I just ran into this problem, despite providing the client with a detailed outlet of the direction of the white paper. The outline received a thumbs up and I went to work. The client rewrote it substantially into something quite a bit different than what I had outlined using examples I was not privy to during the research phase.

This is the client’s right, of course. I am lucky to have plenty of white papers available to show clients. Still, I feel your pain.

I have two suggestions for all writers. One is to use an outline, something Michael suggests, and get client sign-off on it. It didn’t work in this case but that hardly invalidates the practice of providing outlines.

The other suggestion is to build into a contract a kill fee of 80 percent, give or take. In journalist circles, the kill fee is more like 30 to 35 percent, which is awful, unethical and unfair. I did a ton of work on this white paper and deserved the kill fee, which I received. I had billed a larger fee but since there was no follow-up edits I felt I could live with the kill fee.

I agree totally with Michael’s suggestions.

Since white papers are a relatively new concept both clients and writers are learning. I don’t dislike this client and may work with it again. Perhaps your client may call on you again for another shot at something else.

As a freelance illustrator/designer, I have a few ideas for you.

You still have the right to be paid. You were contracted to do the work. You did the work. You delivered the work. You have a paper trail proving it.

You are entitled to at least a kill fee of from 50-100% of the contract amount. The percentage is at your discretion, based on your relationship with your client, regardless of whether they “used’ the work or not.

Perhaps your client should have been more specific/up front about the brief, and scope of the project - their intended use - whether it was to be used as scientific copy or advertising sell copy. It sounds to me like they were never intending to pay you, and also have no problem taking your intellectual property and using it in as many places as possible. Since they used your intellectual property as a basis for their “rewrite,” that is still a use of your writing.

As the originator of the creative piece, you have first rights over changes. The fact that your client did not give you that option is evidence that they were only concerned with getting a well written document for their own purposes for free.

I’m not suggesting you get mad about this. I am also not suggesting you put your tail between your legs and skulk away. I am suggesting you read up on your rights as a freelancer at the very least, and possibly contact an intellectual rights lawyer about being paid on this (depending of course on how much you were originally contracted to be paid).

This can be handled in a way that your client will gain professional respect for you, and possibly hire you for future projects. As a freelancer for over 16 years, I have learned that this is actually a way of increasing business, thru building long term relationships and referrals based on respect.

I agree with you that using the client’s reworked version as my sample would not reflect well on my abilities: it would look like I really didn’t know what a white paper was. I just was hoping to post a few sample sections online from my own original draft, as I am proud of that version and worked hard on it.

But the client seems so opposed to their name appearing on any sample content that is not the officially-approved final paper. Yet Michael’s comment is true: almost every ad writer/designer has featured original concepts in their portfolios that they feel are strong, yet were changed…or even rejected….by clients after submission. And no one questions that.

Thanks again Linda, Jon and Michael: just having a place to vent and hearing advice from professionals who have been doing this longer than me helps a lot!

Linda makes a great point above. You can also point out to future clients that white papers which morph into product pitches or contain company/product information are very hard to promote as part of any marketing effort, especially a B2B Pay-Per-Click campaign. Many companies are now using a “white paper search” as an integral part of their RFP process. Therefore the people doing these searches for white papers on the Internet are interested initially in only objective data, not an opinion (a product brochure). Consequently, if the goal of this particular white paper is to generate sales inquiries, the results will be disappointing.

Jon