Why is negotiating essential for the professional writer?

A lot of people don’t like negotiating. Writers, I think, are especially susceptible to this lack of confidence — which is more pronounced if you have not had much published. It’s as though they’re grateful for the crumbs off some publisher’s or editor’s table.

However, I think you have to bear in mind the following:

• Do you feel comfortable with what you’ve been offered? If not, you’ll probably end up resenting the work and the person or organisation you’re working for. That’s not the ideal situation in which to produce your best work.

• You need to work out in advance what’s your bottom line.

• If you’ve been offered the work, they must see you as somebody who has the knowledge and expertise they’re looking for. Otherwise, why didn’t they just go to one of these bidding websites, or give the work to someone in-house?

• They can only say “no”.

Some years ago a company got in touch with me to ask if I would be interested in writing a manual. After a couple of hours’ discussion about the project, they asked me what I would charge. I told them.

“But it will only take you a morning to write!” was their reaction.

“But you’re not paying me for my time”, I said. “You’re paying me for my expertise.”

We signed the contract.

It’s like that old story: someone calls an engineer to fix a problem. The engineer comes along, takes one look, and whacks the machine with a hammer. It springs into life.

“That will be £500 then please.”, says the engineer.

“£500! For hitting it with a hammer?”

“No”, replies the engineer. “Hitting it with the hammer costs £1. Knowing where to hit it with the hammer costs £499.”