Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/12/23

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Leica Question re-timing
From: dmorton@journalist.co.uk (David Morton)
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1998 12:16 +0000 (GMT Standard Time)

Donal Philby wrote:
> 
> David Morton wrote:
> 
> > ted wrote:
> >
> > > Question? When you are using your Leica what do you consider the 
> > > most
> > > important element in the picture taking? Other than loading film.
> >
> > A clear commission, and prompt payment of the previous invoice. :-)
> >
> 
> TRUTH!

I said it with a smiley, but I was only half joking. I hate getting vague 
commissions, delivering what I understand they want, and then getting told 
"Oh, we were thinking more along the lines of blah blah blah". Well if 
that's what you were thinking, telling me before I submitted the piece 
would have been a *really* good idea.

And payments, there's nothing more de motivating than trying to work on 
the March issue of a publication, when you haven't been paid for November 
(this is the case now, with one of my clients). In the UK the situation 
can be *dire*, as many publications pay on *publication*, or even a month 
*after* publication, and not on delivery. That means it can be 90 or 120 
days or longer from doing the work to getting paid.

I don't have a good feel for the situation in the US, but the one 
publication I do work for there is *spectacularly* good by comparison. I 
sent them two invoices by email on the December the 4th, and the cheque 
(sorry, check) arrived here on Monday the 21st. Given that it often takes 
10 days for a letter to cross the pond, that really is efficient.

Mind you they had some trouble paying me at first, 'cos they'd never paid 
a foreign contributor before! "You haven't got a US SSN", er no, "you 
haven't got a Green Card", er no, "you haven't filled in IRS form W-9", er 
nope! For a European that kind of parochialism can be quite startling.

But they're first class now they've got the hang of it, maybe I should 
move :-)

David Morton                       |  "Times are bad. Children no  
dmorton@journalist.co.uk           |  longer obey their parents and  
David.Morton@openconsulting.co.uk  |  everyone is writing a book."
(+44) 171 917 6272                 |  Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC)