By Guest Blogger Mark Long of TSTC Publishing, the publishing arm of the Texas State Technical College System

Back when I was kicking around grad school probably the most useful thing I overheard one of my classmates happen to say one day was, “Well, that’s the thing about reputations: for better or worse they’re always earned, never given.”

And one reason I like Life on Avenue Z is because Beth talks about the different types of companies she’s working with: the good, the bad, and the ones that fall somewhere in-between. You know, ones who change the parameters half way through (or more often than that) a project, those that just disappear at some point never to be heard from again, or wind up being slow pays once everything is done. All freelancers have to suffer through a degree of trial and error figuring out who is worth the investment of their valuable time and energy to work with versus those they’ll (politely and, hopefully, in their minds only) run screaming from as fast as possible.

So, given Beth’s perspective, I thought that I would add my own as a book publisher who frequently employs both editorial and graphics freelancers. In particular, there are three basic things I would suggest freelancers keep in mind as they are bidding for jobs and then subsequently working to complete:

1. Contract for jobs that you have the necessary skills and resources to complete.
   Although there is certainly some “learn by doing” that comes with freelancing, you need to already have a basic handle on what you’ve agreed to do. And, to be honest, on the editorial side a lot of this we figure out by the questions potential freelancers don’t ask about style, audience, word count, documentation, and the like. On the graphics side, when we talk to prospective freelancers who say stuff like, “Well, this all sounds great but I don’t have Adobe Creative Suite, so what should I do?” that’s when the alarm goes off and we move to the next person on our list.
2. Stay in communication over the course of a project.
   If you don’t do stay in touch, it usually winds up as what I refer to as the “mad scientist syndrome.” That is, someone disappears for X amount of time without a word only to reappear and say “I’m done.” This always make us a little twitchy because projects do inevitably morph to some degree, we want to know about any problems as they crop up so that we can help out and, to be honest, when folks drop off the face of the Earth we don’t know that we’re ever actually going to hear from them again so we begin to plan accordingly.
3. Meet the deadlines you’ve agreed to with high-quality work.
   Whether or not you have the basic skills to do a job or stay in touch as you go, the deliverables are what ultimately count: coming in on time and looking the way they’re supposed to. Many of our freelancers started out as interns in our office—that way, we can cull through them ahead of time—but even then we have folks who unexpectedly drop the ball. If you’ve established a good track record this can be worked around upon occasion, but if it’s your first time out of the chute that’s usually the end any work you’ll be doing us in the future.

These three things being said, it is worth noting, of course, that all this applies to the companies that freelancers are looking to contract with as well. As a (primarily) textbook publisher that is part of a college system, we had to work especially hard to overcome these issues when we were in our initial start-up phase five years ago. We had no track record at that point so who knew if we could actually publish a single book, much less meet a year-in, year-out schedule? Who knew if they worked on a project with us if the final product would be worth their time and effort? And, most importantly, could we pay people on time what they were supposed to be paid? Five years later we still keep these issues in mind but, at the same time, we’ve consciously worked to build the reputation we want to have: being the kind of company that people want to work with. I mean, really, what’s the alternative? Sooner or later it will all just fall apart. And it’s much more difficult, if not impossible, to repair your reputation after the fact than just do the right kind of things from the get go.

Finally, all this being said, I have to say that one of the beauties of freelancing is its project-based nature: you work on something until it is done, at the end of it you have something tangible, and then you move on to the next assignment. My dad told me once that everyone needs a job they find interesting every day, no matter what it might be. For example, I have a friend who’s a carpenter and he loves it because every job is a new “problem” to solve. For me? It’s publishing because every book project has its own set of concerns (and rewards). And for those who have the temperament to be freelancers, the endless variety of work to keep you interested greatly exceeds what’s to be found at the vast majority of typical 8-5 desk job “jobs” out there.

Mark Long oversees TSTC Publishing for the Texas State Technical College System. His current incarnation as a textbook publisher follows stints as a project manager, English instructor, lawn mower, TV show description writer, and market researcher, among others. One day he plans to open his own press to publish post-apocalyptic, dystopian novels of loss, despair . . . and more loss.