Back by Popular Demand: Negotiating for Writers (Session)

If the prospect of asking for more money, rights, details about a project, or time to write turns you to mush, you’re not alone. Negotiating is hard. But it’s essential to build and sustain a successful freelance writing career. And it’s empowering! This session will help you overcome the fear of negotiating to get what you want. Although it’s part of the content marketing track, it’s applicable to any writing genre, and to writers at any stage of their careers. Key takeaways include:

Why it pays to negotiate (literally)
How to deal with self-doubt and other self-sabotage
How to negotiate fees so everybody wins
How to negotiate for terms other than money
How to avoid common negotiating mistakes
How to negotiate with sources, editors, and publishers

This is a recording of a session originally presented at ASJA’s 2022 Fall Conference.

When Michelle Rafter first presented this session at the ASJA writers conference in 2017, it was such a hit we asked her for an encore. Rafter is a long-time ASJA member, and business reporter turned ghostwriter who’s written extensively about careers, work and workplace issues, and built a six-figure writing business based in part on her negotiating skills. Find her on LinkedIn, Twitter or MichelleRafter.com.