What to Look for in Freelance Writers

By Joe Pulizzi | Published: December 8, 2011

This post first appeared in EContent Magazine.

Whether you are an experienced digital publishing machine or a novice brand looking for the benefits of content marketing, you most likely need the help of freelance writers to help tell your story. You may find that you need help developing ongoing content — or that you need additional content producers to keep up with the velocity.

How do you go about finding good external content contributors (sometimes called stringers)? Should you look for a good writer and teach them your business? Or should you hire someone who knows your industry and teach them to write? Here are a few tips to consider:

Expertise is helpful — but not a deal killer.
Given the choice between a good writer with a personality that closely matches your organization (but short on industry expertise), and an industry veteran that knows how to write but with whom you can’t stand to be in the same room with — go with the personality. Chemistry and personality are things that are entirely hard to change; research is a skill that can be taught — passion isn’t.If you and your freelance content producer don’t have good chemistry together, the relationship will go nowhere fast. And while it might be a strategic advantage to bring in an industry “rock star” to get your content some attention (and there are great reasons to do this occasionally) — unless there’s a great personality fit, be very careful that you don’t wrap your story into theirs and get lost in the middle.
Hire right — copywriters, journalists, technical writers, oh my!
Because you’ve spent so much time on your strategy and your process, you should be very aware of what kind of writer you’re looking for. Understand that copywriters work very differently and have very different sensibilities than do journalists. If you’re looking for someone to write blog posts for you, a copywriter is probably not your best bet. On the other hand, if you’re looking for someone to beef up your persuasive call to action for all the great white papers you’re putting together, then a great copywriter may be exactly what you need.
Develop the right business relationship.
Understand what the elements of your business relationship will be and make them clear. For example, will it be one content item per week — and your writer will be paid a monthly fee? If so, how will you handle months that have 4 1/2 weeks? Will there be an extra post that week? Spell out the invoicing and payment terms. Given the size of your organization, you’ll either need to make clear the invoicing and payment terms — or understand what the writer needs.Also be clear on expectations. At this point, you should know your velocity and how long and how detailed the content needs to be. There should be no surprises like blog posts suddenly becoming 300 words, when they’re supposed to be 500…or content themes going wildly off topic.

Here are some of the things you’ll need to communicate to your freelancer:

What content they’ll be producing and where it falls on the editorial calendar (be very specific when drafts are due)
The goals for their specific contributions (especially if it’s a custom branded piece versus a piece for your publication)
What expertise, or other third-party information they’ll need access to (will they be interviewing internal people, bringing in external information, or reworking your existing material?)
Your budget (per piece, hourly, retainer or barter)
The number of revisions for each piece.

Over the past 12-18 months, we’ve also seen new models of performance take shape in the digital content world. Many publishers are adopting the pay for performance model, where a smaller base fee is paid for the raw content, but the writer is paid a bonus for content performance (based on both sharing metrics and search engine placement). New tools like Skyword now make this possible. Writers, who in the past were not open to this, are now very aware of this type of model and are more open to it than ever before…but setting clear expectations is a critical first step.

Before Diving In…Test

With the amount of writer supply in the workforce, there is no need to start a long-term relationship at first. Test out a few stories and see how they work. Is the writing style to your expectations? Do they deliver on time? Are they actively sharing the content via their own social network (this is very important)?

Once they meet your expectations in these areas, then set out on a long-term deal. I’ve seen too many marketers and publishers get their “rock star” freelancers, only to kill the deal a few months later with neither party happy. Test it out first so you don’t waste your time.

For more information on organizing your marketing department for publishing success, check out my new book with Robert Rose entitled Managing Content Marketing, available now.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

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http://www.trxtraining.com Todd

Good advice overall.

Yes, there is a lot of writer talent out there. Much of it is pretty average (as you might expect). Go ahead and test, but make the test small and manageable. Don’t try to get free work out of people – it’s just bad manners.

ta
Michael Buller

This is a great start but leaves out a few critical steps in hiring freelancers. I agree that personality is an important gating factor -if you’re going to spend your days working with writers, you should pick those with whom you will enjoy working. But having hired freelancers in the custom world for many years, one of the absolute keys is reviewing clips. There are so many content outlets today that anybody can call themselves a writer. It takes more than owning a copy of Word to be a writer, and the good ones out there have a history of writing and a portfolio of clips that back them up. But even with published clips, you have to be careful. I always wanted writers who had clips from multiple sources, and multiple clips from at least one source. That meant that she didn’t just have one outlet with a really good editor who always cleaned up her writing, and it meant she had at least one editor who thought she was good enough to hire her again.
Clips are also an indicator of the voice of a writer. If they’re good, they’ll be able to shift their voice to match the tone of the content outlet, but even still, over the course of their portfolio, you’ll get a sense for what their copy sounds like — and you’ll know if they’re right for you.

