I sent a Letter of Introduction to an editor a while back, and she checked out my clips and credentials and told me she was impressed. Then, she wrote to me with an assignment, and get this– said that the first article is unpaid and quoted a per word rate from the second one onwards.

Say what?

It’s bad enough that they ask newbies to do this, but an experienced freelancer with five years of experience? Is this the level of respect we can command after living in poverty, busting our asses, and wondering if we can ever afford sushi? I was so damn pissed. And I showed it.

Wrote back to tell her I’m not working for free and come to think of it that pay rate sucks, so thanks, but no thanks.

She wrote back and said she’d pay that original fee for the first one, and double that for the second onwards.

I didn’t really care much about this assignment by this point, so I told her no, double from the first assignment. And you know what? The language in your contract seems to me like you’re saying you can kill this article anytime without compensation. I want to get paid even if the article gets killed, and if it’s not to your satisfaction, I will do rewrites, but if it’s still not satisfactory, you have to pay me 50%.

She came back with a yes.