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A freelance writer I know accepted a blog job that requires a post a day – seven posts a week. The writer realized a seven-day a week writing schedule was a killer so decided to “drip” one post a week. (Better blog writing software like Word Press let’s you select a post date if you want… in theory you could post a month ahead just by post dating each entry. In some circles this is known by the highly technical term “dripping.”)
Well the client freaked out with, it turns out, some reason. When you publish a blog with Word Press it pings or notifies sites that have requested that info through feeds. Those pings drive some traffic to the blog. For reasons unknown, Word Press is also set up so when you postdate an entry, it pings right then, not when the blog actually appears. I suspect this is probably on their fix list, but who knows. The client’s fear is that his blog’s traffic will drop with the one-day-a-week postdating, and it may.
Of course, my experience with blog traffic statistics is that they are terribly hard to figure out. Mine go up and down in mysterious ways that sometimes appear to have something to do with pings, and sometimes don’t.
But, that isn’t my point.
A client who insists you write every day of the week is an abusive client. Such a client also has no clue about what it takes to write… and doesn’t care. All this client is doing is thinking of his own shortsighted needs. Shortsighted because sooner or later the writer will quit and then the blog will go un-authored for days or even weeks.
I suggested to my writer friend he consider how much notice this client would give him if the client decided he didn’t want a blog anymore. My hunch is he’d get no notice at all.
I think this writer should quit sooner rather than later. No one needs an abusive client. There are other blog jobs out there. Sometimes you need to quit just to create the psychic space for a new and better gig to show up.
Write well and often,
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1763 days ago
[...] You Don’t Need Abusive Clients [...]
It’s hard to know if the client in this story is abusive… but you did get my point
I definitely see your point; many of us freelance to enjoy a more flexible lifestyle. However, if that’s the goal, I’d say it’s a lesson in being more careful which jobs we take, especially if the job doesn’t come with a written contract that clearly spells out the terms.
If the client is actually abusive, that’s another story altogether. If that’s the case, I’d certainly encourage your friend to drop the client, even if he signed a contract. Client changed terms of the contract, writer dropped the client for changing the terms without consent, client will get no where in court should he try — just my opinion.
lol, a discontinued plug in
I don’t know if the writer knew it would require a post a day rather than 7 posts a week… the way it was presented to me I found the client’s response abusive or at least pretty awful… and my point is really we don’t have to put up with working terms that we don’t like… that’s why we freelance, at least that’s part of it… to control our own time.
You know, the old I’ll work 16 hours for myself to avoid working 8 for someone else in a cube.
I have to agree with John’s statement that this doesn’t necessarily sound like an abusive client. I have a client I blog for seven days per week. I knew the commitment I was taking on when I signed the contract. I’m online every day for at least an hour (I don’t do mountain travel), so for me it’s no big deal, and the pay is well worth it.
However, I’d say if the client is concerned about the “drip” feature, that is the client’s problem and not the writer’s. If the writer took on the job under the agreement that he could write several posts and post-date them, then he should be allowed to do that, or at least arrive at some suitable compromise. WritingForFood’s suggestion sounds good.
At one time there was a plug-in to fix the WP ping problem but the developer discontinued it and left WP in favor of Habari:
http://skippy.net/wordpress-plugins-discontinued
Maybe there’s a compromise. Perhaps the writer could “drip” just two posts a week, and post the other 5 on a per day basis.
If the writer is underpaid, that is a separate issue. I’m only addressing the stated problem, not ancillary issues that may or may not exist. As for blogging being about freedom, that is only true if you are blogging for yourself, not blogging for other people. Thats why I don’t freelance my blogging. Plus, I make more money on my own.
The mountains for the day issue is a little harder to tackle. I know of easy solutions that I would have, because I have an assistant and plenty of friends knowledgeable enough to post an article, but I can’t say that these solutions would apply to your intrepid writer.
I’m just not sure if, based on this one problem, we can assume that this is an abusive client, especially considering the fact that the writer knew this was a 7 day a week gig when they took the job. If it isn’t worth it, then it isn’t worth it, but I haven’t seen that yet.
John, I disagree with your fix. As Anne mentioned, the writer would have to still be available every day to post their article. Blogging should be about freedom, not some sort of ball and chain project meant to tie the blogger down.
I would venture to say that this is a very low paying opportunity too. I would sever ties sooner rather than later.
John, either of those solutions requires the writer to do something at the computer 7 days a week… what if he wants to spend all day in the mountains away from the computer… posting 7 days a week is abusive, making 7 posts a week is more reasonable imo
This is still an easy fix. Just because the writer can’t post the article in advance doesn’t mean the writer can’t write the article in advance. Cutting and pasting a pre-written article takes only a moment. Another option is to keep the article in draft form until it is time to publish. Either way, you don’t have to use the drip feature.
Bingo!
Me too!
http://www.workboxers.com/2007/07/09/who-do-you-think-you-are/
WTG Anne… :)
Mark