Negotiating a contract can be the most gut-churning part of being a freelance. In this article, reprinted from Freelance Success, Jennifer Pirtle offers sound advice and personal tips for arriving at agreement without knuckling under or burning your bridges.
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At the NASW Annual Meeting in February of 2004, two experts offered their insights in a workshop devoted to freelance contract negotiation. According to Erik Sherman, "The best first thing to do is say, 'I'd like to see your first North American Serial Rights Contract, please,'" while Kraig Baker suggests, "If you want to be successful, your first tactic should be whatever tactic keeps the publisher's lawyer out of it." Thanks to Alan Kelly of Verbatim Instant Transcripts, this transcript.
(This is Part 1 of a much-expanded version of an article that is scheduled to appear in the second edition of NASW's A Field Guide for Science Writers, edited by Deborah Blum, Mary Knudson, and Robin Marantz Henig, which Oxford University Press is scheduled to publish next year.)