Inside the Freelance World: An Interview with Author/Illustrator Martin Chatterton

 

In Part 2 of my feature with author illustrator Martin Chatterton – whose new novel The Tell is out now – we discuss his top three tips for working from home, how the freelance industry has changed with COVID-19 and the importance of a good social media presence.

With the current health crisis, what are the top three tips you have for people who are new to working from home and/or freelancing?
Get dressed is the primary one. No PJ’s, no tracky daks. If you’re working from home, you need to feel professional. I’m not advocating ties or suits or anything like that but at least brush your teeth and put on jeans and a t-shirt. If you’re Zooming then people will be watching you. Don’t be Homer Simpson.

 

Second is that you need to get out and come back before starting work (if allowed). Rolling out of bed and onto the computer is not A Good Thing in my very humble opinion.

Lastly is to follow office hours. Not religiously but have some kind of structure to the day.

How have you found the freelance world has changed since the restrictions have kicked in? Do you take a different approach to your own work at this time?

In all honesty, not much. My ‘lockdown’ work experience has been pretty much exactly the same as my non-lockdown work experience except for the performing aspect of what I do (about three months every year).

I’m sure there are many content creators out there who are currently moving to the freelance world. What advice would you give them in relation to getting and maintaining regular clients?

I suppose the old one of be reliable, be easy to work with and don’t badger anyone. As we’re all online all the time now I also think it’s good to respond to emails immediately if at all possible. And maybe don’t try and change too much too quickly. This isn’t going to be forever so all those shiny new skills you painstakingly assemble will, probably (we hope) not be quite so important in a year’s time.

How important is it for freelancers to maintain a good working relationship with their clients during this time?

I’m not sure there’s any difference. I spent 11 years in Australia illustrating weekly columns in a UK magazine before they realised I was IN Australia and not London.

If you’re doing the work and not causing problems they’ll keep using you until Something Happens. Note: I can’t predict what those Somethings might be…but there will be a Something That Happens. Your clients aren’t your friends and when The Something Happens then they will, quite rightly, move on from you.

A lot of people struggle to discuss rates confidently. How would you suggest they approach this topic with potential clients (or current clients whose budget has been reduced)?

I always find asking them what their budget is and suggesting ways we can make whatever it is work. It’s rare that you can’t find some way to make it work out. I’d also play the sympathy card in the current climate (as it could be the only opportunity you’ll ever have). It probably won’t work but a suggestion that they will be doing their bit in the Virus Wars by supporting suppliers (like ME) will look good on Judgement Day.

In addition to your freelance work, you’re also a novelist in your own right (with your new novel The Tell, as well as having worked with James Patterson on his Middle School series). What’s the best advice you’ve ever received in regard to your writing, and what advice would you give to aspiring authors/freelance writers?

The Tell is actually my seventh or eighth full blown novel and I’ve written around 40 books in total.

The best advice I ever got was not directly related to writing but is applicable, I think. It was from an illustration tutor when I was an aspiring illustrator and he told me that the measure of success in the creative industries was longevity. At the time I dismissed it as the ravings of an old lunatic (he was probably about 42 at the time) but I definitely got what he meant as the years went on.

Survival is difficult so you don’t need to beat yourself up because your latest book isn’t storming the bestseller lists or whatever.

I don’t know if I’ve got much advice for other writers apart from the old stuff like ‘write for a reader’ (in other words, it’s a marketplace out there not a writer’s support creche); ‘keep going’ is another good one – in the sense that you can only be a writer if you actually finish the bloody book. Sounds silly but I’ve met tons of aspiring writers who don’t, y’know, actually get to ‘The End’.

How important is social media in terms of promotion and connecting with clients/fans of your work, particularly in times such as this?

Pretty important I reckon. I’m spending about half my working life building support material for projects I’m doing rather than doing the project. But the social media stuff isn’t simply putting out some Facebook posts or a few tweets.

In the words of Malcolm Tucker, tweeting to (say) 600 followers is like “whispering your news in the ear of a sleeping tramp.”

 

I ignore most social media so there’s no reason why my ‘fans’ don’t do the same. It’s hard enough getting my mum to read ‘em. So, it needs to be more than that: more content, more professional, more confident.

 

In your opinion, is there one particular platform that all freelancers should be on, or is it specific to the type of work they do (e.g. Instagram for artists and photographers, Twitter and Facebook if you’re a writer/content creator)?

I think all of them. I tend to use Instagram and Facebook mostly but carefully regulate posts. A recipe for disengagement is constant promotional postings with little for the reader. Mix it up.

 

How do you balance your freelance opportunities with your novel writing?

The writing is just part of my ‘working life’. It has to fit in with other deadlines and the constant – constant – hustling. Basically I’m a hustler who writes stuff from time to time rather than a writer who sometimes hustles.

 

How should freelancers approach marketing without seeming callous?

Perhaps it’s just the tone of voice. There’s a sort of shrill quality to a lot of marketing put out by new creatives sometimes. ‘Be cool’ is probably good advice. Stop shouting ALL THE TIME. Find a voice that’s okay to sell with; a voice that is offering the reader a little more of you than ‘buy my book’. That tone is hard to find and I’m not sure I have it but it’s what I aim for. When you’re buying something from someone you always feel better when they are, or seem to be, real people. Be real.

 

Outside of social media and virtual marketing, are there any other avenues freelancers can pursue at this time?

Perhaps best not to exhaust yourself by trying too hard to fill a gap that will, even in the worst scenarios, be temporary.

 

With the current health crisis, you’ve lost the opportunity to promote The Tell through readings and other events. How are you dealing with this? Are there any virtual events you would like to mention?

To be honest I’m focusing on producing better trailers, videos, scripts and stuff rather than diving into too much online live activity. I do believe that performers are better experienced in real-life but most promo activities I do are already slanted to online or can be done online (like radio interviews and that kind of thing). I might be completely wrong but I’m just carrying on in much the same way.

Do you have another project on the go? What’s next for you?

I have approximately eighteen hundred projects on the go. In all seriousness I do have a tendency to get a lot of plates spinning at once. Right now my main focus (after The Tell, in case anyone from Penguin is reading) is working with Hungry Head Productions in the UK, the production company I’m a partner in, on continuing to develop Winter of the White Bear, a 25 minute animated feature based on my picture book of the same name. We were fortunate enough to win some development funding from the British Film Institute’s Young Audience Content Fund early this year and our next step is getting the thing on screen. It’s the biggest hustle of my life.

I’m also a writer/producer for a Canadian indie feature called Sugartown that I’ve been working on for three years on and off. Then there’s Dotty, a six-part TV series I co-wrote (with Brian Viner, the Daily Mail’s movie critic and fellow Everton FC fan) which has been bought by Bill Kenwright Film in the UK. We’d just completed writing the pilot when the virus hit and thoughts of production halted. Plus there are a number of other books and scripts I’m juggling. This isn’t to sound like some sort of big shot, more to emphasise that the hustle is what works and you can’t hustle properly without projects to hustle.

Martin Chatterton is the author of The Tell, published by Penguin Random House Australia. To buy a copy of the book, click here. If you missed Martin’s recent guest post, catch up here.