A Retraction

Some time ago, I posted about my decision to bring a writing gig of mine to a halt after I learned something about this gig I hadn't been aware of at the beginning.

The thing that bothered me was how they wanted all rights to my articles. With pay being only at $5, I didn't feel such a request was justified since, after all, buying all rights meant I'd lose any other chance to earn payment by reselling that article somewhere else. I miss out on that extra income.

So for a while I decided not to pursue it. I didn't officially "quit." I just decided not to do it anymore and that was that. I secured another writing gig and thought things would work better from then on.

Unfortunately, this is not true.

With the new writing gig, you have to be a self-starter. You have to come up with things to write on your own, though some suggestions were made.

Also, the pay was very low. We're talking "pennies" low. And there's no guarantee of even earning any of those pennies, either, because they depend upon the work being viewed. (Ouch.)

And, finally, I didn't know exactly what direction I was supposed to take. Was I supposed to write for this section or that one?

I was stuck in this limbo for a while, not really sure of what I was doing or supposed to be doing. I kept getting e-mails saying I had to write something, but I wasn't sure of what they wanted!

I guess you could say I'd grown accustomed to being assigned articles to write. I just got so used to being told what to write. (Of course, I did have the option to decline a suggested article. And that has actually happened.)

After a certain period of time, I had to look at what I was doing with the new gig -- and NOT doing. I had to look at what I was earning -- and NOT earning.

And compare all of that to the old gig.

The old gig kept me working. Something that I liked. The old gig kept me exposed to learning new things. Something else that I liked. And, it kept paying. Something that I REALLY liked!

So I did some thinking on that. I had to ask myself, how far have I come since then? What exactly have I accomplished with this new gig?

The answer: Absolutely nothing!

Not good.

So I started to think about going back to the old gig. But before I agreed to hand over all rights to future wok, I had to feel confident about my association with that first. I Googled them like crazy. I even tried to Google the people involved. I dug around and did some checking.

First I wanted to know if they were reputable. If they had a good reputation. If people were bad-mouthing them, I wanted to know what was being said. If they were cheating writers or doing bad things to people, I wanted to read about it -- so I'd know to stay away. (Yes, editors, having a good character and respectability IS important to us writers!)

Then I wanted to know if there was anything sneaky being done with these articles. If TPTB were taking what they bought and reselling it all elsewhere to bring in big bucks. With my limited searching capabilities, I didn't see that happening.

Then something else happened. As I was searching around on the 'Net for all things related to the site and all things about the people associated with the site, I uncovered something. A newsletter reprinted online that had a link to one of the articles on that site. It looked familiar so I clicked on it. Sure enough, it was one of my articles! Awesome!

They had written about coin collecting in the newsletter and the writer said "look at this article to see how coin collecting can help your kids learn about history and geography." That's something I pointed out in my article. So I was very pleased that what I'd written was being passed on to other readers. Hey, this stuff can actually help more people, and not just readers of the site! Very cool.

I realized that even though I was giving up all rights, I was still doing something good for other people. I have received so many positive comments about my articles on there and I'm happy I was able to gather enough of my research together to put it all into an article that someone found useful.

So I have gone back to this gig. I am once again writing for them. I have pretty much accepted losing all rights to the articles, but that's okay. It's very rare that I try to sell reprints, anyway. In fact, that hardly ever happens! I'm always moving onto NEW stuff and trying to sell NEW material. The only time I try to sell reprints is if the site where my piece originally appeared is shut down and it's not on the Internet anymore. (I wonder what will happen if that happens with THIS site??)

Sure the pay is low given that I am giving up all rights, but it's good, reliable income and it doesn't take me too long to write the articles, anyway. And at least they're not being resold to other sites by the editorial team.

Additionally, now that I have gone back to doing this, I am reminded of how fun it is to learn new things. I enjoy this work and I am grateful for the challenge.

I have definitely realized that, sometimes, the rewards of what we write are greater than what we earn from writing them. Even if all we earn from that writing is just pennies, it's worth it if someone somewhere takes an article we've written and says, "Hey, look at this! This is helpful information!" Or, "Wow, what an inspiring story!"

