Kindle self-publishers, beware
Kindle Direct Publishing has quickly become a popular platform for authors to promote and sell their own work. Whether it’s used to publish full-length books or Singles, KDP lets authors bypass traditional publishing channels and market their writing directly, up to and including setting their own prices. But in KDP’s fine print is a clause […]
New food-industry site mimics HuffPost‘s “influence as compensation” model
If it worked for the Huffington Post, why can’t it work for Food & Drink Digital? The latter publication’s public relations manager, Jeremy Vara, is sending a message to potential contributor that asks for them to share their expertise with Food & Drink Digital’s “exclusive audience.” Jim Romenesko posted the email he received from Vara […]
CWG/CMG representing Toronto Star and The Grid freelancers in talks with senior management
Do you freelance at the Toronto Star or The Grid? There have been talks between the Canadian Writers Group/Canadian Media Guild and the Star‘s senior management about the new freelance agreement at the paper, which contains a couple of, in our view, unnecessary and troublesome clauses. The most recent meeting took place in late August, […]
Increasingly ill-defined roles translate to lower rates for freelance editors
“When hired to ‘edit,’ are you hired to be a developmental editor? A copyeditor? A proofreader? A compositor? Is what you are being paid commensurate with what you are being asked to do?” Freelance editors are hurting themselves and their peers by not distinguishing between different editing roles when negotiating with clients, says a post on An […]
UBC ends deal with Access Copyright, freelance writers lose out
Joining more than a dozen other large post-secondary institutions across the country, the University of British Columbia has ended a long-standing contract with Access Copyright, a non-profit organization that aims to guarantee fair compensation for writers and publishers when their works are copied. UBC says that the organization was demanding “dramtically” higher fees and wanted […]
Another delay for U.S. freelancers awaiting compensation
While the Robertson Settlement saga is still trucking along here (and the deadline to submit claims under second settlement is approaching), our freelancing friends south of the border are getting nowhere fast with their class-action suit against against numerous publishers. Just this month, an appeals court rejected a settlement struck in 2005, based on an […]
Huffington Post Canada on “content mills”
Well, this is something. In a post on HuffPo Canada, freelance writer Bob Beaty discusses the value of freelance content sites and asks writers to weigh in on them too. The conclusion of the article, in brief, is that while writers are severely underpaid by these sites and are dissuaded from putting any personality into […]
New Star freelance contracts raising eyebrows
The Toronto Star has been issuing new agreements to its freelancers that contain broader language than previous ones. According to some freelancers we heard from, there was less pressure to sign and return the contracts when they were first distributed, but after questions were raised about its wording, a hard deadline was set. There are […]
Survey of HuffPo bloggers finds they want to be paid
In a shocking revelation, a study of Huffington Post bloggers by researchers at UC Santa Barbara’s Carsey-Wolf Center—which included analyzing 500 press clippings about AOL’s $315-million acquisition of HuffPo and a survey of HuffPo’s most frequent contributors—found that they think they deserve to be paid for their labour, which requires their time, effort, and numerous […]
Re-evaluating HuffPo’s unpaid bloggers
On his Mixed Media blog at Forbes.com, Jeff Bercovici offers a new angle to consider in the recent lawsuit that unpaid writers have brought against the Huffington Post and AOL. Bercovici starts off by acknowledging that, in terms of ad revenue, US$105 million is too high a value for the bloggers’ work, but he builds […]
