The Renegade Writer Blog

Last week, an editor contacted me about writing a 300-word short based on a pitch I had sent to the magazine months earlier. The catch: The short was due in about a week. I told the editor I couldn’t meet that deadline because I had three other articles due on that day, and the editor replied that she would have to find another writer to write the piece instead.

Rather than commenting on how strange it was that the magazine sat on the pitch for months and then suddenly needed it in one week or else, I asked if the magazine could offer an idea fee (since the article was based on my pitch). The editor replied that she could offer me $150 — one quarter of what I would have been paid if I had knocked myself out to crank out the article in a week when I had three other deadlines. Not a bad deal!

At first I was afraid to ask for money, though afraid of what exactly I don’t know. Perhaps I feared that the editor would never hire me again, though it wouldn’t be the end of the world if that happened since I have plenty of other clients (who assign me features, not shorts). In any case, I pushed aside the fear and asked for money, and it worked. If you think about it, expecting pay for your work is a sign of a professional, not a PITA, and it probably makes an editor respect your time and skills more than if you said, “Sure, take my idea and assign it to another writer…I don’t mind.”

Can you ask for something today — like a raise, an idea fee, or even an assignment? Post your ideas in the Comments section! [lf]

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