Letters To The Editor For June 9th

Published on June 9, 2010

This week:


  • Term Paper Mill Scum
  • Content Mills
  • Our Survey
  • Should I Try to Land a Traditional Publishing Contract?

Win Assignments to Cover Breaking News By John K. Borchardt

Published on June 9, 2010

How can freelancers get assignments to cover important breaking news stories? During most of my freelancing career I felt I was on the outside looking in as magazines and newspapers assigned their staff writers to cover breaking news stories. It’s often difficult for freelancers to get assignments to cover important breaking news stories. Many, if not most, don’t even try. The query submission and review process takes time. Most assignments are given to newspaper and magazine staff writers because of time constraints. However, freelancers can surmount this problem and win rapid acceptance of their queries, or sidestep the querying process completely. The ongoing BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico provides interesting case histories on how freelancers can win breaking news story assignments.

Copyright or Trademark?

Published on June 9, 2010

I want to copywright the name of a blog I’ve started. How do I know if that name is already taken?

My Book Excerpt Led to An Assignment By Diane Craver

Published on June 9, 2010

Recently, I was invited by Rebecca Vickery of Victory Tales Press to write a story for one of their anthologies in exchange for a share of the royalties. It was quite an honor to be asked to join this group of talented writers. My story will be included in a Christmas anthology. One reason Rebecca asked me was because she had read several of book excerpts that I had posted on her yahoo group.

Chop, Chop, Ow!

Published on June 2, 2010

Ali didn’t get to come home until Tuesday morning because she’s been so busy working at her new job. They were very busy over the holiday weekend. She’s been slicing and dicing and plating salads and desserts and she has the battle scars to prove it. She showed me all the nicks in her palms and she has a really nasty slice from a lobster. Yes, she wears gloves when she works but they’re for sanitary reasons…not for safety.

Term Paper Mill Scum

Published on June 2, 2010

I took most of Monday off this week for the holiday so my post is short and not-too-sweet this week. I wanted to share this with you.
I received an email from a man who wanted to post a help wanted ad on WritersWeekly.com and he obviously hadn’t done his homework. He said they needed writers for “academic writing jobs” and my warning bells blew. I checked out their website and, sure enough, it was a term paper mill. This was my response:
We would NEVER assist you with helping students cheat.
Your service is the rock-bottom scum of the entire industry. What if your child was ill and the specialist you took her to was someone who’d paid a company like YOURS to do his schoolwork for him?
Shame on you! How can you sleep at night doing what you do for a living?!
Don’t EVER contact me again!
Angela Hoy
WritersWeekly.com

Putting a Copyright Infringer Out of Business

Published on June 2, 2010

Angela, I truly enjoy your website and especially enjoy learning about the copyright infringement articles. Can’t believe that writers try to rip off other writers and are then cheeky enough to say because they didn’t see the copyright means it doesn’t exist! If you took her attitude, if you didn’t see the license plate on her car, that means you would own it.
Enjoy reading and learning how to protect myself (now have Google alerts per your info). Although it is difficult to see what hell other writers experience through copyright infringement, it does make good reading. You could sell e-popcorn.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for going to bat for all writers, Angela.
Carolee

Should I Try to Land a Traditional Publishing Contract?

Published on June 2, 2010

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. I know you are busy and most likely get asked for a good deal of advice. I currently finished my first novel and I have been contemplating going through a traditional literary agent or using Print on Demand (POD) publisher.
I was greatly impressed with your company for taking on the big guys for us little authors. I’ve read through most of your FAQs and reasons to and not to use POD publishing, and am coming down on the side of POD publishing. Additionally, I’ve found fantastic reviews of BookLocker. Before heading forward, is there anything else you think I should know about the system or any relevant informational sources I should be steered toward? I realize this is a very general question but any knowledge I can gain now should help me to avoid pitfalls in the future. Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.

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