CHOOSING A CREATIVE PROFESSIONAL
I know—and I know you know—that a title like this usually signals that the article will be biased toward the author’s strengths.
But that’s not what I’m up to. Instead you’ll find in this article a few general strategies that address fit as much as quality. Whether these strategies point you toward my strengths or to someone else’s is entirely up to you.
The seeds for this article come from two sources. The first was the program for the November Annual Conference for Chief Publications Professionals, sponsored by CASE (the Council for Advancement and Support of Education). What caught my attention was a session titled, “Freedom with Freelancers: How to Keep Your Day Job and Your Sanity.” It invites attendees to “learn the four stages for effectively out-sourcing work.” I’d never thought of myself as a session topic before.
In the same week, I received a request that no one has ever made of me before. A prospect—a university communications professional—sent me a recent edition of his institution’s alumni magazine and pointed me toward a couple of articles. He asked me to describe how I would approach articles like those, and tell him roughly what my fee would be.
I admit I wasn’t crazy about this assignment at first. “If he wants to learn about my approach,” I grumbled to myself, “all he has to do is read my website.” But as I read the articles, outlined my approach, and calculated an estimate, I began to see the value of the task. Not just to the prospective client, but to me. And I realized: this is one smart editor. One I’d want to work with.
As a result of these two incidents, I decided to assemble my own list of tips on how to evaluate and choose a writer.
Use multiple ways to screen the writer for quality of work before the need arises. Ask for a generic proposal, for example, as my prospective client did. Samples are useful, but only to a point. With published clips, it’s hard to know how much of the final piece is the editor’s work.
Set mutual expectations about fees early on. If you’re miles apart from each other, better to know sooner than later.
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Take time to interview the writer. And ask good questions. If I were doing the interviewing, I’d go beyond “Have you ever written about...?” to learn more about the writer’s working style and approach. I’d want to hear about how the writer met the challenge of a difficult assignment. I’d also like to know about a project that was particularly gratifying.
Ask good questions of references. I’d go beyond “How satisfied were you with the result?” to learn how satisfied they were with the process. I’d also want to compare my standards and expectations with the reference person’s. Let’s say, for example, that I need a writer comfortable with ambiguity and uncertainty in the early stages of a project. I’d ask references if they handed the writer similar circumstances and, if so, how well the writer responded.
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When a particular project comes up, talk to more than one writer about it. Describe the project in general terms. Then invite each writer to ask questions. Pay attention to those questions; they’re a key to the writer’s approach to and comfort level with the assignment.
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