Do you not use a freelance writer contract every time you start a new project?
If you are working for a client remotely, it’s important to keep a contract in place because if the client starts dumping more work than discussed, or worse, he completely stops replying, what are you going to do?
While email agreements work as well, a freelance writer contract guarantees that you are not working with a flaky client. Also, since you discuss and put down all the requirements on the contract, the client cannot force you to do extra work without you getting paid more for it.
Does a freelance writer contract guarantee you payment?
Not so much.
If a client does not want to pay you, a freelance writer contract can’t force him to. You could use this agreement to file a case against the client, but let’s be honest, 99% of the times, writers do not want to sue their clients.
What should be mentioned in the contract
Work Terms
All the amount of work that needs to be done weekly or monthly. All the deadlines should be mentioned as well so that you and your clients are clear about it.
Revisions
Have you ever been stuck with a client who asks for endless revisions? A freelance writer contract can get you out of that. You have to define the duration during which you would do revisions and the kind of revisions you would do. For instance, you could put one week as the revision period and define that you would only do minor revisions.
It is important to set a time period and not the number of revisions because I am sure you wouldn’t want to make edits to some content you wrote 3 months ago.
If the client doesn’t ask for any revisions during this period, then the content would be accepted by default and you could raise an invoice for the same.
Payments
What the payment should be and when the client would be making it.
Again, very important to decide when you would be sending the invoice and by when the client would be clearing the payments. You can also choose to charge the client with an interest fee if the payment is delayed.
Ending of the contract
Whether the project is ended from your end or from the client’s end, you can specify the notification period. This would give both you and your client a good amount of time to look for alternatives. Let’s be honest, we all hate it when an important project ends abruptly.
Here are some sample freelance writer contracts I found online that you can use for your reference when you put down your own – 1, 2, 3
Remember to modify it exactly according to your requirements.
Do you use freelance writer contracts?