Last year I decided to part ways with a client.
This was something I contemplated for a while, and once I finally did it, I felt so much better. It was a tough decision because I really enjoyed their manuscripts, but I was being compensated extremely poorly and that wasn’t going to change.
I worked with them for as long as I did because I had the mindset of “low-paying work is better than no work at all.” It’s not that I no longer believe that; it’s more that I am now (and have been) in a place where I’m pretty consistently getting better-paying work elsewhere. I had to turn down better-paying work more than once because of a prior commitment to this client. This business relationship was no longer good for me.
Freelance fiction editing is a tough field. It’s unregulated and oversaturated with editors. When you’re starting out, you’re often so hungry for paid experience of any kind that you jump on opportunities that are less than ideal. Then you don’t want to do anything to potentially rock the boat (like asking for more money). There’s nothing wrong with this approach. It helps you get started. But sometimes in order to grow you have to let go of those same working relationships once their value has diminished beyond a certain point, which is different for everyone.
This may sound like it’s just about money. I promise it’s not. It’s about being aware of your self-worth and not being afraid to grow. I’m not one of those editors who raises their rates often, and my current rates are below average according to the EFA. I’m also not one to drop a client just because they can’t pay me enough. This was a prolonged, extreme scenario that was negatively impacting my mental health and my professional growth.
To everyone out there: take time to evaluate your worth, and don’t be afraid to seek out better opportunities as you grow in your field, even if that means leaving something safe behind.
Timothy