When Clients Don’t Understand Their Writing Projects
Prospective clients call and email me. The best really know what they want. Maybe it’s a ghostwriter for a book. Or maybe it’s a writing coach to help them get a book or other piece of writing done, or for more general help with their freelance writing career.
Then there are the clients who either don’t know what they want or, if they do, I can’t understand them.
I took such a call today. As near as I can tell, the potential client has some 600,000 pages of source material he wants boiled down to a 200 page book, but he doesn’t want a ghostwriter. Some of the problem, apparently, is with the term, ghostwriter. For reasons I don’t understand, he doesn’t like that term.
I asked if an editor was more to his liking, and it was. At this point, he allowed as probably 600 – 1000 pages of the source material was really pertinent to the book he has in mind. But when I said “no matter what you call me, there’s still a lot of writing to be done, correct?”
This is where it got really strange… if I’m understanding him, and I’m not at all sure I am, he doesn’t get how much work it is to turn 600 – 1000 pages into a 200 page book. When he asked if I were willing to drive a hundred or so miles to take a look at what he’s got because he doesn’t drive, I decided this wasn’t my project. I wished him luck, suggested he post on his local Craigslist and let him go.
Part of running a freelance writing business is knowing when to say “no;” it’s helpful to remember that “No” can be a complete sentence.
Write well and often,
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2 opinions for When Clients Don’t Understand Their Writing Projects
Matt Keegan
Sep 4, 2007 at 7:31 am
“No” can be an immensely liberating word. Fraught with negative connotations, “no” can keep us out of trouble, save our sanity, preserve our livelihood.
You did yourself right by rejecting this project — if the client doesn’t know or understand what they want, you’d be spending an invaluable amount of time (probably unpaid) helping him get to the point where you are in common agreement.
Anne Wayman
Sep 4, 2007 at 9:03 am
Thanks Matt… I’ve come to see the word “no” in a positive light.
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