When A Client Expects Too Much
I just wondered if my recent experience was typical for a proofreader.
Here’s the situation: I just completed my first (paying) proofreading job. I’m new at doing this, but some things about my first project surprised me. The biggest surprise for me was that the author had made a lot of textual changes to his electronic file of the book while the material was at the typesetter’s. When I showed up to proofread the book (it was a 700-page technical manual), the author had me inserting the new material from his computer file into the hardcopy proofs by writing in the new text or pasting in pieces of printed paper. Needless to say, this was very time consuming in addition to all of the normal grammar checking, etc.
Is it normal procedure for an author to expect a proofreader to do this type of thing, or was I a fool for doing this?
Congratulations on your first paid freelance job! And I wouldn’t call you a fool by any means, but you did do way more than would normally be expected.
Newbies to freelance writing (or proofreading or editing) often find themselves doing more work than expected. It takes experience to write a contract or letter of intent that clearly spells out exactly the scope of work. And it takes experience and courage to tell a client “No, that isn’t what I’m being paid for” or “I’ll be happy to do that for you at an additional $x an hour.
We all fall into this trap once and awhile – and we all learn from it. Welcome to the freelance writing game.
Have a question about freelance writing? Ask in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer it.
Write well and often,
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POSTED IN: Ask Anne, the Pro Writer
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