Comments on: Freelancer’s Survival Guide: Negotiation Part One

By: Dayle

Dayle — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 01:56:19 +0000

I hate negotiating, too, for pretty much the same reasons you describe, Kris. It’s not what my family did, my parents are hugely concerned with what other people think of them, and although I’m not nearly as shy as I used to be, I have one other big problem: I hate conflict. (Also familial–we don’t argue much in our family.)

Of course, this is one of the things that also makes writing difficult for me. I don’t want my characters to be in conflict. I want them to be nice to each other and talk things out. 🙂

From the writing side of things, I’ve known lots of authors who don’t want to negotiate because they want editors/agents/whomever to like them. “If I piss them off, they won’t buy my stuff” is a strong myth to crush for some people. But it also comes from new-writer insecurity: “My stuff isn’t good enough–if they don’t like me, they’ll just buy somebody else’s stuff.”

Oh, the ways we find to sabotage ourselves! 🙂

By: Randy

Randy — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:53:38 +0000

Well, on the topic of hiring someone to negotiate, a news anchor I know hired an agent to negotiate her next contract. Her agent took such a hard line that management called her bluff and she ended up out of work. She had absolutely no desire to leave but apparently didn’t convey that well enough to her agent.

On the other side I was trying to hire an anchor once and the agent was so incredibly obnoxious I moved on to someone else. I was trying to negotiate and meet the guy in the middle but he wanted to play hardball.

What surprised me about these instances is that both anchors were extremely likable people, yet hired agents who were so difficult to deal with. And, as you pointed out so well Kris, anyone who negotiates for you needs to know exactly how you feel.

Sharks may be good for divorce court, but I’m not so sure they’re a great idea in a creative business.

By: Ryan Viergutz

Ryan Viergutz — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 07:39:15 +0000

I think I’ve been changing so rapidly for a while now that I’m not sure if I can or can’t negotiate! But this was an interesting post anyway.