In this concise guide, the author analyzes freelance editors’ stories and identifies four broad categories of difficult clients: the manipulator, the rule changer, the procrastinator, and the willfully ignorant. Real-world examples of each are presented, as well as how the freelancer resolved the situation and the major lesson learned. Their stories are followed by advice from experts. In more than 30 years of writing and editing, the author has worked with only a couple of difficult clients, and they inspired her to learn more about preventing and resolving these types of situations to ensure that each party in the freelancer-client relationship is successful.