Writers Come Last In The Publishing Food Chain By E.D. Easley and Angela Hoy – Part 2 Of 2
Part 2 of 2
Last week, we looked at the insulting rates writers are often paid by electronic writing publications.
Help Leaping from Newspapers to Magazines
Angela,
I have been reading your newsletter on and off now for ages now and I’m always amazed at your fluid personal style, but this was absolutely the cutest thing so far…”As her emails came faster and with more anger, she stopped using any capital letters at all. Can you imagine how embarrassed she would be if I published her emails?”
My Writing Journey With Booklocker: Help When There Was None By Rickey E. Pittman
Several years ago, I had completed my first novel, Red River Fever. Discouraged from having wasted a year with an editing/agent scam, I didn’t know what to do with my novel. I knew it was a good novel, and wanted to get it into print so I could move on to other books I wanted to write. My best writing friend, who had read my novel, recommended that I take a look at Booklocker.com, and consider using them.
Flu Bug Departs; Spring Fever Arrives
We’re all feeling much better. It looks like Richard escaped the bug, even after kissing me while I was feverish. Zach spent three days in bed. He had it worst of all.
Letters To The Editor For March 7th
Letters will return next week.
Writing for Writing Publications: Do you want fries with that? By E.D. Easley Part 1 of 2
Writers writing for writing e-zines have long known they’ll probably never retire in that market.
They come to expect low pay. “You’ll never get rich writing for us,” one e-zine acknowledged in its guidelines, “but you’ll get great exposure.”
Maybe the exposure is worth it. Almost all the writing e-zines are distributed to large audiences of other writers, but they also go to agents, editors and publishers…
Add A “Publish-By-Or-Pay” Clause To Your “Pays On Publication” Contracts
Angela,
A publication pays upon publication. Now, it could be months before they publish the piece…but in the meantime, they don’t pay the writer, but have yet to publish the work after three or so months.
Is the pub considered a deadbeat in your view ONLY IF they publish the work and don’t pay?
Please advise.
Roy
Chameleon: Selling The Screenplay, Writing The Novel By Richard Hains
Chameleon actually began life as a screenplay and, once finished after four years of development, I decided to write the novel around it as I felt that this was the best way of ultimately getting the film made. The novel quickly developed its own life, style and structure and, after a further five years, I successfully published the book. I am now in the process of aggressively marketing the book in the USA.
Sick…and Tired
I had a sore throat on Wednesday night. On Thursday morning, I warned Richard not to kiss me, but he did anyway as he left for the airport at 4:30 a.m. It’s so romantic to have a husband who will kiss you, no matter how snotty or miserable you are…but boy is he gonna be sorry when the incubation period is over!
Newspaper Contracts
Hi Angela,
Just got done reading the letters to the editor. Linda Odum sent in a letter with the information, “Most newspapers do not have contracts and the writer is free to send an article to as many places as she wishes.” I would caution other writers to check with these newspapers before making such an assumption. My local paper is for a small town, would not be considered national or even to have a big region like Chicago or other cities. And this small local paper has an all rights contract for writers – the infamous ‘work for hire’ type of contract. Other writer friends have mentioned other small town papers that do this as well. The reason I was given (not sure if this is the true reason or not) is this allows the wire services like AP, etc. to pick up these articles.
I realize this may not be true for all locations. In my case, my small town is home to the Mayo Clinic as well as an IBM campus. Any locally reported news could be of interest nationally. However, a writer who does receive a contract will receive it at the beginning and not the end of the assignment. You will find out when you pitch to your local newspaper (or small newspapers in other locations) what their policy is.
Linda offered some good advice, but small local papers are not as easy to use for resale as it would appear. At least, not in my area.
Thanks for the great resource!
Anna