Not getting paid

[0-fer]

About eight months ago, I was contacted by a publisher about writing some stories for a book. He offered, I accepted the offer and wrote the stories. I submitted them in April, which is when he said the book was to go to print, he asked me a couple of follow-ups to clarify a few things, then the communications paused. In July, he asked me to send an invoice, which I did. I have yet to receive any payment, and the last couple times I've tried to contact him, I've gotten no response.

My question to the board is this: Should I be worried? This is the first time I've ever done anything like this, so I don't know how long it usually takes to get the money, or how long it takes for a book to go from the writing deadline to the print debut or anything like that. And if I should be worried, if this is a problem, do I have any recourse to get the money?

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

[Ace]

Do you have a contract?

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I've lost track how many times I've been screwed on freelance work.

Tell him if he doesn't call you back that you'll call their boss or someone in HR.

I did that to a very prominent SE. I had done about seven stories for them over a couple months and I was out almost a grand. I sent in the invoice and called him and he said a check was coming. When it wasn't there a month later, I called him again and he wouldn't call me back.

I called him again and told him I was calling his ME, EE and HR director to find out who I should be contacting about getting payment. The next day, one of his deputies called me and said I would be paid within the week, which I was.

 

[Joe Williams]

Sounds like that very prominent SE is a candidate to buy himself a newspaper or 10. Not paying what you owe someone is very in vogue in the corporate suites:

http://www.thedeal.com/newsweekly/dealwatch/tribune.php

http://www.startribune.com/business/29984314.html

How can we expect line workers to pay their debts when the honchos won't do it?

 

[0-fer]

I didn't have a contract, but everything was done via email, and I kept them all. Don't know if that holds up, but I was certainly hoping it would when I saved them.

Re Mizzou: Unfortunately it's not an SE, it's a book publisher who works for a book publishing company that does not have a Web site. Aside from credits for several books it has published before, I can find nothing on this company. As such, I'm not able to go over this guy's head.

 

[I Digress]

It's possible he's waiting to pay you when it prints.. it's possible he screwed you. I had a short story published in a book once. They paid me as soon as the contract was fulfilled. Next time, get a contract.

 

[In Exile]

You should be worried, but the fact of the matter is that even the big dogs are delaying payment as long as possible. I've just got paid for a contractual fulfillment stemming from f-ing JULY from a publisher I have a long history with that everyone here would recognize, and now a giant acronym I did a little work for in AUGUST is still witholding dough, probably until some pissant accountant tells them it is to their advantage to finally pay me. This will be the norm for the next few year, particularly if you are freelance

And yeah, I have a contract. Anyone want to help me sue a couple of multinationals pro bono?

 

[leo1]

I didn't have a contract, but everything was done via email, and I kept them all. Don't know if that holds up, but I was certainly hoping it would when I saved them.

Re Mizzou: Unfortunately it's not an SE, it's a book publisher who works for a book publishing company that does not have a Web site. Aside from credits for several books it has published before, I can find nothing on this company. As such, I'm not able to go over this guy's head.

that's probably enough to constitute a contract. i'm a journalist-turned-lawyer and i can tell you that if you have it in writing, it's a contract.

with that said, good luck collecting from these deadbeats. if it ends up in print you might have a shot but the time and effort of filing a lawsuit might be more trouble than it's worth.

 

[Colton]

You know, it has been... oh, wait, you said "paid"

Sorry...

In all seriousness, this issue pops up wayyyyy too much at my shop. Then again, we are a CNHI shop, so I guess it's to be expected. But I do throw what little weight I carry around with the bean counters here and make every effort I can to get the great people who do work for us compensated as quickly as possible.

Not getting a response shows a total lack of class.

 

[friend of the friendless]

Sirs, Madames,

Two features for the Globe and Mail -- one from Sept 2006, the other from Dec 2007 -- multiple invoices, promises of payment, total $1,050.

