Aw Come on. There arent any deadbeat editors.  Right?  Well actually there arent that many but once in awhile you will run into both editors and publishers that stiff you. Ive certainly had my share of problems trying to collect.

Ill share a few experiences. I had complained to one magazine that they simply didnt pay enough for me to go out and get stories. A week later they called to say they were doubling my word rate. Great. So I did the next story and sent it in. It was true they doubled my pay rate but they also cut my story in half. I got the same amount that month that I had the month before.

One magazine sent my check a couple of months late. I didnt pay any attention. When I tried to deposit it I found out it wasnt signed. I called the accounting department. They told me to send the check back and they would issue another immediately. It never came. Finally they told me they had sold the company and didnt have to pay me. I never did collect. Unfortunately the amount was so small that I couldnt afford to take it any farther. Over the years I have been stalled many times. In the end I have nearly always collected. Here are some of the tactics I learned to use.

·        Price your query letters. I learned over the years to ask for what I wanted. I used to write a lot of trade journal articles as well articles for consumer publications (like Family Circle).  At the bottom of the query I always put price (so much). If I received a go ahead this was the agreed to price. I had a formula for trade journals. I used a reference called Standard Rate and Data Service. It listed the advertising page rate for all magazines. For trade journals I always asked for 1/8 to ¼ of the advertising page rate. I never had any trouble getting this. Unfortunately you will never get this rate for consumer magazines.

·        Send an invoice: I never send an article without an invoice. I include the name of the article the date sent who authorized it my full name and mailing address my phone number and my social security number.  I also keep a record of what went out who it was sent to and the price. I make a note of whether the magazine paid on publication or on acceptance. Today I send most of the invoices by e-mail. This seems to work just fine.

·        Follow Through: With payment on publication magazines Ill wait a couple of weeks after the magazine comes out then I either write or e-mail the editor and ask him or her to check for me. If that doesnt work Ill follow through in a couple of weeks. If it goes over a month I send another invoice marked "overdue.

·        Dont work with deadbeats.  This concerns mainly payment on publication magazines. A few will keep your article almost indefinitely just in case then send it back. A few times it has been almost two years then the articles came back with a terse note saying "we decided not to use your articles." These magazines never get another article.

·        Getting tougher.  I dont really have any "get tough tactics" But years ago when I owned a retail store I used to go to small claims court all the time to collected our debts. I have used this one time for magazines and got a default judgment. That is the magazine didnt show up in court. When I send this to the publisher they paid fairly quickly. This doesnt have to work however there are ways to get out of paying an author.  The other method I tried one time when the publisher paid only half of what she owed. I sent a letter explaining that I was about to file a mail-fraud complaint with the post office. The check came by return mail.

·        Warn other writers: Here is one online publication where you can post a warning.

WritersWeekly.Com: www.writersweekly.com/

• Hang in There: In most cases you will get paid if you just keep asking and show that you are not going away. With one magazine I sent 12 invoices or collection letters with another 13. All eventually paid however. With persistence You will get paid for almost every article