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Breaking my Twitter sabbatical to keep a promise: as of midnight CST, @TheAtlantic is officially delinquent on a payment of $7,800. I have emailed an inquiry and will update here for the benefit of other freelancers.
Just received a prompt & appreciated email from management that the money should be in today or tomorrow. I’ve never had a direct deposit go through during the middle of the day or on the weekend but fine with being proven wrong. Updates TK TK.
While waiting for the money to arrive, here are a list of immediate things I gotta use the money for: back rent; bills: credit, HC, car, insurance; overdue eye exam & contacts; new shoes (literal holes in others); pay to seamstress patching up my clothes; school supplies, gas ...
Got folks reach out asking if they can help float me, which is incredibly generous! I’m fine. This is re a larger, chronic issue & one reason I’m leaving journo for awhile. Supporting my peers here by being radically transparent. Ways you can help: if a staffer, speak up! Or ...
Donate to this fund that supports therapy for Black journos who’ve been asked to carry an especially heavy mental/work load for awhile now. https://www.iwmf.org/bjtrf/
Update: it’s 3hrs after EST EOD and I have still not gotten my freelance payment from @TheAtlantic (see above thread). I very much appreciate the work salaried employees @andersen & @AmyWeissMeyer have done so far. But put bluntly, we’re not done yet.
To be clear: this thread is going to go for awhile. I have no intention of being rude or crass, and I’ve also no intention of being coy or indirect.
As anticipated, payment didnt go through last night (a weekend). I don’t speak for still-working freelancers who, understandably, don’t want to rock the boat but it’s my experience that publications become far less communicative & deprioritize the writer once story pubs. Eg...1/2
Once @TheAtlantic story was locked, I asked about payment & told it was automatic following pub. A week later, I inquired just to be sure & received the 1st response. 2nd response regards my inquiry about delinquent pay. An honest “not til Mon” would’ve been most appreciated. 2/3
3/3 To stress again, interactions with salaried mgmt were cordial & prompt and they were receptive to contract changes eg upfront kill fee. So this isnt an egregious sitch by at all. But it’s also not a good baseline if at the end of day, pub does not hold their end of bargain.
Going to continue this thread and mention some other examples from other pubs once my money comes through. My intention is not to drag anyone or place. But I am exhausted from trying to expect and get a bare minimum of professional respect. Ie timely remuneration.
A personal thanks to salaried journos @dansolomon @WellsDunbar & @ndhapple for RTing this ongoing thread. Really not fishing for more RTs or personal attention. Just asking that salaried journos speak up publicly & esp in-house for their freelance *colleagues*
A PS to this thread: I am not here to be snarky but this tax mail from @TheAtlantic literally just arrived and I’m genuinely LOLing at the perfect timing .
It’s EOD Saturday. I did not receive payment from @TheAtlantic as mgmt suggested. Shit happens. But don’t be late & then tell a poor person $$$ *should* come through when it historically never does. We know our finances intimately & are the ones checking bank accounts at 2am.
Weekday direct deposit transfers usually commence at 2:10am CST. Updates tk tk.
I don’t speak for other still-working freelancers (who are much smarter!) but when a check deadline approaches, it takes up 50 percent of my brain space. When a check is late, it’s 90 percent. It’s no way to live or do decent work. 1/2
Don’t want to say PTSD, but I’ve experienced debilitating physical & psychological issues from trying to get just pay for just work. Even with a pub I’ve had great interpersonal relationships with, like The Atlantic, a hiccup in pay is another brick to hold while treading water.
I’d love to be a magazine staffer, and think I’d do a publication proud. But my first priority would be to invite any freelancer to contact me directly with timely publication & payment issues they had concerns about. Freelancers need advocates within the fortresses.
10/9c & still nothing. This is the worst part. Mgmt said to let’em know if pay doesn’t appear. But from past journo experience, it won’t do much except make me look desperate & poss “difficult” (talking publicly isn’t helping). And this is w/ a pub that’s been great to work with.
Apparent thread bump & with it more folks generously offering financial help. I’m fine, but here are ways to help: support @paythewriter, donate to Black Journo Relief Fund, and/or if a salaried staffer, speak up publicly & esp in-house for freelancers. https://www.iwmf.org/bjtrf/
Going to bed. As of 12am EST, @TheAtlantic is 72hrs delinquent on a payment of $7,800. Will email tom btwn my EMT class & trash job. Not looking forward to it bc (1) airing publicly or public/private feels vaguely cheap (2) this radical transparency is v stressful & unpleasant.
Update: payment delay appears to be budgeting snafu (it happens, truly!). For young journos esp: 2 things I didn’t do in the email — be a jerk, apologize. Even when asking for clarification on “soon.” It’s tweeting like this that’ll likely make you toxic, not polite persistence.
Once again speaking for myself and not other freelancers, but I used to apologize *a lot* in correspondences with editors — sorry to bother, sorry to ask, etc. It bottled frustrations & clouded intent (both bad!) until some sort of negative personal result happened (also bad!)
Officially at 4 days but I think we’re near finish line & doin a tick-tock feels pedantic/impolite. Will stop. Be surprised if it came thru at reg 2am despot time & dont begrudge a standard payday transfer (ie Fri). Still unsure what “soon” means, which is death to a freelancer.
No one wants to stop doing this thread and dragging this yoke more than me, promise. I have my very first EMT clinical on Fri & the thought of being waist-deep in vomit/blood is actually helping focus incredibly. Would love to give it 100 percent.
Final update & epilogue of thread: @TheAtlantic payment arrived at approx 2:05am CST. It was six days delinquent from revised payment date & 12 days from original. For annon-journo/freelancer, maybe this sounds overblown on my part so here’s a brief timeline ... 1/x
... research: 2 months; FT immersive reporting: 2 months; draft: 2 months; story held: 9 months (initial verbal commitment but contract not addressed until 7mo); collaborative edits: 2mo; wait on payment 1 month + 12 days. Total time for work & wait before pay: ~1.5 years. 2/x
This is how journalism currently works, esp feats for large(r) pubs. I want to be very very clear here: The Atlantic staff were fantastic. Engaged, hard-working, responsive & communicative. The neg aspects described above are *nothing* to horror stories of other freelancers. 3/x
A good experience that nevertheless ends with delinquent pay should cannot be an acceptable baseline, esp since freelancers have to wait so long for pay (not to mention issues like ghosting & IP control). I said I was going to list other egs at end of thread but ... nevermind 4/x
It’s been hard & stressful enough doing this thread of radical transparency. Some difficult my from trying to properly convey ideas. I’m not grateful. I’m not angry. I’m not (I think) irrational; I’m not proud. I’m not ashamed.
I am tired. 5/x
I am tired. 5/x
I’m tired of working for months not knowing if pay’ll be an issue. Tired of having to do job of finance depts; tired of “apologizing” for inquiries; tired of checking the bank account; tired of playing debt collector. Tired of knowing you can’t be poor & be a freelance journo 6/x
I speak for no one but myself in this thread but I suspect other freelancers feel similar. We have a whisper network of who pays/responds on time, spreadsheets, et al. No one wants to get screwed but at same time no one wants to rock the boat lest they get labeled “difficult” 7/x
I did this thread knowing full well it could likely irrecoverably damage any relationship with The Atlantic (and other pubs whom have same revolving door of editors). Finances is pushing me out of journalism but I want to leave having done something for my freelance peers. 8/x
I’m not done w journalism & never done supporting my dedicated peers. Using some $$ 4 commitment to freelancers unions @paythewriter & @IWWFJU. Mentalfinancial stress is huge. So putting $$ toward the Black Journo Therapy Relief Fund (you can too!) 9/10 https://www.iwmf.org/bjtrf/
thanks to everyone who showed support for this thread, like salaried staffers (if you’re one, speak up in-house for your freelance colleagues!). Special thanks to other freelancers who RT’d & folks (some strangers!) who generously offered personal financial support. 10/11
END: Gonna delete this thread in a few days (I really don’t want it hanging over me) & gonna log off for real for awhile. Hmu to chat! And if you’re a pub, I’m available for feature work. I’ll just need payment upfront and in cash. 