I know that we writers are constantly encouraging each other to demand more money, equal pay, fair terms in our contracts and more flexible control over our work. There's nothing wrong with that. These steps are taken to protect us and guard against dirtbags who cheat writers. But when that's not the case, when it's not a situation in which there's a crummy or dishonest editor involved, then I think we should try to step back, take a look at the bigger picture, and ask ourselves what we want out of this arrangement the most.

If it means helping other people out there, inspiring readers or passing on helpful information that people could really use, then that's good enough for me.

One VERY productive day inspires one very can-do atitude

Yesterday was a VERY busy day in this writer's life. I'm glad I had such a productive day yesterday, because there are things going on today and I don't know how much I'll manage to get done. Probably not as much as yesterday, and for this reason I'm grateful for yesterday. It can make up for all the other things I might not be able to do today! I'm not blogging about it in order to "brag," or anything. It's just so that I can talk about a couple of things from yesterday as well as take a look at all the things I managed to do.

And what a bunch of things they were! Wow! Honestly, I don't know how I fit it all into one day. (Well, I was up past midnight wrapping up the last thing, so maybe that's how I managed to do all of them!) In addition to taking care of my kids and doing the domestic responsibilities. I am just really, really surprised that I managed to do so much. I did more things yesterday than I normally do in one day! Instead of 3-5 things, I did seven.

One of the things I did was write and submit a sample for a Web site. I got a reply for one of the jobs I applied for before being accepted at Suite101.com, and they wanted a sample from me. I'll admit, this initial request for the job made me pretty uncomfortable, but after I discussed my concerns with one of the reps, I felt better about doing it and went through with it. We'll see how that turns out.

I also worked on the Revisions book, worked on the RGT book, fired off a query to a magazine (my goal was to send three queries but I could only submit one), did editing in a manuscript and wrote up a short article.

I also did the networking thing, which will turn into "the promotion thing" after a new book comes out. The networking took up a considerable amount of time. Still, I know it's important to network. And it even inspired a new book idea. Hooray! I've been wanting a new idea for a writing book. The Revisions book is my third writing book, and I kept wondering, what kind of writing book will I do after this one? Right then and there, I couldn't think of anything. So I was delighted when I got this idea for my next writing book. Woot-woot! Still, I have YET to check and see if it has been done already. I will have to look into that. If it hasn't been done already, then, it's on! Erm...next year, maybe. Haha.

Even though I wasn't sure if that kind of book has been done yet, I still wrote up the outline for it. And I realized that, up until the time I actually start writing it and putting it together, I can spend this time putting what the book teaches to the test. I can use my own writing career as the "guinea pig" and try out everything this book will cover. What an exciting experiment this will be!

Today is the last day to enter the "dialogue only" short story contest. I am entering and must remember to send in my story. I've made a note of it on my "to do" list for today.

I was reading a writer friend's blog yesterday, and she noted how she's making preparations to participate in NaNoWriMo this year. NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month, and it happens every November. I have participated in the past. The first time I tried out, I had to stop because work came up. The second time, I got distracted with other things and abandoned the project. The third time, I did complete my novel, but it didn't come in at the required 50K words. This hung over me as I debated whether or not I should participate this year. My first thought when I asked myself that question was 'My plate's already overflowing! The last thing I need this year is YET ANOTHER book project going on!' (I don't know what it is about me, but I can never just work on only one thing. I need a variety of things going on and more than one book project going on. Somehow or another, I work better that way. Maybe it's a Gemini thing!) And add to this the fact that I don't have a new novel idea that I want to work on right now. Well, sure, I have ideas, but my mindset is on the middle grade paranormal mystery series I have written two books for so far. I want to write the next book in that series, if there was anything for me to write for fiction. But the publisher hasn't gotten back to me yet about the first book and those books are not 50,000 words. If I do NaNoWriMo, then I'll have to go over my list of book ideas and see if any of the novel ideas grab me. I love the novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo last year and I'm anxious to see it in print ONE of these days (after these OTHER four books get taken care of first). I want to experience that excitement with writing fiction again. The adrenaline rush of writing a whole 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Besides, by the time November gets here, I really SHOULD have one of my current book projects done and sent in to the publisher. I'll be one book lighter! If I can manage the two books now, how will adding my Nano novel be any different?

