A step-by-step guide for writers to feeling more confident in any negotiating setting, whether asking for a higher fee, longer deadline or more challenging assignments. Presented as part of ASJA's Shop Talk series, Sept. 20, 2017.

1. Negotiating for Writers:
You Deserve It, Now Ask for It!
ASJA SHOP TALK, SEPT. 20, 2017
Michelle Rafter, ASJA member
@MichelleRafter
michellerafter@comcast.net

2. Big Asks Get Big Results
NY Times reporter Emily Steele
US women’s soccer team

3. It’s Not Just About Money
Besides $$$, you can negotiate other things that benefit your business:
● Word count
● Project scope
● Deadlines
● Rights
● Assistance
● Access to sources
● Payment forms
● Transcription services
● Regular work
● Elevated title
● Social media

4. Don’t Sabotage Yourself
Common excuses for not negotiating:
● “I’m just starting out, I need the business.”
● “If I don’t take this, I might not find anything else and I have bills to
pay.”
● “I don’t have anything else right now, why not take it?”
● “I don’t feel comfortable talking about money.”
● “I don’t like talking on the phone.”
● “If I push back they’ll never want to work with me again.”
● “They said this is what they always pay.”
● “They said nobody has ever brought this up before.”
What other ways do you talk yourself out of asking for what you’re worth?

5. Negotiating Essentials
1. Do your homework.
2. Practice, practice, practice.
3. Make the ask.
4. If at first you don’t succeed, try try again.

6. Negotiating Essentials
1. Do your homework.
● Calculate what you need to earn to cover:
○ Household expenses
○ Business expenses
○ Taxes
○ Retirement
○ Other savings
○ Vacations!!!
○ Discretionary spending

7. Negotiating Essentials
1. Do your homework.
● Calculate your rate. Use this formula for calculating what you need to
make - shared by Gwen Moran at the 2017 ASJA conference:
If you work 35 hours a week, and take off major holidays, 2 weeks of
vacation, 2 weeks of sick time, and spend 20% of your time on non-
billable work, you have about 1,400 hours a year to sell.
To make $65,000, you need to sell 1,400 hours @ $46.50/hr
To make $85,000, you need to sell 1,400 @ $61/hr
To make $120,000, you need to sell 1,400 @ $86/hr
Used with permission, @GwenMoran; www.gwenmoran.com

8. Negotiating Essentials
1. Do your homework.
● Estimate what you need to make to cover expenses, put money away
for savings, taxes, retirement, vacations, etc.
● Calculate your rate.
● Research standard fees for:
○ Content type - articles, blog posts, whitepapers, video scripts
○ Genre - consumer, b2b, custom publication, content marketing,
copyediting, developmental editing
○ Region, experience level
● Use ASJA Paycheck listings, Who Pays What? Freelance Success,
Freelancers Union, Glassdoor and other sources to find rates

9. Negotiating Essentials
2. Practice, practice, practice.
● Start by negotiating non-work situations - who loads the dishwasher?
Walks the dog?
● Move on to low-risk asks, such as extending a deadline or asking for
help finding sources.
● Ask a family member, friend or fellow freelancer to roll play with you
to get comfortable with what to say, how to respond.
● You’re ready to shoot for the big stuff - asking for a higher rate,
longer word count, or both.

10. Negotiating Essentials
3. Make the ask.
● Call if you can - it’s easier to read how things are going on a call, and
make suggestions on the fly.
● Write down talking points before a call so you don’t forget them.
● Listen!
● Know what you want
● Know what you’re willing to sacrifice
● Whatever you agree to, get it in writing.

11. Negotiating Essentials
“If at first you don’t succeed, try try again.”

12. Negotiating Essentials
4. If at first you don’t succeed, try try again.
● Don’t take no for an answer.
○ Ask for feedback - What is it about the pitch that didn’t work?
○ Think of it as an opening for a conversation.
○ How you could alter your ask to change that “No” into a “Yes.”
● Use the feedback to follow up.
● Build a support system so you’ve got someone to commiserate with
when rejections come, and celebrate with when you get a win.

13. Support for Reluctant Negotiators
More words of wisdom from Gwen Moran:
• Know what you bring to the table. What do you do better than anyone
else?
• Find the clients who value what you sell.
• Sell yourself to capacity, and analyze how many prospects it takes to
get there.
• Make time for marketing and new business development weekly,
monthly and quarterly.
You are never as confident as when you don’t need the work!

14. “The world is full of people who will tell you what to do and how to do it.
They’ll be louder than you, more experienced, more educated. Maybe
they’ll be none of those things, but they’ll be more confident. If you wait
to be the most ‘most’ person in the room, you’ll never feel qualified.”
-- Jimmy Choo Founder Tamara Mellon

16. Read More about Negotiating
● Maria Bamford Spent Her Commencement Address Discussing
Exactly How She Negotiated Her Fee, Vulture, May 2017
● 8 Ways to Negotiate the Raise You Deserve, and Get It, Forbes, April
2017
● How to Get Paid What You’re Really Worth: An Equal Pay Day Guide
from Ellevate Network, Ellevate Network, April 2017
● The Power of Positive Confrontation, B. Pachter, 2014
● Negotiate This! Herb Cohen, 2006

17. Find a copy of this
presentation on SlideShare: