Category Archives: Management of a publications enterprise

Some people find negotiating more painful than sitting in the dentist’s chair—and crave Novocaine or even general anesthesia for them both. But don’t shirk either one when its time arrives. Unlike, say, buying a car, dealing with freelancers isn’t a zero-sum game. In fact, collegially and openly discussing rates, tasks, schedules, workflow, and other project [...]

Ever wonder why your freelancers are hypersensitive to changes in explicit agreements about payment, deadlines, or, really, anything? There’s a good reason for their mistrust. Too many companies try to take advantage of them. It happened to me recently. I was solicited to write for a nationwide Web site. There were several red flags, the [...]

Publishers who need to do more with less—that’s just about everyone nowadays—can get help from an unlikely source, writers. Many of today’s most competitive freelancers survive hard times by delivering more value than the competition. Washington, DC-based American Independent Writers (formerly Washington Independent Writers) recently gave successful writers an opportunity to share how it’s done. [...]

Clients have always deserved to know in advance how much an outsourced project will cost. In today’s economy, this is more important than ever. Our advice to them: If in doubt, ask. Some cost increases are unavoidable. We specialize in large-scale, complex, innovative projects—in other words, big, difficult things no one’s tried to do before. [...]

Many consulting engagements have to overcome rough patches in order for the client to understand fully what the consultant is trying to accomplish. True collaboration usually takes months. But recently we had one of those rare great experiences with a client, and it inspired us. It wasn’t an easy assignment, but from the very beginning [...]

Holiday Inn Express TV commercials notwithstanding, there’s no such thing as instant expertise. Not even—or especially—when it’s alleged to come from purchasing a complex editing or design tool it can take years to fully master. Accomplished writers, editors, and designers are out there, but distinguishing the best from the rest can be a challenge. Objective [...]