Renegotiating a freelance contract

[horseyhorsey17]

I'm a magazine editor and normally work full time but do some freelancing on the side. Recently took on a small charity magazine, negotiated a price for it that was a lot lower than my usual fee, but felt it was a good cause and wouldn't be putting me out of pocket if I could do it in two weeks. Anyway, as it's panned out, that was wildly optimistic, and it's taken weeks of my time (and my designer's), with endless changes to copy and layout being required. I edit a monthly magazine as my day job which is more than twice as long and never have this level of stress! There's been a lot more micromanaging than I'm used to. I would not have agreed to the fee had I known this, but I don't want to blow them out, having got this far down the road. I've never had to renegotiate a contract, so what would be a tactful way of doing/phrasing this? Any suggestions welcome.

I would say for this edition you've blown it.

Going forward I would sit down whoever employed you and say that the work is too great in volume for your to do as contracted. That you didn't realise they would make so many changes etc and that either you will need to limit it to 1/2 drafts going forward or you will need to raise the fee.

I would expect you to loose the work though tbh unless they were desperate. I think you need to work on your quoting skills for freelance work especially with organisations not aligned to your day job as its likely this organisation expects you to shoulder much more than you'd usually expect as they don't do media/publications etc.

Yes, it's exactly that - their expectations and mine as a media professional do not align. I don't mind losing the work as it's more trouble than it's worth tbh - it just rankles that it hasn't worked out as I'd hoped. However, they won't get anyone better for the money they're offering, in reality.