Well, during basketball practice last week, Ali somehow managed to dislocate her basketball coach’s finger. However, he was much kinder than my old gymnastics coach, and even “set” his finger behind his back so as not to further upset Ali. Apparently it’s something that happens to him a lot, but Ali was still quite distraught.
Kudos and more kudos…
The time-period spanning December 2003 and January 2004 was
terrible for my Writing Services business. It would take me a year
to write an accurate account about what happened to hurt my
business during that time.
Every snafu was a problem caused by some jerk of a client. I
immediately realized two things about that week: 1) The need
to disengage from Immoral Scofflaws, and 2) The need to
rethink how I do business as a writer…
I signed a book contract in November of 2001. My book is still not out. Supposedly it’s in cover design and I haven’t seen it or seen blue lines. So I know we still have quite a ways to go. Also, and more concerning, is now that I understand publishing contracts more, I see there is no publication date listed on the contract. There is no clause that says when it will be published or how long before I can pull out because she does not publish it. It only indicates what will occur if it NEVER gets published. But there is alot of time between November 2001 and NEVER.
Another writer with them says she’s on four years. Customary and reasonable amounts of time listed in the Writers Digest says one to two years. What in the world can I do?
SL Brown, MA
One year is average; two years is pushing it. Three to four years? Holy cow!
I’d be furious!
Authors should always add a “publication date no later than xx, or rights revert back to author…” clause to their contracts. Otherwise, they may wait forever.
You can try threatening the publisher with exposure about their horrible contract and slow operations if they don’t return your rights. If other authors and agents knew it takes that long to publish with that firm, nobody would submit to them and the quality of their inventory would suffer greatly. They may even go out of business. Unfortunately, with no dates promised in the contract, you will probably need to hire an attorney to try to get out of the deal.
Or, the publisher may be in financial trouble and may welcome an offer to terminate that contract. It can’t hurt to ask.
I’d really like to know the name of that publisher. We may already have complaints about them on file.
When the editor of a small community newspaper called to ask if I would be interested in writing several freelance articles for the paper, I hesitated. He was only offering $50 per story and I was concerned that the articles would require much more time and effort than the pay warranted. But, with the holidays around the corner and few deadlines during November and December, I agreed to take on the assignments.
The Apple Agency Ltd. UK – Writer disappointed
University of Oklahoma Press in Norman, Oklahoma – Post-it notes (accidentally?) left on manuscript are quite alarming.
Poetry.com – Writer in Nigeria wonders how the U.S. allows this firm to continue operations.
Several months ago, I was approached by Bob Freiday, a highly
successful freelance journalist, about a book idea. I liked his idea
and, in record time, his book was complete and we published it
as a trade paperback and as an ebook. Bob admitted during our
myriad of emails that he was often under the weather,
suffering from “Cat Scratch Fever.” The emails we exchanged after
that included humorous recipes that he could test on his mother’s
cat (the one that scratched him). Bob got really ill in October and I
received a cryptic email from him one day, asking me to send…
Numerous readers comment on why it’s a bad idea to
do business with “jerks.”
More than 20 years ago I started writing what later became my novel, Three Part Invention, published just last year. That first draft was written in the first person, beginning when the main character, my alter ego Beth, was five years old. Though the novel changed greatly from that first draft, it has preserved for me experiences and emotions I’m sure I would have forgotten by now: details — even minutia — about growing up female in the 1950s, participating in the very early civil rights movement, and the flush of first love…
I’m trying to make freelance writing a larger part of my income this year but my head is already spinning thinking about the tax issues having a part-time, at-home business will cause. Can you suggest a good book or website that can answer my questions (as to what’s deductable as a business expense if you have a part-time business, what legally you have to do to establish yourself as a business, etc.)?
