Turning Down Work

I turned down a book offer from a major publisher yesterday. I had prepared what I thought was a strong proposal on a topic I knew the editor was interested in, and which I was very interested in writing about, but the offer that came in was far below what I had expected. So I declined it.

A few years ago I don't know that I would have been able to do that. I mean, a book's a book, right? And who doesn't want to be published?! But there are also good offers and bad offers and, unfortunately, for me, this didn't qualify as a good offer.

It also helps that I've been inundated with book and magazine projects so it was easy to see that I simply couldn't afford to make time for this one at the rate that was offered. Sometimes that choice isn't quite so clear and I end up committing to projects that take much longer than expected and earn me far less than I had hoped.

But I'm getting better at saying "no" and this situation confirms it. When I can't get excited about a project - really excited - I say no. When the hourly rate for work that is offered is far below what I aim to make, I say no. Or when the time required to complete a project just isn't reflected in the offer, I politely decline and hope that another, better, offer will present itself, and it usually does.

I hope you're regularly evaluating writing opportunities that come your way and that you're saying no to at least some of them - the ones that aren't a perfect fit.