10 WORDS EVERY FREELANCER NEEDS TO KNOW

A freelancer or freelancer is a person who is self employed and not committed or employed by an employee for long term contracts. Freelance workers are sometimes represented by an agency or an organization that profiles and matches them up with prospective clients, to sell their freelance labor. Others work independently through social media platforms or use a professional website to get works.

There are terms every freelancer must know to avoid confusion or the need to ask for clarification of certain words from their editors. Such words are used in reference to works done or to refer to the process of a writer’s creative brief.

Portfolio

This refers to samples of your works. They represent a platform or space or samples you use to describe and skill tag projects you have done for clients or companies. You get to expressively impress your audience and potential clients with realistic depiction of what you offer and your level of expertise.

Slush Pile

This refers to the heaps of articles or manuscripts or memos or query letters that have been rejected or ripped up and dumped or deleted from the mail box. This usually happens when you make a pitch to the wrong editor or publisher or simply didn’t do a great job with your pitch.

Closing Date

This is the most hectic day in a newsroom or a publication house. It is the last day of submitting an article or paperwork and possibly the worst day to pitch or add in a written work or a project. This is because most last minute edits are done on closing day and all the already submitted works are being prepped for print.

Hed, Dek and Lede

Hed refers to a headline, dek refers to a sub headline and lede means the paragraphs. For every article written or work pitched, there should be a compelling dek and a supporting hed and lede. An editor do not always bother about headlines in your pitch, but sending a mail empty and without an headline is probably not the best way to create an impression.

On the Transom

This is creating a story, generating a project idea, developing a website, designing a brand identity, etc and pitching them to an organization or publication house without them asking for it or being sure if they would like it enough to want to pay for it or publish it.
This is risky and can be time consuming, especially if you didn’t read their terms and conditions for submission or they didn’t seem to want it or pay for it.

On Spec

Projects created on speculation are those you make hoping to get published or get accepted as a finished product. It is paramount to cultivate healthy relationships with editors or credible connections in your field of expertise, as this can allow you understand how the top dogs or editors work and what kind of works they would be willing to publish or use.

Clips

Articles or samples of your work that you have briefed from your portfolios as a means to showcase your level of professionalism to your clients and to give them something to view and evaluate the integrity of your works for other reputable companies or clients.

Well

This refers to the middle of a magazine. It is where all the best stories go; all the reputable features and profiles. If your article or feature makes it to the middle of a magazine, it automatically shows there have been great career milestones you have accomplished or your article story is one of the trend setters.

FOB/BOB

This refers to the Front of Book and BOB refers to the Back of Book. This part in a magazine or a publication is mostly featured by new writers or young entrepreneurs or non influential persons or stories. The front is usually for daily pop up news and parties and celebrity gossips, while the back mostly takes up the reviews and close ups.

Kill Fee

Practically, this refers to the amount of money paid to a freelancer supposing a work done wasn’t used at the last minute. It can either be that the story that was asked to be written had died off and so isn’t relevant anymore or that it was assigned to more than one writer and the best story got chosen and in cases of project creations, the best brand got selected to do the job.