Afraid to ask for payment!

C

ci1

Registered User
Messages
284
Hi All, just want to get some opinions please.

I made an enquiry with an Irish Based website a while back about writing an article around what I do for a living!!
They came back and said deffo they would like to see my work and to send a draft through & they would get back to me and let me know what the next step would be.

I did this by mail 2 days later when I had the article finished but I never heard back from them...I sent 2 follow up mails with no response and then decided to just leave it presuming they were not interested.

Last week by chance I logged onto the website and there was my article exactly as I had submittedd it. Not edited, they had just added some graphics.

So while I was really happy about it I was also a bit peeved that they never advised me they were going ahead with it, and it has been up there since the end of March...

I sent the guy a mail pointing this out and he replied only today saying sorry, he forgot to tell me and that if I wanted I could have a weekly slot!

Am I thinking it strange that they did not
1. send a mail even out of courtesy to say thanks for the article and to let me know they were putting it up.
2. Are they offering me a weekly slot to write an article and wanting me to do it for nothing?

I have to get back to the guy and am not sure how to broach the subject. This is not something I normally do so I am unsure about how it works...
May it be a case that because I approached them that they think I will do it for nothing?
 
Did you at any stage discuss payment? I know of someone with a weekly article (800 words) in a provincial newspaper. Payment is €30 per article. They had to ask for payment at beginning before submitting anything.
 
ci1 said:
Am I thinking it strange that they did not
1. send a mail even out of courtesy to say thanks for the article and to let me know they were putting it up.
2. Are they offering me a weekly slot to write an article and wanting me to do it for nothing?
Click to expand...

It would be wrong to assume that all publishers follow a plan. Very often they're glad to have content and don't necessarily recall where it came from, much less acknowledge it or thank the writer.

It's quite possible that they would allow contribute regulalrly without paying you although you'd need to check their policy. The ultimate value to you personally might be to the extent is that you become "published". However, you might need to operate on an unpaid basis in the short term in order to produce a portfolio of published stuff that might lead to paid gigs in the future.
 
Hi, yeap I guess I should have checked it out at the beginning.

They did say to send my draft and they would revert and let me know what they thought..at that point I would have enquired about payment but they put it up before I had a chance!

I'm not a journalist or anything like it, I just like writing and by chance in a spontaneous moment just mailed them.

I still do have to revert though about their offer of a weekly article. I guess I could bring it up now, I just don't want them telling me No Thanks, we don't pay and end up not getting the chance to write more!
 
Another consideration would be if this article could generate business for you => you should be delighted to do it for free.

If it is just a hobby & you hope to write professionally down the road, you could look for payment, but the experience may be payment enough!!
 
I would ask about pay. Certainly, they shouldn't take offence considering the way they dealt with your original enquiry. If they say no thanks, we don't pay, I wouldn't offer them anything more unless you really felt you could gain something out of it.
 
If they're not prepared to pay you for future articles, I wouldn't let that put you off. If you like writing, and it is not too much hard work, it is nice to have an incentive and to know you will get published. Just try and put your contact details at the start of each article, and retain the copyrights, so you may get future opportunities out of it.
 
lukegriffen said:
If they're not prepared to pay you for future articles, I wouldn't let that put you off. If you like writing, and it is not too much hard work, it is nice to have an incentive and to know you will get published. Just try and put your contact details at the start of each article, and retain the copyrights, so you may get future opportunities out of it.
Click to expand...

How does one retain the copyrights ?
 
Bluebells said:
How does one retain the copyrights ?
Click to expand...
Mark any material you release as copyright and that the intellectual property rights in the material are retained by you.

In order to prepare for dispute resolution, before releasing any material to another party, send an identical copy to yourself via registered post but don't open the envelope.

Have the copy for the second party delivered by courier or registered post, so it has to be signed for, AFTER you receive your own registered copy.

If it ever comes to resolving a dispute you can prove, in court if necessary, that the material originated with you.
 
You should probably have clarified, at the start, whether or not a fee would be paid. A lot of people would do this kind of stuff for free in order to gain experience, get a track record and move, eventually, into journalism. Others, as someone has said, simply regard it as a hobby. I don't think they behaved discorteously or unfairly, there was obviously just a misunderstanding between you. However, if you're not prepared to do a weekly piece for them without a fee, make that very clear to them now.
 
mathepac said:
Mark any material you release as copyright and that the intellectual property rights in the material are retained by you.
Click to expand...
I was advised by a copyright expert in the past that the (c) marking was fairly meaningless, and any original material is well covered by copyright regardless of whether it is explicitly marked a copyright.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top