Why Your Client Got Cut from a Freelance Writer’s Story—and What to Do Next

Say you’ve been working on an amazing story with a freelance writer. You organized an interview with your client, followed up diligently to provide additional information, supplied photos and already garnered praise from your client about the upcoming coverage. Then the story is published, and it’s a slap in the face: Your client isn’t in the story at all.

I can tell you from experience that this can be an equally frustrating experience for the writer. Here are a few reasons why your client may have gotten cut from a story, and what to do next.

Why Your Client Got Cut

Sometimes, a source or interview will seem like the perfect fit for an article—but then after conducting a few more interviews, he or she ends up being an outlier, or not being thorough enough on a topic. Contrarian opinions can be good in some instances, but not always, especially if the source has said things that contradict existing research on a subject (this has happened for me before with health-related articles). Alternatively, when sources are too vague or broad in their responses to my interview questions, I’m often not able to use them in the final piece because I have another source who explained things better. (FYI: Any good publication will require at least reputable two sources on a topic.)

There’s always a greater risk of a client getting cut from a story when it is for a print publication because they are restricted in space. For example, I wrote a piece for a top-tier publication a few weeks ago that included 11 hotels. I got an email from my editor the day before it was published that they’d had a layout change and had to cut four of them, and unfortunately I had to be the bearer of bad news to those four publicists (with whom I’d already confirmed inclusion) that their clients weren’t going to be in the final story after all. When this happens, sometimes the editors will agree to include the portion that was cut in print in the digital version, but in this case, the format for this particular piece didn’t allow for it.

Most of the topics I write about are ideas I pitched to editors. But at the end of the day, editors have final say on the angle and approach to stories. This summer, I produced a piece for a trade magazine that required three lengthy phone interviews. Several months passed, and then the editor reached out to tell me they’d decided to change the angle of the story and would be conducting new interviews in-house. It was so disappointing for me to have to relay that information to the sources, who had been eagerly awaiting publication of the article—but it was out of my hands.

What to Do Next

It’s easy to feel like your efforts were a waste of time when a client or source gets cut from an article. It can also be hard to not take it personally. However, all is not lost. When I work with a publicist on a story and learn that we work well together, or that they’ll go the extra mile to help arrange last-minute interviews and requests, I’m more inclined to work with him or her again on future stories.

The process can feel frustrating, but in the end it’s about the relationship you’re building with the writer. Even if I wasn’t able to include your client in a particular piece, or if he or she didn’t end up providing answers I could use, or if my editor sliced and diced a story eliminating them without my knowledge, there’s a very good chance I’ll keep that person at the top of my list for the next time I need a source on their topic of expertise.

The way to move forward is to express understanding to freelance writers when we have to break the news to you (trust me: it’s not fun for us, either). Remind us that you’re able to provide sources for future pieces on particular topics, and even suggest some new story angles we could work on together.

So tell me: Have you ever had to deal with an awkward situation when your client got cut from a story? If so, how did you handle it?  

Also, I’d love do know what happens when you have to relay this information to your client. Is there anything freelance writers can do to make this process less difficult for you?