One of the interesting debates in the world of freelance (whether it is writing, graphics or some other work that involves you getting paid per-project for what you do) is the merit of taking projects "on spec". Over at Freelance Parent on Sparkplugging, there is a great post on some of the ways that clients may try to get you to basically do a project for free. It is reviewed, and then if you "pass", you could get more work (and pay). But it doesn't stop there, in some cases, reports Freelance Parent:
big project and break it up. If they have ten or twelve freelancers
doing parts of it “on spec,” then they can actually get the entire
project done for free. Others take your work and then have someone
really, really cheap change it just enough so that they’re not
technically using your work and don’t have to pay you.
Obviously you want to try to avoid these latter folks. (But how do you identify them?) Some freelancers prefer to avoid spec work altogether. And this understandable. After all, what happens when you spend a great deal of time and effort only to be told that someone else got the job?
I avoid this to a certain degree by letting clients who want work on spec know that if they don't accept my article, it's still mine. That way I can submit it elsewhere — for pay. If the client won't agree to this, then I don't do the work.
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