at worst.

Preparing to negotiate

The key to successful negotiation is preparation. Thinking through what you will and won’t accept, and your alternatives, puts you in a position of power right from the start. Without preparation, you’re entering a competition without really knowing the rules – so don’t be surprised if you don’t come out on top.

Your top line

Your top line is the best deal you could hope for in the circumstances. In an ideal world, what would you like to agree in terms of price, timescale, working method and other factors? Know this in your mind, or ideally write it down, before negotiation begins.

This might seem pointless – surely we all just want as much cash and time as possible? That’s true in a sense, but of course there are limits to both. Realistically, rates are dictated by your experience, the market and the economy, while timescales can never be completely open-ended. Psychologically, it’s much easier to aim for an absolute goal (“£x per day”) rather than a relative one (“more money”). After all, another £5 a day would be “more money”. Would that satisfy you?

Your bottom line

The converse of the top line is your bottom line: the worst deal you would accept. As with the top line, consider the minimum rate, shortest timescale and least convenient terms that you could live with. If the terms are worse than this – in any one aspect, or more – you’ll decline the project.

Take everything into account: the need to make a profit, opportunity cost (if you do this, you can’t work on something else) and emotional impact. Financially, it’s probably better to be busy than idle, but if the terms of the job make you feel miserable and used, the knock-on effects on your motivation just aren’t worth it.

The bottom line is an important safeguard against accepting the wrong terms in the heat of the moment. Like an automated ‘stop loss’ in investing, it protects you against your own fear and greed, setting a rational limit on what you’ll accept before you walk away. Crucially, you do this before you negotiate, rather than bumping up against it during the negotiation or (worse) realising that you’ve gone beyond it when it’s too late.

Your BATNA

‘BATNA’ stands for Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement. Your BATNA is whatever you will do if an agreement cannot be reached with your client.

Getting a concrete sense of your BATNA gives you a sense of perspective about the consequences of not getting the project. Instead of entertaining apocalyptic imaginings of going bust, losing your house and becoming a vagrant, you create a realistic picture of the outcomes that will result – and the actions you’ll take – if no agreement is reached. For example:

If I don’t get this work, I’ll…

• …work on my other projects, but in a more leisurely and enjoyable way
• …spend some time networking or marketing myself
• …acquire a new skill
• …do something outside work I really enjoy, and return to work refreshed

The point here is to focus on what will be gained if this opportunity does not proceed, not just what will be ‘lost’. As the Zen saying goes, ‘every exit is an entry somewhere else’. (And you can’t really lose what you never had.)

Working up your BATNA takes the sting out of your fear of loss, so you understand that missing out on this deal or project isn’t the end of the world – just another turn in the path.

You are now armed with the three key parameters of a negotiating position: your top line, your bottom line and your BATNA. Let the games begin!

• Now read Part 2 of 2: The Negotiation

Once, I commissioned freelances. Then, in a Sméagol-to-Gollum style transformation, I got made redundant and had to scrape together a living in the hand-to-mouth, twilight scavenger world of the freelance copywriter. I could have been a contender. But more to the point, here are the top ten things I’ve learned in five years as a wandering content-ronin.

1.    Believe in abundance. If you’re short of work, it’s easy to fall into anxiety. Instead of focusing on scarcity, switch your attention to the many opportunities around – online, in your local area, around the world. If local competitors spring up, that’s great – it means there’s work around! We get what we expect in life, so start expecting that opportunities – and cash money – will be coming your way.

2.    Hold on tightly, let go lightly. In other words, focus on the copywriting jobs you get, not the ones you don’t. It doesn’t matter why your quote wasn’t chosen, or why that client stopped using you. What matters is serving the clients you have today.

3.    Accept blame. In fact, actively seek out blame. If things go wrong, claim responsibility, even if it’s not your mistake. Failures of communication, missed deadlines – whatever. Blame rarely sticks to those outside an organisation, but your contact or client will be flattered at the implication that they’ve done nothing wrong.

If some copywriting work didn't come in soon, he might have to consider becoming a social-media guru

4.    Pricing is a game without rules. I don’t mean ‘rip off your clients’. I mean that people’s expectations on price vary so wildly that it’s almost impossible to find a consistent approach. Get used to pricing job by job. If the client proposes a price, be thankful you don’t have to. Love clients who will negotiate instead of never contacting you again if your price doesn’t stack up.

5.    Networking takes time. With social media, anyone can rustle up a big network in weeks. Unfortunately, its power to deliver freelance copywriting work will be limited. What actually works is referrals from friend to friend, and they happen when your contacts’ contacts realise they need a copywriter – which can take years. But as long as you keep meeting expectations, referrals will come. 

6.    Learn to listen. Forget impressing the client. Learn to listen, not speak. First and foremost, you’ll do better work because you’ll learn more. On a human level, people love the chance to chat with an impartial outsider – so give them it. It’s a big part of the value you offer.

7.    Cultivate detachment. I’ve found I can handle freelance copywriting much better if I’m not emotionally involved. I try not to get excited about new opportunities so I’m not disappointed when they don’t pan out. I don’t pat myself on the back for a good month, in case the next one is awful. Becoming a company is a good way to create distance between you and your work, and worthwhile for this reason alone.

8.    Don’t flatter yourself. Clients do not spend that much time thinking about you and your copywriting, so don’t waste time and effort over-thinking about what they might want, or what a particular reaction (or lack of reaction) might mean. They have a job that needs doing, and you’re a tool to get it done – end of story.

9.    Under-promise and over-deliver. Tell the client the worst-case timescale, then beat it by four or five days. Maybe even reduce your price because you did the work quickly. Sounds like a cheap trick? Believe me, your customers will have dealt with too many flaky suppliers to feel that way. They will absolutely love it.

10. Be in the moment. Because the future is always uncertain for freelance copywriters, some worry is always present. Try to let go of it and enjoy the work you’ve got today. Remember, no-one really has any security in today’s working world, so let tomorrow take care of itself.