Being Used for a Pitch Without Your Express Content

Dear Righter, 

Recently, I learned that a former colleague had not been fully honest with me when it came to offering me a role as a copyeditor and writer for a big project. I didn't know how to react to this news. 

The backstory: After years working for corporates as an in-house marketing copywriter, I made the jump three years ago to do freelance marketing consulting and writing. My main client base consists of SMEs and startups that need advice and an extra hand in writing branding and marketing copy, especially in the areas of content marketing and things like investor pitches and client briefings. 

A couple of weeks ago, I thought I had landed a big job, when a former colleague texted me and asked me if I wanted to do a series of 2000 word-plus campaign presentations and an annual report. I was pretty excited, because that means a bit of a windfall during Covid19, when most companies are not spending on marketing like they should. 

I organised my rates and turnaround times, and wrote back, as requested, detailing how I would complete the job. I actually had to put a little work in to research the alleged client, and thought that I had a balanced rate, within budget, and a more than impressive set of skills. After all, I thought, they had reached out to me. 

But three days went by, and I thought it was odd that I had not really heard anything other than a "well received, thanks" from the potential client. 

I finally wrote an email to find out when I would have more information about the gig and that is when I learned there really was no gig. They had basically used my credentials and my rates to add their own package to a client that they were pitching in the hopes of landing the gig. 

Now, I am not mad that someone would be reaching out to me and want me to join their team effort to land a big client. But what I am upset about is that they positioned this as a promise of a job, and did not tell me that the client had not been won, yet. I feel like this is borderline unethical. 

Am I right? If I had known more about what they were actually doing, I could have been more specific in my pitch and brief. But I was kept in the dark. What should I have done. 

And by the way, nobody got the client. That I know of. The process is so dark and non-transparent that they could have won the pitch and I would have no way of knowing. 

Signed, 

Feeling Used

Dear FU;

Nobody likes feeling used, so you are right to feel the way you feel. I also think there are a couple of other points to be made about bidding ethics and the nature of client-writer interactions that are worth thinking about here. 

Perhaps it is best to think of this using a metaphor. You are at a restaurant and you want a nice choice cut of beef. At the first instance, you are actually a customer here in this process, and you are the one who is able to choose how you want your beef to be cooked, and the type of sauce you want. The restaurant may be offering the beef, and you may be hungry, but if you choose not to order it, they lose a seat's worth of income for the night and that cut of beef goes to waste. 

Think of this in terms of your potential writing contract. You do need a contract. You should always expressly state in the beginning that you will not consider any potential or existing role without the role and its remuneration being stated in black and white. Only then will you engage. 

This is for your protection and for a number of other reasons. One, as the writer, you are the talent, and you are actually the most valuable piece in this whole process. Without you, there is no creative content. Without you, there is no empathic understanding of the customer  depicted in language. Having something in black and white certifies that they value that talent and that they actually need it for an express purpose. 

Secondly, all companies of this type, when pitching clients, add a markup to their bidding process. If you are not being told about this, you are not able to set a rate that dignifies your work and ensures you are paid for what you are worth. 

Lastly, communication is the hallmark of a good business process. If the potential client you will be working with cannot communicate effectively, that signals further issues down the road, which may be as bad as delays in getting paid, and an inability to judge how the work was received. 

Writers and copyeditors of work should not be thought of as a tool in the work flow of a bidding process. Nor should they be thought of as a cog in a machine that just spits out copy and satisfies a client requirement. Writers and editors offer valuable insight into language, psychology and brand. 

They should be treated as valuable and unavoidable elements in the creative process. 

I suggest you write a letter to the client / former colleague and make it transparent that you feel that this process was not handled correctly. You must speak up. You must not be humble and shrug it off. The only way to exact change is to stand up, speak out and be counted. Otherwise, you will get more of the same. 

Sincerely Yours, 

Righter