This excitement made me move away from my initial reservations over being able to do NaNoWriMo again. I'm sure I'll be able to come up with something. And as far as even being able to find time to work on it every day, I can only look at how productive I was yesterday. At how I was able to do SO MUCH and find a way to fit all of those writing tasks into my day. This gives me confidence that I WILL be able to do NaNoWriMo this year. That I WILL be able to find time for it. NaNoWriMo 2009? Bring it on!

How Suite it is?

Yesterday, I made a decision: A current writing gig is just not going to work out for me anymore. What prompted this decision? I only now received their contract (after months of writing for them) and it states that they are buying all rights to my articles.

Yep, you read that correctly: ALL RIGHTS. Which means they can reprint the articles anywhere else on the Web and I wouldn't see a dime in reprint sales. And forget about selling the articles as a reprint; I wouldn't have any more rights to them.

Selling all rights to your writing is something which some writers accept, in some cases. For example, if the pay sufficient, then they accept surrendering all rights. And, for some, they figure there is no chance they will reuse anything in that article, anyway, and they don't want to try to sell it as a reprint. So, they surrender all rights.

To read more about what it REALLY means to sell all rights to your writing, go here:
Selling All Rights: Right or Wrong?

In my case, I did not feel it was fair to surrender all rights to my articles, because they are only paying me $5 for each one. If the pay was a little higher, I would accept this. But at $5? That's highway robbery!

Or, should I say, superhighway robbery, since this is on the Internet.

I wrestled with this for a while. I tried to accept these terms, but it just REALLY seemed like a lousy deal. It just was not a fair sale. Every time I even tried to keep working for them, my instincts cried STOP! I just did not feel like I was respecting myself as a writer, and my work in general, if I continued to work under these terms.

I have pretty much accepted the fact that the articles I have sold to them so far are gone forever. I guess all this time, they were being bought under those terms outlined in the contract (which I actually have yet to sign). At the time I took this gig, these terms were not outlined on their site or in emails. I naively assumed they were buying nonexclusive rights, First Electronic Rights or exclusive rights that would expire after a period of time. But now I know that was never the case.

Now I have decided that I will no longer work for them under those terms.

So last night, I got on the 'Net to try and find a new writing gig. I visited a job site for writers and there were a couple of jobs with requirements I felt I could meet. I sent them emails asking for more info, ensuring that my resume is ready for their review, and hit another job site. After some clicking, I came across an ad saying that Suite101.com was looking for writers. I know of some writers who have written for Suite101.com, and I figured, if they are writing for this site, then it must be a legitimate writing gig worth their time. The ad said the pay was $39.50 per article.

Hey, that's better than $5, I thought.

So I went to their site, filled out the application and sent along with that two sample pieces of my writing that matched the topics I wanted to write for and met their word count limit.

This morning, I got an e-mail saying that my application was approved. Hooray! I was now a Suite101.com writer!

I went to the site to read the contract and noted it didn't say anything about the pay rate. I was satisfied with the rights they wanted for articles, but there was no figure concerning pay.

Uh-oh. Not a good sign.

So I hit Google and did some checking around. I noted on some blog posts about writing for Suite101.com that a lot of the complaints concerning pay were outdated. I looked for information that was current and found out that they pay their writers by ad revenue. Meaning that every reader who clicked on an ad that's on the same page as the article would help the writer earn some income. I was not happy to see that this payout was low (something like $1.50 for every ONE THOUSAND clicks -- ugh!!), and even more disheartened when one writer said she only earned 26 cents her first month as a Suite101.com writer.

Twenty-six cents?? Sheesh! I might as well go back to writing for $5 per sale! Good grief!

I also came across one writer saying she earned just $3.90 for every 1,000 page views of her article. Ugh!

I did some more checking around and my hopes started to rise. There ARE writers out there who have managed to earn a decent monthly income writing for Suite101.com. In fact, they even continue to earn income years after their articles are published and even after they stop writing for that site.

Phew! I was glad to hear that.

I later received a memo from the site's EIC stating they are actually upgrading their pay model for writers. Now writers will receive revenue based on page views, and not just clicks on ads. Yay! That was good news.

So I'll be going through their training soonish and hopefully this new writing gig will be something bigger and better for me. I would love to move past writing for the Internet and instead write for magazines, but until I can make that a reality, I will settle for writing for the Web. And a newspaper, as well; pretty soon I'll be receiving my next assignments for SIGNews and I'm excited to move forward with that, too.