The Golden Pencil: The Freelance Writer’s Resource

Writing Contracts – Method, Part 2 of a Series

by Anne Wayman on September 9th, 2007

In Part 1, I talked about the Scope of Work or Goal spelled out in a writing contract.

The next item I include is something I call the Anticipated Method, Including Timing, of the work.

The purpose of this section is to describe how the work will proceed. Since I’m usually ghostwriting a book, it’s here that I explain, roughly, how the client/author will get the information to me. Depending on the situation, I might reference documents the client will provide, or how we will tape and transcribe interviews. I also spell out how many revisions of each chapter I expect to do and the author/client’s responsibility to get information and feedback to me in a timely manner.

This is the section where I also spell out how long the project is expected to take. Ghostwritten books tend to run from 6 to 18 months.

Here is a sample from an actual letter of agreement:

The author will meet with Anne (the ghostwriter) at his home, her home, or other place, and over the phone for regular conversations aimed at getting the information needed to write the Book to Anne.

These conversations will be taped and the author will be responsible for getting the recordings transcribed into Word documents and emailed to Anne. Anne will turn these conversations and resultant Word documents into draft chapters which she will email to the author editing and comments.

It is estimated that each chapter will take two or three revisions. It is also estimated that the final manuscript as whole will take two or three passes.

It is estimated that it will take approximately six months to complete the Book.

Obviously, if you’re doing articles, you’re description of how the work will proceed will look quite different.

The point is to make sure both you and the client are in agreement about how the work will actually get done.

Write well and often,

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