All right, I have a really unique situation here: A client I really enjoyed working for, hired me to work on his blog. He has disappeared without paying me, and now someone is sending me one-line spam emails from his Gmail address. However, I still have access to the blog with my log-in. He's neglected to pay me, despite several reminders, for twenty days. Should I delete all my work from his blog, and save it to sell later, as promo stuff on Helium, or Ezine? What would you guys do?
I would delete the work that has stayed unpaid, but wouldn't sell it. At best, I'd put it up on my own blog to use as writing samples.
Aww, I hate the idea that I've wasted all the work, though. It was good stuff, --though the topic was fairly inane. Maybe I could run it through Copyscape after a week or so to see if it hasn't been re-written or re-used? Though, I doubt it's still virgin content. =/ You're right. Oh, damn.
I would probably delete it... but if it's on a topic that won't be of much use to anyone else then I'm not sure what else you could do to make your money back.
I might be in the minority here but I would give it some more time. I would definitely take the articles down and if the client gets angry with you, you can tell him that you will put the articles back up when you get paid for your work. If you never hear from the guy again, I don't know what to tell you. It is a really gray and murky area. Technically if you haven't been paid yet I think the work is still yours to do with what you want. On the other hand, thanks to creepy internet tools like Google cache, the work will always be able to be found on his site and you don't want to sell it to someone else and run the risk of duplicate content penalties. Perhaps you can approach the content in a new way, write something new and then sell that?
I would delete it and hold onto the content for another two weeks or so, giving the person the benefit of the doubt in case they were in an accident etc. If it's been over a month and I still hadn't been paid then I would use the content myself after running it through Copyscape. Good luck, I hope you get it all sorted out
Delete it and don't bother trying to get paid. Don't even contact him again. If he's ignoring you and not paying attention to you, then he's obviously gone. If he was actually trying to scam you, he would've deleted your login to the blog after you had submitted a number of articles, he wouldn't leave it just like it was. But since there is the chance he still might scam (he probably thinks you're adding more and he's eventually going to delete your login) so you might as well delete it and get it over with. You can use those as either samples (as stated before) or submit them to AC to get a nice bit of cash. It's really up to you.
Whether he's meant to or not, I think your client is gone and it's time to simply delete the work posted that hasn't been paid for. In most of my client contracts, I specify that rights are transferred to the buyer only after all of the work has been paid for. If the client backs out or rejects content - it's still mine, per our agreement. It is, after all, "work for hire" and if they haven't paid, they can't own rights to the work. Simple (to me anyway) on the surface, but I agree with the other posters - it's really sticky either way you slice it. There's a loss of energy that you have to deal with, and I hate that this has happened to you. I'd try to use the work as samples in your portfolio (if your goal is to bring in more clients) or stick them in the repurpose bin (is there a basis for a product here that you can sell digitally? Can you put the content in video form and repurpose it that way as a giveaway product in a niche?) Whatever you choose, I hold the intention that there's a wave of happy, honest clients out there seeking you with much joy and understanding Isa
After 20 days and several reminders, I would definitely delete the content. You may be able to resell it, but let the buyer know the content had already been published but was withdrawn from the client's side for nonpayment. Otherwise, you can use it for promo stuff like you mentioned.
He'd ripped you off your work, there is hardly any doubt at that, take off the content from the site and use them as your portfolio! As google might have already indexed the published content, you will not see much success of selling the same at any of the paid article directories, pretty pathetic! But other than using them as your samples, there's nothing much that you could do about these articles now! Regds
Another option is to use them on a content site like Constant Content. You'll get more money for them than you would at Helium, even selling them for usage rights (which you'll have to, since they've been previously published, unless you rewrite each one).
Thanks so much guys, this has really been bothering me. Damn it! You know, the whole Google indexing thing is what really pisses me off about taking blogging jobs. Even if you get a deposit, there's no guarantee they pay you, and if they don't, you're screwed. I almost -never- accept blogging jobs, --especially from "new" bloggers, with a PR of N/A. Grr. I might re-sell after a while. They're top shelf quality stuff, over 500 words per, you know. -Time- and actual thought went into writing it. It wasn't just random re-writes of stuff. *Sniffles.* I'll probably wait a week or less, and try to re-sell in the pre-made content area. But yes, as you said, with the advisory that it was pre-published.