Well this was fantastic, and when I read Pia’s newsletter, I couldn’t hit that “subscribe” fast enough. Just met with a writer right out of college this morning and we had a long discussion about knowing and negotiating your worth. (I pretended I had it all figured out. I think she bought it!)
I'm sure she did! I think it is really hard especially if you get a yes from a dream pub or when you are just starting out to also negotiate, it definitely took me a while to start doing it or even just saying no to things that were not a good use of my time.
Thanks Tina! Knowing your worth, I think, is a lifelong practice. Sometimes you’re just trying to convince yourself! But I often tell people, if someone is spending their time talking to you, it means they see value in you and want to share in that. So you don’t have to convince them. They already know!
Great piece! Thanks, Pia. I also tried to negotiate a salary right after learning about it in law school. I didn’t get the job. True story. However, that was because I didn’t ask right, I now realize (thanks, again, Pia). I should have asked if there was flexibility.
I have named many lovely characters after the kind people in my life. I don’t tell them and wait for them to discover it. But that is an excellent suggestion. 😂
The word “flexibility” does so much! Honestly, I think people put too much pressure on themselves to word things just right. There could have been any number of reasons someone else got the job. Still, so glad this was helpful!
This is super helpful! I am *terrible* at negotiating, and the one time I tried to ask for more money the client got so grumpy about it I haven't done so since. Although, in hindsight, that was a weird interaction anyway. For what it's worth, whenever I've had $$ conversations with non-male clients/editors/etc it's gone much more smoothly than with menfolk. This is purely anecdotal, just something I've noticed.
That is interesting. I think it's hard to try again when you have a bad interaction sometimes (at least for me!). Although a bad interaction about a reasonable ask maybe indicates it won't be the rest working relationship for other things too sometimes.
I think that's really true. I think it's also hard to negotiate when you aren't super sure what other folks are charging for similar work, you know? There's so little transparency in the biz around rates and it can be hard as a freelancer to know where you stand sometimes.
This is so helpful! I love the examples of how to phrase things! Thanks, Julie and Pia!
Thanks for reading, Liz!
❤️ ❤️
Well this was fantastic, and when I read Pia’s newsletter, I couldn’t hit that “subscribe” fast enough. Just met with a writer right out of college this morning and we had a long discussion about knowing and negotiating your worth. (I pretended I had it all figured out. I think she bought it!)
I'm sure she did! I think it is really hard especially if you get a yes from a dream pub or when you are just starting out to also negotiate, it definitely took me a while to start doing it or even just saying no to things that were not a good use of my time.
Thanks Tina! Knowing your worth, I think, is a lifelong practice. Sometimes you’re just trying to convince yourself! But I often tell people, if someone is spending their time talking to you, it means they see value in you and want to share in that. So you don’t have to convince them. They already know!
Pia is the best!!! So glad to see her in here, thank you, Julie!
I love her tips and glad to see that you are a fan of Pia's too :)
She took my book proposal class, I want her to write a book on this!
I’m working on it! And I’m a fan of both of you too.
Ooh she should!
Great piece! Thanks, Pia. I also tried to negotiate a salary right after learning about it in law school. I didn’t get the job. True story. However, that was because I didn’t ask right, I now realize (thanks, again, Pia). I should have asked if there was flexibility.
I feel like it's hard to find the right way to word things at times so I appreciated the wording tips Pia gave.
Yes! Very helpful.
And obviously the job made the wrong choice on not hiring you! Maybe you can name a villain in a future novel after them?
I have named many lovely characters after the kind people in my life. I don’t tell them and wait for them to discover it. But that is an excellent suggestion. 😂
The word “flexibility” does so much! Honestly, I think people put too much pressure on themselves to word things just right. There could have been any number of reasons someone else got the job. Still, so glad this was helpful!
Wanted to say thank you, Pia and Julie, because I was just able to successfully negotiate a rate using Pia's advice.
Glad to hear that!
This is such great info, and I love how Pia said twice to value your work. Yes!! (Also, jealous of your GIF knowledge ;) )
I love the value part too and I know the GIF skill is impressive 😂
This is super helpful! I am *terrible* at negotiating, and the one time I tried to ask for more money the client got so grumpy about it I haven't done so since. Although, in hindsight, that was a weird interaction anyway. For what it's worth, whenever I've had $$ conversations with non-male clients/editors/etc it's gone much more smoothly than with menfolk. This is purely anecdotal, just something I've noticed.
That is interesting. I think it's hard to try again when you have a bad interaction sometimes (at least for me!). Although a bad interaction about a reasonable ask maybe indicates it won't be the rest working relationship for other things too sometimes.
I think that's really true. I think it's also hard to negotiate when you aren't super sure what other folks are charging for similar work, you know? There's so little transparency in the biz around rates and it can be hard as a freelancer to know where you stand sometimes.
So true! It's really hard if you aren't sure what a reasonable ask in terms of rates is.
And you figured out how to caption your gifs, too! You're ahead of the curve.
I've got an extremely advanced skillset now!