Another key factor is what rights you are buying. Are you buying first-time rights or is it a work for hire? Who owns the copy/story when you’re done? Can the writer resell it? Or is it yours forever? Can you reuse it on a different site? A different publication? All that should be spelled out.

http://blog.junta42.com Joe Pulizzi

Excellent stuff Michael…I think a guest post from you is in order

Michael Buller

Joe – I missed your reply. Of course I’m glad to guest post.

http://www.feldmancreative.com Barry Feldman

I agree with the majority of what you’ve written. Then Todd, made a great note to not abuse the “audition” with low or no pay. I too have written on the subject, however, not specifically about blogs. If interested, help yourself to my detailed paper, “Find the Right Copywriter.” http://feldmancreative.com/find-the-right-copywriter/
http://www.kimandjoseph.com/ Joseph Riden

Actually, more than a few critical steps are left out, though what’s here is usable, valuable, and appreciated. This post and the ensuing comments help me suspect a need for an ebook on how to recruit and select content writers for marketing.

Some important points not addressed include –

What happens if a work in progress gets terminated?

Is it OK to require a free original sample of the writer’s work or is that exploitation? How about spec writing?

Should the rate be higher if the writer has to work weekends or holidays due to a company’s lack of planning or inefficient business process?

Will there be meetings and is the writer paid for them?

Who does the research? What source material is being provided to the writer?

What about progress reporting? Payment arrangements? Fair Trade concerns? Pricing model? Approval cycles? Editing and review process? Delivery and archiving of the creative? Missed deadlines? Confidentiality?

I’ve worked on both sides of this writer-hiring scenario for several years. As the freelance copy and content writer, I’ve naturally evolved a service agreement to avert typical frustrations that arise from all the usual issues. As a boutique agency co-founder, I’ve refined it to cover my concerns when sourcing writing I don’t have time or the specific industry expertise to produce. The result is solid coverage of what needs to be considered and agreed upon for both parties to have a satisfying and trouble-free experience when content is outsourced.

I’m not an attorney and don’t offer legal advice but the content I have in mind would tell you what you need to discuss with an attorney if you want one for this.

We’re all too busy to allow poor communication and resulting squabbles to distract us.

This highly experienced service agreement would be used as a core element to tell the story of why and how the various provisions evolved and what they accomplish for both the hiring company and the writer.

I’m wondering if this expertise seems valuable and needed and if some readers here would be willing (in theory) to subscribe to an e-list to receive it, or link to it to share it with others?

I’m just finishing up “Content Marketing Engine: Buy or Build Your Own” and looking for my next content-related theme.

Would a practical how-to piece on this subject fill a perceived need?

Joseph
http://www.msharonbaker.com/msbmainblog/ M. Sharon Baker

Joe,

Your three main ideas are spot on – thanks for tackling this important subject.

I am glad you recognize that journalists have the experience needed to create compelling content. It’s good to keep in mind, however, that while all journalists possess similar basic skills, business journalists are more familiar with concepts like sales, marketing, lead generation and other important content creation concepts than those who covered cops or the environment.

Experienced freelance writers will draw up a simple contract addressing many of the issues you mentioned in building the business relationship. It is very important that marketing and content managers communicate their expectations and give writers a clear understanding on what is being created, when it needs to be delivered, and how it needs to be promoted – if that’s part of the requirements.

Ardath Albee wrote a good post about working with marketing content writers and created a template companies can use when hiring writers. I think you will find it useful. bit.ly/guXKRw

I haven’t run into anyone offering smaller payments for raw content and bonuses for content promotion, and I would be very wary of such an idea if the promotion end of the project wasn’t spelled out clearly. Social media and other promotion takes time, especially if you want to do more than just a tweet or two or Facebook posting, and writers should be adequately compensated for it – not just with a small bonus.

Paid tryouts can be useful for the writer as well – it’s a good start for them to figure out if both parties have good chemistry and if it is the kind of work the writer would enjoy. Content managers and marketers should make sure the writer knows it is a tryout, and then afterward, be open about giving feedback so both sides know how to go proceed going forward.

@Michael, if you’d like another tip for your arsenal of checking a writer’s clips, why not ask for an unedited clip to see what his raw copy looks like? Professional writers will not have a problem with this; I recently supplied one to a new client.

@Joseph, a lot of your questions are part of a standard writing contract that all professional freelance writers provide. Drawing one up helps both sides understand what is required, when content is due, whether it’s work-for-hire, and the payment terms. Communication is the key.
Michael Buller

Joseph – A lot of good points in your post, and as Sharon says, a lot of these should be part of any standard agreement. I’ve also been on both ends – writer and editor — and have seen all different styles of contracts. And I’ve spelled out revisions, kill fee arrangements, termination clauses, missed deadline penalties, etc., etc. But no iron-clad agreement is as good as a good relationship between you and your writer, which is why I really like Joe’s emphasis on personality. I once worked with an editor who said she hated dealing with writers, and it made me wonder: Why the hell did you get into this profession in the first place? I love dealing with good writers, talking about how to approach a particular writing assignment, making course corrections along the way. It’s always been one of my favorite parts of my job.
Sharon – re: the unedited clips. It’s a good idea. But like everything else, the professional writers will oblige, but there’s no way of telling whether the less-professional writers will do the same and really be sending raw copy.
http://twitter.com/brickmarketing Nick Stamoulis

Content is a necessary piece of SEO and online marketing in general. Many businesses don’t have the time or writing skills necessary to produce this content. There is nothing wrong with outsourcing the work. Unless it’s something like medical writing, a good writer with the right direction can create a good piece.