When the Check Isn't in the Mail
The first thing you need to assess is whether your check
The contract you sign will affect when you get paid. If you agree to be paid on acceptance, then the magazine should write your check as soon as your editor accepts your article. However, if you agree to be paid on publication, then your editor can accept your article and hang onto it — and your money — until the story's run date eventually comes around.
Some magazines pay within thirty days of accepting an article, while others can take as long as two or three months. If your contract entitles you to payment on acceptance and it's been more than six or eight weeks with no check in the mail, then it's probably time to pick up the phone and find out what's going on.
There are three things you'll need to have in hand when you make this initial phone call to your editor: your invoice, your patience, and your professionalism.
Have Your Invoice at Hand
Having a copy of your original invoice in hand can greatly smooth your first conversation about a missing paycheck. If nothing else, it alerts your editor to the facts that you have a bookkeeping system, that you keep track of what you're owed, and that you're organized about getting paid. Your level of seriousness may affect the delinquent magazine's level of seriousness if it typically counts on writers being disorganized and failing to follow up.
Your invoice should include the date you first sent it, the name of your article, the number of words you wrote, the amount you are owed, and your editor's name. Even if your editor has changed or the story has been cut, your invoice will show that you did what you agreed to in your contract. Sometimes, your invoice has simply been lost and all you need to do is resend it in order to get paid.
Check your bookkeeping system regularly for overdue invoices and notify your editors promptly about any problems. If you wait a few months to ask where your missing paycheck has gone, then nobody at the magazine will remember the details of your article. It's also possible that your editor may change, or the magazine may even go out of business.
Don't Be Nasty
Even if your situation becomes more complicated than resending an invoice, be sure to maintain a professional attitude. Remember: You want the person on the other end of the telephone to help you, not to dread talking with you. Try to make that person your teammate in solving the mystery of the missing money, not your enemy in a battle for every last cent.
When dealing with delinquent invoices, it's usually best to contact your editor by telephone instead of e-mail. You want to be sure that your tone is conciliatory and inquisitive, not demanding and nasty. Sometimes, those differences do not come through over the Internet, and you don't want to start off on the wrong foot when trying to track down lost money.
Be Clear: You Deserve to Be Paid
Being professional, however, does not mean that you should take on the role of fawning servant. It's not your job to find money that you're owed. It's the magazine's job, a regular part of doing business.
Keep in mind that your getting paid is not about
Again, you don't have to be nasty. Just be clear when you explain that you have met your end of the contract's terms, and that you now want the magazine to live up to its end of the deal.
