shrink-humorI have shopped for therapists once or twice before (what — you thought I was always this sane?). It was always annoying to me that I couldn’t meet with someone first to see if I liked him and his style. I always had to make an appointment and pay for a visit or two or three to see if we’d get along.

But we don’t get to try out therapists before we buy. We don’t get to audition a plumber or sample a dish at a restaurant before we sit down to dinner. As consumers, we gather recommendations from friends or the web and hope that we’re happy with the service. And if we’re not, we usually pay anyway.

As a freelance writer, I’m asked from time to time to write a sample paragraph or, in one case, a whole article on spec — meaning I write something for free hoping they’ll like it and pay me. Chrisblogging.com says there are two reasons you might want to write something on spec: if you’re new and if you really want to get into work with a certain company. Author Deborah Straw warns that you have no legal rights when you write something on spec, and you can get burned like she did.

I’m actually not bothered by writing a few paragraphs to show someone I can write for a new market. I’m generally a fast writer, and if someone asks me to write a few words to see if I can speak to an audience, I usually dash something off in an email within a half an hour. I figure that if they don’t like what they see, I’m really no worse off. And if they do like it, I’ve probably earned a fairly loyal client.