Nothing.

o-<

 

[Notepad]

There is only one way to handle this in our trying economic times:

 

[slappy4428]

The Montgomery Advertiser still owes me $35 from March 2005... ****in' cheap company

 

[0-fer]

Thanks for all the feedback. I appreciate it. Sounds like I should indeed by concerned. The book is not available for purchase yet, at least on Amazon or any online retailers, so maybe I've got that going for me. On a related note, I was able to get in contact with another writer who put together a couple of stories for this book, and he hasn't been paid yet either.

 

[MU_was_not_so_hard]

Maybe it's time we come up with a black-list of papers/mags/sites not to do work for.

 

[Joe Williams]

Maybe it's time we come up with a black-list of papers/mags/sites not to do work for.

Seems only fair, since there are a lot of papers/mags/sites that have decided, going forward, that we will not be working for them.

 

[Rosie]

Depending on your state where you reside, verbal contracts can stand up in court. I had to take a place to conciliation court for non-payment on a verbal contract - and they wanted to reduce what they owed me by three-fourths because what they'd been paying me was "above and beyond and a premium compared to what they paid their other contributors."

B***S***!

Fortunately, in my case I had prior copies of checks (freelancers, it wouldn't hurt to scan those checks for regular gigs, even one-time, you just never know) and every email exchanged between me and this uh, place.

It might not hurt to at least look into it.

 

[seravaf]

I have had a lot of trouble with the shop in my neighborhood.

I'm out over $2G's for work that was first printed Oct. 2.

I have religiously sent invoices every week, as instructed, and I haven't received ANYTHING. It is a mid-sized daily up near me... so I have been doing a ton of preps work. That is more than 40 stories at $50/pop.

Every time I ask, the Asst. Sports Editor passes it along to the exec. sports editor, and then the editor passes it along to accounting. I called accounting directly for the first time this week and they didn't have one of my invoices.

So then I make sure that the Asst. Editor put together all of my invoices again and hand delivered them on Thursday because they were cutting checks on Friday. I called the accounting lady again and low and behold, she just got the invoices today after she already cut the checks for the week. Pretty convenient, huh?

 

[Fredrick]

I've lost track how many times I've been screwed on freelance work.

Tell him if he doesn't call you back that you'll call their boss or someone in HR.

I did that to a very prominent SE. I had done about seven stories for them over a couple months and I was out almost a grand. I sent in the invoice and called him and he said a check was coming. When it wasn't there a month later, I called him again and he wouldn't call me back.

I called him again and told him I was calling his ME, EE and HR director to find out who I should be contacting about getting payment. The next day, one of his deputies called me and said I would be paid within the week, which I was.

Not trying to suck up, missourigrad, but I like your style. You are a badass. Good job.
Another example of this buisiness being total horse****. I forgot about paying freelancers. I remember trying to get this shop to pay somebody who wrote stories. They wanted the stories assigned out sure enough. When it was time to pay, it took forever to get the dude his money. My god. Why am I in this business????? Missourigrad lead us away!!

 

[SoCalScribe]

In this business, you will get stiffed now and then even for small sums. One thing I do is, instead of asking on the phone what the pay is for a certain article, I send an e-mail. Like several have said, if it's in e-mail, it's in a court of law. If they tell you on a phone, send a "confirmation" e-mail with the terms specified and ask if you got everything right. I don't do this all the time, but if it's for a significant sum, it is worth confirming ahead of time. Because if it's all over the phone, it's just he said-she said legally, and the company can attempt to stonewall you.

 

[SixToe]

Get the specifics in writing, via email or contract, and date your correspondence.

Assignment
Deadline
Word count and other specifics
Payment amount
Payment schedule - upon receipt, upon mutual acceptance (after edits) or upon publication
Kill fee (if possible)

I'm battling for $500 with a non-responsive magazine editor who requested four stories and paid for three. I sent all four and he will not acknowledge my emails now. Next is a formal letter and invoice. No response? I'll talk with his two immediate supervisors I've known for almost 10 years.

If someone owes you money, don't give up. They put one of yours in the hospital, you put one of theirs in the morgue.

Good luck.