Freelancing: towards poverty and mentalism? (particular attention: mark s, Suzy, Fritz and anyone else who's made the jump)

Thoughts please.

I'm a graphic designer and have had several opportunities to temporarily make a lot more money, and probably work on more interesting stuff, by going freelance. I've turned all these down, preferring the knowledge that my adequate paycheck will arrive like clockwork every two weeks. Maybe I'm conservative.

I'm not a writer (not a paid one, anyway) but my thoughts on freelancing = this. I quit my well paid advertising job over a year ago. When I quit, we had a nice agreement all round that I would continue to work for them freelancing. Bullshit. The web economy collapsed and they have called me exactly four times in the past year. As to getting paid on time ... HAH! The last invoice I sent them, it took them over two months to pay. If I hadn't had an alternate source of income, I'd have been homeless.

Keep your dayjob. Even if there is less and less work for you ... ESPECIALLY if there is less and less work for you. If you get other offers from other mags, accept them ON TOP OF your staff writer job, if at all possible.

Hope that helps. I'm desperately trying to get a part time permanent position in Nu Meeja, but they don't seem to exist.

if you come up with stories and pitch them, then you are sorted (kinda): i nevah made any money as a freelance writer, cuz i am bad w. coming up hooks or high-concept single-sentence synopses, and even when i did i was often too diffident to convince somone to run em: i needed friendly editors who already knew what i was good at, and looked past the unpromising chaos of my initial suggestion

I do have at least three friendly editors if I include the current one here.

I also get the feeling a reduction in what they're paying me would help with the amount we're over budget.

Oh shit, I don't know. It doesn't seem to be a good idea, but neither is staying and I haven't got a clue what to do.

Unless you're REALLY gd w/ money - and every one of yr freelance clients pays promptly/when they say they will (hah!) - it's v. v. hard to juggle bills/debts etc. as a freelancer. For the last six months or so I've been trying to survive just on freelance commissions, and it's real feast or famine time, believe me (I've currently got abt a grand and a half's worth of outstanding freelance invoices, which I could do w/ getting paid for right this second, rather than the usual on publication/30/60/90 day plus waiting time...) I think to make it pay you've got to find at least one constant (weekly/monthly) well-paying writing gig that you can always count on to cover rent/bills etc. I'd also say that giving up a regular salary at the present time is quite risky - you know as well as I do Anna that the UK mag market isn't exactly in a healthy state right now...

Of course, you can (in theory) sign on/sign off again, depending on yr level of work, rather like an actor between jobs - but this is a major nightmare hassle. I dunno abt the situation w/ housing or other benefits.

Sorry, this all sounds really negative - I mean, it's a gd life (if you don't weaken...) - making up your own hours, slobbing around at home, being able to do stuff during the day (if you have the dosh), writing abt things that interest you (sometimes) - although I find myself browsing IL* and the interweb far too much....

yeah ilx = freelancer kryptonite!!

would-be writer: "hurrah i haf found an outlet for my peculiar genius!! i nevah need worry abt invoicing again!!" *sigh*

J. D. Considine used to hang out on a.m.a. back in 1993 or so, and one time I asked him about what the job of a freelancer was like. He was very clear about it -- hard, HARD work, no matter how you look it at, one requiring a lot of dedication. In its own way, I found comparisons to grad school in later years -- it's something that you do either because you know this is something you MUST do or that it is something you can do because you've got something tucked away for support elsewhere. I took the latter path, thus my freelance writing here and there while working my library job. My friend Jen took the former, because that was EXACTLY what she what she wanted to do, write about music. She's had the dedication, gumption and talent to make it work for her, building up the connections and now working in New York at mtv.com. There are good arguments on all sides for this situation, so I think in the end you just have to trust your heart and what you think you are capable of. But we will all wish you luck and give you help as needed, I am sure. :-)

ILX is indeed a top avoidance strategy - it's fucked my big piece on Herriman for months, though I'm sure I'd have found an alternative alternative without this.

As an ex-editor who knows your mag, Anna, and your work a bit, and reads widely in the sector, and has helped several people make this kind of move in the past, I'll say this: I honestly think you're a good writer who would certainly find some work, but as Andrew says ad revenues are in a desperate trough which means editors are having to get as much as possible as cheaply as possible - which generally means getting the most out of your staff first, and spending as little as possible on freelancers. It's a terrible time to strike out. (It is also a time when staff get cut, so there is risk to the steady work, too - and going back is probably not going to be an option.)

If there are other friendly editors, I recommend trying to get some work from them, and doing it on top of your fixed gig. If that is against your contract, the standard practice is to use a pseudonym. This is extra work, obv, but it's also extra money, and may lead to enough regular work to give you the base you need to launch a freelance career.

One point is that if you have friendly editors on stable/successful mags (I can't see Muzik crashing next week, for instance), you are the one who knows whether you can trust what they say, far better than we do - if they assure you that they can give you X amount of work a month, and you are confident that they aren't lying, and X is enough to survive at least, you might want to try it. But do bear in mind not just the possibility of dishonesty but the chance of those editors not being in their posts at Christmas, or policy/budget directives from above changing the circumstances.

Proceed with some caution: the option of quitting the job and going freelance can be taken at any time; moving the other way is sometimes (including now) much more difficult. Then again, I'm on my third career - I threw in accountancy in favour of being the full time editor and publisher of a magazine about comics, and that was not a wise financial decision, at least in the short and medium term.

