Aid for Rent and Bills

I have a hard time asking for help. But I find myself with few other options as I try to drum up freelance work, toss job applications hither and yon like confetti, fill out grant applications, and generally avail myself of the options for raising funds that take some time to bear fruit. But in the meantime, I have September's rent to consider, bills to pay, and groceries to buy. And my August has consisted of being able to earn almost no money, save for one slim latter half's payment of a completed contract at the beginning of the month.

The initial goal here is a bare minimum for what helps me going into September. It will admittedly be less, considering platform fees. And if it goes higher, fantastic. But that's the base boost I need right now.

Who Am I and Why Should You Care?

I'm a Trans, disabled writer, award-nominated editor, and sometimes reviewer who's been working in and around publishing in one capacity or another for over 20 years. I've been an anthologist, a ghostwriter, slush reader, a reviews manager, contest organizer, run workshops on my own and at conventions, and I co-founded and was Co-Editor for seven years of the magazine Anathema: Spec from the Margins.

I've worked in corporate marketing, as a bookseller, and also a lot of other unrelated industries in different capacities. My varied careers have been a mix of my passions and what keeps the lights on, as is true for many of us.

So Why Am I in This Position?

The shortest possible version would be that I put my trust in a corporate third-party services entity, put my eggs almost entirely in one basket to be able to work fast enough with them to try and get a bit ahead of the game financially, and I suppose rather inevitably given that situation I got screwed.

For those who would like the fuller, if hopefully not overlong, version:

In August of last year I was contacted by a company (who I will not name here -- ask me privately if you'd like) asking if I wanted to work as a freelancer on their platform. They'd take a cut, and provide their hub for clients and vendors to come together. By November I had my first client with them.

All went well until February of this year, when a client unknowingly sent me a corrupted file. Which wrecked my computer. Two repairs on my dime later, I got back to work. With a new persistent problem of not being able to use the company's system properly, or a number of other systems wholly well, up to and including my Gmail account. It also causes my Microsoft Suite to occasionally malfunction, sometimes grievously. (Oh look, foreshadowing...) This problem is ongoing, and will necessitate replacing my computer -- an issue for another time.

Fast forward to May, and the day I'm to hand in a large, complicated book edit to a difficult and frankly abusive client. A file reversion error eats roughly 60% of my edits. I explain the situation, and we get down to working to try and either recover or recreate the edits. But no matter what I do, I can only make the file keep incremental gains as I work.

This ridiculous state of affairs goes on for weeks while I'm working other jobs through this platform, navigating similar issues but nothing near as bad. As messaging issues worsen on said platform, it's to the point where I can't reply to days' worth of communications at times, no matter how much I try and send. This one client understandably grows more panicked, and perhaps less understandably given our prolonged interactions thinks I'm out to cheat them. They go to the company and demand a refund. The company looks at the situation and agrees with the client.

And to me they say, "Well, you got them close to 50% of the manuscript, so let's get them a 50% refund. No actually, you got them maybe only 25%." Which I disputed. "Well, if you can get us edits equalling 50% to give to the client in the next 24 hours we'll see if we can get them to agree to that 50% refund. Hey, thanks for pulling that off, but they've rejected the new edits. It'll be 75% percent. And yes, we'll forego including our cut that we've already taken in that calculation, but only because you asked, and only as a one time gift."

By this point I'd done, given the repeated edits, about 400,000 words worth of edits on a 200,000 word book. And got hit with a non-negotiable $2,400 refund.

I know very few professional editors who can take that in stride. Some certainly better than others, but for me it was back breaking. I also got booted from the company's platform in the process -- demanded to finish all existing contracts prior. Not that I'd have done otherwise.

While the client, who the company acknowledged showed a pattern of abuse in their communications, remains using the system despite my strenuous suggestion that they be barred lest the pattern repeat itself with others. Which it assuredly will.

So What Now?

I've been trying to dig out from under this mess ever since the refund. But between having to shift gears hard back to other revenue streams, a week-long bout of food poisoning in July that fell out closer to two weeks with the recovery and through whose back end I was working anyway, I just can't seem to catch up with the financial gap this has left me.

I like having a place to live. I like being able to pay my bills so I can keep my internet and phone through which I conduct my business. And I like being able to buy groceries. All things that right now I rather need some help doing. So if you feel so inclined to help with that while I get back on my feet, I'd deeply appreciate it.