When I was a younger (even as far back as a young child) my dream was to have my designs published in the craft magazines I used to buy. I sent my portfolio to several well known magazines in the late 90s and was continually rejected then one day around nine years ago out of the blue I was contacted by an editor of a well known craft magazine who asked if I would design for them
As you can imagine I was kinda starstruck! It was a dream come true at first but it has been a steep learning curve into the world of freelance design and this world is perhaps not what you might think it is.
This is what I've learned.....
- Always issue them with a Terms of Business agreement right at the beginning of the relationship and before taking on any design work. I didn't do this in the beginning, I was inexperienced and was so excited they had picked me I just did as they asked without my business head on!
- Don't be fobbed off with the idea that they only pay once the design is published, Regardless of whether it's published or not you've put the work/ideas in and should be paid for that within reasonable time (30 days date of invoice is a generally accepted timescale in business) You don't give open ended credit!
- If they aren't paying me on time then it's likely they aren't paying any other contributers/employees/suppliers promptly. I was worried that it was just me they were taking advantage of but after some research and discussions with other designers it is apparent that making designers wait months and months for payment is commonplace
- Keep excellent records of communications/emails/invoices/payments so that when it goes wrong (or they lie) you have all the facts and can refer back to those when needed. I would go as far to say that I have experienced gaslighting and having accurate records was vital to me when this happened.
I've built my business up for 18 years now and have a substantial following and loyal customer base and despite imposter syndrome still rearing it's head regularly I've realised now that the dream hasn't been the reality and I don't need to be spending time or stressing out over the perpetual chasing of invoices. At times it has given me an unnecessary level of compounded anxiety having to continually chase payments.
The owners of this particular media company sit in their ivory tower doing everything they can to stall paying designers and avoiding taking accountability. Part of me was relieved that it wasn't just me they singled out but ultimately I'm really cross that my fellow designers are being treated just as badly and it's high time someone said enough is enough. In my whole adult working life I have never worked with such an incompetent, disrespectful business.
If you are a consumer of craft magazines, whether you just buy the odd one or you are a subscriber spare a thought for the contributing designers who may well still be trying to get payment many months after submitting the design work. Maybe wait until the original designer releases the design themselves (usually 6mths later) and support them directly rather than giving your hard earned cash to people who don't deserve it..........