(I was under the impression that the best route was a taper-off: i.e. pick up freelance on top of day-job up until some probably not-so-fun balance point where it's clear that you can tip over into solely freelance?) (Not that I am one to talk about this, insofar as I only sit and dream of how much I'd appreciate a writing job.) (Hence ILX.)

Become a lawyer and write in your spare time like everyone else.

As somebody who's been freelancing full time for going on five years now, I agree with nabisco: take on as much freelance work as you can comfortably handle for a couple of months before you quit the day job, just to make sure it's really going to come in. (This will also give you a bit of a cash cushion.) And if you can find one big job that will pay a lot of money, do that, and give your notice the day the check from it clears.

Also, advice Paul Lukas gave me when I started that's served me well: get as many regular columns as you possibly can. They are sometimes a little on the boring side, but you never have to worry about pitching them--they're a reliable source of income.

If you can get off the ground, you _will_ make more money than at your day job. You will also be much happier. God knows I am.

If you can get off the ground, you _will_ make more money than at your day job.

Not necessarily so. I am acquainted with someone who had an established career as a free-lance music journalists, but who ended up taking a salaried position at a publication, where he now is making more money than he had been. Of course, the new job isn't limited to writing, so perhaps that's an unfair comparison.

RE: original question... you decide...

right, while I'm jobless I may as well use my time productively.... How am I going to beat that smug git's record then?

Maybe you could get one of the mantalist code-heads around here to write a program to analyse the quickest way round, Cabbage?

mantalist code-heads, do your stuff!!!!

(tim I fear you may have spawned a new word again)

Ah, but it's like the travelling salesman problem and therefore NP complete.

Travelling salesman problem?

(Mantalist = grebt word incidentally) (Not that I originated grebt, I hasten to add).

I actually attempted this record with my mates when I was seventeen. What isn't being said here is to break the record you need to have a number of cars waiting for you at Stanmore, Mordern and Mill Hill East. Going over the same stations is a waste of time.

Famous computation problem: a travelling salesman wishes to travel between a set towns, what's the fastest way of doing it? In general impossible to solve precisely in less than exponential time.

Cars aren't allowed, nor are any form of non-public transport apart from walking.

Ooops, it isn't equivalent to the travelling salesman problem at all. My bad.

Ulp sorry for the thread hijack, Anna.

Ricky T, is it like the freelancing journalist question at all?

Yes, very much so.

The previous record holder (or at least the one who did it when i was a kid) used a motorbike to get from the stations I mentioned.Otherwise you double your journey time out on the Central Line, wilds of Mordern....

Of course post Norris they may have changed the rules. (As long as you travel to OR from a station by tube it counts).

Also - (back to Anna's question) have you got somewhere comfortable TO work if you freelance. Working at home is not always a good idea (especially if you don't really like your home) and you still need to be contactable and very flexible.

ALso think about the self employed issue - again it will require being good with cash cos the temptation is to spend all your money and worry about it in April when you get stung with a big three thousand pound bill (or whatever). But you can get the VAT back on your biros.

Morden isn't a problem, just reverse one stop to South Wimbledon and get the bus (or run) to Wimbledon. Epping is trickier, but you only have to backtrack four stations to get to the next line branch.

You know what? I've actually done it. (and not the tube station thing, although I may join you Chris if I get no work) About to be announced to rest of office in next five minutes. It was very much one of those time to move on things and Emap have managed to come up with a scheme that made it financially possible. So, I'm very scared and about to start phoning editors and accountants. Oh bloody hell, I feel like I've jumped out of a plane, but at the same time I feel really relieved. I hadn't been happy for a while, as some on this board will be able to testify.

Oh fucking hell. Wish me luck.

You'll be fine, my love. And if not, you can run away to the circus! You're only 23.

Hurrah for Anna! Stick to your guns. :-) The moral support is there as well the intellectual from those who know their stuff on the subject. :-)

Good luck!!!

Thanks guys.

Blimey, WOW!

I congratulate you on your bravery, Anna, and I think you are a good enough writer and person to make a success of it. Good luck anyway, as we all need that too.

Serious Q: how do you get into it?

OI! Anna! How's it working out for you so far? I missed this thread before now, but everybody else covered what I would have said too. Just try to find something regular, monthly or weekly that you can really count on. Even if it's not a lot of money. Be disciplined, keep to a regular timetable as much as possible. The usual advice, I guess.

Btw anna.com leads straight through to orgie.com.

Did you speak to suzy about this? I'll get her to call you.

It's going really well. Best thing I ever did (although I am only three weeks in) I got to strip away all the bits of my job I didn't like (corporate meetings, having to be in somewhere at a particular time) and keep the bits I did (writing, meeting people). I'm getting work in about a far wider range of subjects for different magazines and Mixmag gave me a retainer, so I'll be able to pay the rent.

Ed: Got a text message from Suzy, but had no credit so couldn't reply. I have now though, so I will.

Fantastic news, Anna - congrats, and I hope you continue to thrive.

rah rah rah

Yay Anna! :-) Kick ass and take names. :-)

One word of advice Anna: One day you'll wake up and realise taking names has used up serious amounts of ass kicking time.