Published on May 30, 2007
I recently turned in a first person piece as it was assigned to me for a women’s monthly. I’ve written for the mag tons of times and have a great relationship with my editor. They loved the piece. However, right before the story was to go to print, one of the top editors pulled it. […]
Published on May 30, 2007
We spent the Memorial Day weekend at the “homestead” in western Maine. Richard and Frank started building a storage shed, Frank made a garden for me and I spent a lot of time inside the RV with Mason. The black flies were out in force and Mason doesn’t yet know how to swat them out of his face. He did sustain one bite. One of the little buggers got to him in the RV. Max occupied himself by building little dams in the stream and then knocking them down. We heard wild turkeys calling to each other all weekend. Frank also found some firefly larvae. They had little glowing dots on their butts! Frank and Max were, needless to say, thrilled.
Published on May 30, 2007
This week:
- Authors Who Avoid Traditional Publishers
- Signing Back-Dated Non-Compete?!
- Do You Owe Writers Money? by “In-Debt Chet”
- From the Spring ’07 24-Hour Short Story Contest 1st Place Winner
Published on May 30, 2007
The responses to “How much (or, really, how little) money will you accept for writing” recently published in WritersWeekly made my teeth grind. From these respondents, it seems that the charge for a writing assignment depends on where one lives and whether one is a (heaven forbid!) “hack” writer.
Published on May 30, 2007
I’ve had over a dozen interviews published in the local Prime Time Cape Cod magazine. I got this job after emailing its editor a couple samples of children’s articles and reviews I’d written for another local publication. Guess what? Writing locally pays well and is fun.
Published on May 30, 2007
Published on May 23, 2007
Mason (11 months) has a bad cold and he’s been very congested for two days. Needless to say, I’m swimming in a stupefied haze due to lack of R.E.M. sleep. I know lots of parents complain about lack of sleep but, truthfully, missing sleep hasn’t ever bothered me in my mommy career. I enjoy cuddling a baby late at night (or early in the morning) when they don’t feel good and need mommy’s lovies. And, Mason just learned how to give sloppy kisses. You can imagine the horror on the other children’s faces when Mason, with his runny baby nose, tries to give them a sloppy baby kiss. Heh…
Published on May 23, 2007
Last week, we talked about how many self-published authors have landed traditional contracts only after self- publishing. This week, I’d like to talk about authors who avoid traditional publishing houses for some (or all) of their titles, and why.
Years ago, I wrote and self-published a book with another author. It was a book about successful online publishing. We put the book up for sale as an ebook and it sold very well…so well, in fact, that it sold at auction to a large New York publisher a few weeks later. The initial advance was nice – very nice. It helped pay the down payment on our new home in Maine. But, there were quite a few downsides…
Published on May 23, 2007
Letters will return next week.
Published on May 23, 2007
You know, I don’t really understand why some people in the publishing business don’t pay their debts. I’m not talking about the people who are open scammers. I’m referring to the people who start publications that end up underfunded or unsubscripted and, thus, leave writers unpaid.
When an editor runs a story online, in print, or elsewhere, he has to pay for it. Period. End of story. By publishing the story, he has devalued the writer’s only currency. Once the story is published, first rights are gone forever. It takes a writer’s time and energy to create those first rights and he should be compensated if you use them.