Freelancing “On Spec”
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Dear XXXXX,
While I would be happy to provide you with a sample article for our regular fee, our company doesn’t support work on spec.
From a freelancer’s perspective, we feel that spec work is an unfair practice. While we respect that you do not want to commit to hiring someone you have never worked with before, it essentially boils down to us paying you (in the form of our time and skills) for the privilege of consideration for a job.
I don’t mean to come off as though my company isn’t interested in the job; on the contrary, we feel that we could create a good, long-term working relationship. I just wanted to be clear about my company’s policies and let you see things from our side.
Please let me know if there is anything I can do to assist you in making your final decision.
Thanks,
Lorna Doone Brewer
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Christina Lemmey is the mother of two school-aged girls, a wife, and the owner of 
*Sigh*, I have mixed feelings about this. I absolutely hate it anytime a potential client asks me to do a “test” assignment but at the same time that is how I have gotten every single writing job thus far since I still don’t have a website or market my services and only respond to ads. I have gotten some good jobs after doing but I have also been burned completely. I would like to get to the point where I can just turn people down when they ask for “test” assignments but for now, unfortunately I cannot!
This reminds me of the outfits that want you to write two article “samples” around a given topic (all with no compensation to you) so that they can determine if you are a fit. Promises are made of future work if you make the grade. What a scam. This is a way to get free articles.
Any legitimate opportunity should have staff that is willing to accept and look over your PPW to determine whether it is what they are looking for.
I’m happy to provide samples of PPW but draw the line there. I don’t have time in a working day to chase after questionable opps.
Write and Earn a Livings last blog post..Writing Courses
@Kathleen – Hopefully, these assisgnements you’ve been getting can now be used as samples that you can show future potential clients. Early on it seems like we have to do things we don’t want to do in order to get our foot in the door. I just think that (in most cases) doing spec work is too risky.
@Earn a Living – Exactly!
One of the things I do is tell potential clients that I am happy to provide a spec article — provided I retain the rights if it isn’t accepted. I can almost always get it published somewhere else, and I make it very clear that if the client goes with someone else, I get to keep the article — and if it is used by the company, they had better pay for it. (Although I’m usually a little more polite.)
I really hate writing sample articles “on spec” for exactly the reasons you’ve outlined here! Working without a guarantee of getting paid? Ack!
But if I ever decide to go that route again, I probably should just do as Miranda has suggested: tell the prospective client that I would retain the right to the article if it is not accepted and paid for. That’s a great idea, by the way.
Jennifers last blog post..Who’s insulted?
@Miranda – I’m in agreeent with Jennifer. If one *has* to go the “on spec” route, you’re method definitely sounds like the best way to do it.