Writers' Rooms

Ever wonder where such writers as Bernard Shaw, Lord Byron, and Virginia Woolf worked? The Guardian has a writers' rooms feature online with pictures of said roosts. If you need a distraction but want to justify the tangent as research into efficient working, this should provide a few minutes excuse.

Site: How We Became Writers

Knowing the unceasing interest writers generally have in reading, hearing, and talking about writing, here's a site: How We Became Writers. It features writers telling stories of how they ended up doing what they do.

Letting Go of Failure

Every time I run my online planning course, I find at least some participants who get frustrated because they look at where they want their business to be financially and don't see how they can get there from the type of work they currently do. For example, a writer might calculate how many more corporate or editorial assignments they need to add a month and then go into shock over the quantity.


The problem they face is one that many writers have: They don't let go of failure. If you want to progress in anything, whether a skill, an endeavor, or even taking a hike, you have to move in one way or another from where you are to your destination. You cannot stay fast and make any progress. And yet, many of us do exactly that, whether in business, relationships, habits, or even in our aspirations and dreams.


The refrain is something of the frm, "But I can't do that because of this, that, and the other," when said this, that, and other are of your choice and control, and not externally imposed. If you want to make more money in magazine and newspaper writing and you've been writing for publications that pay 25 to 50 cents a word - or less - the answer is clear. You have to start writing for places that pay more and, as you get new clients, stop working for cheapskates.


But the moment you try doing this, you may notice thoughts like, "But I love that editor," or, "It's so easy to get assignments." Brick by brick, you're using your own thoughts and attitudes to build the wall that will encase you where you are. The only solution is to stop defending your previous decisions. You have the right to make a different choice, and you can start doing it today. It will take time to pull away from the old and become established in the new, but it can and will happen - when you stop clutching the bricks in your hands and begin walking in a new direction.

Listen to the Music

The music business seems a far call from writing, but it actually isn't. And that's why you should pay attention to some developments in that industry. After ten years, London group Radiohead walked away from a normal label release of its latest album and sold it over the Internet only for whatever price people wanted to pay. According to the BBC:

BBC Radio 1's head of music, George Ergatoudis, says there is "real pressure" on record labels to keep up with the changing times.

"They need to change how they run their business. The future is definitely more competitive than it has ever been," he says.

The band is currently refusing to say how many orders it has received or how much people are paying, according to Gigwise.com. But the action alone has been enough to start major interest among some musicians in dropping major labels. Nine Inch Nails just dumped its label, according to the London Telegraph, and Madonna - never known for being a business dope - just dumped Warner Music Group to sign a ten-year, $120 million deal with concert promotion company Live Nation.

The Wall Street Journal points out that the deal may be financial stupdity on the part of Live Nation, but forget even that for a moment. The lesson is that no industry is so entrenched that writers, musicians, photographers, and artists are forced into indentured servitude. A way out may be risky, but so is staying in place. Now is the time to experiment - perhaps on the side to start - and see what new business models might be possible, if you want to remain in business in the future.

Distillation of the Writer-Editor Relationship

Something light for today - a bit of sketch comedy on YouTube that may sound frighteningly accurate.

Building a Professional Network

Many people join writing organizations or sign on for professional service options because they feel the need to network. I can understand it - I've joined organizations in the past and keep active on Freelance Success (not only is there community, but the best market guides I've seen at an unreasonably reasonable price). And that can do early on for meeting other writers from a large geographic area.

But as your time in the industry grows, you'll probably find yourself craving a more specific set of interactions. For example, you might want to toss ideas around with people who share a specialty, or who have an equivalent degree of experience. For that, you will need to create your own network. It doesn't mean that you forgo areas you already frequent - though you may find yourself growing apart from some, and that can be completely natural. I find myself involved with a number of different microcosms of writers: emails with one set here, a private discussion group of about a dozen writers there.

When considering your own networks, remember that you will have a few things you'll need from the collection of communities:

• There must be some writers that you can help. By teaching, you make conscious that which you know from experience, which lets you more intelligently work. This also lets you pay back some of the enormous debt we all incur through life.


• You must be able to learn from others. That means, there have to be writers with at least as much experience as you, who have digested those lessons differently from you, so they will have another set of insights that can instruct.


• You need to have an atmosphere of underlying amicability. That doesn't mean constant agreement, and it doesn't mean avoiding conflict. You can't learn or grow without some disagreements. But be sure people are willing to express their difference with you and listen to yours with them in a professional manner.


• Don't approach networking from a sense of dependency. If you're hoping that a given set of writers will be a good source of work leads, you're heading in the wrong direction. Most of what you can share with colleagues is more fundamental than specific assignments.

It's a strange balance, because on one hand, these people often won't be close friends as you're used to. However, they're not going to be mere acquaintances. I like the word colleagues; it indicates a specialized friendship where the ties go deeper than convenience.

Mediabistro Sale and the Value of Online

People have been grinding away on the Mediabistro.com sale, wondering why they got so much, and there's been more than a touch of envy on the party of many who had attended some of Laurel Touby's parties. As Jupitermedia CEO Alan Meckler put it in a blog post, "It's the Job Board, Stupid!"

And certainly, as even back in 2000 as she got a $1 million investment from now closed hedge fund Gotham Partners as well as media figure Martin Peretz, Touby said that Mediabistro was profitable from the job listings that then went for $150 and now may be up to $200 each (according to something I saw posted on a writers' board).

But even Meckler isn't telling the whole story (though he admits to liking "everything about the business"). The job board worked because there was enough of an audience. But the audience went there to see content - and for years Mediabistro didn't pay for the articles. Instead they touted the exposure, and sometime would throw in a free subscription that would get the writer access to most everything on the site.

I remember getting into some public tussles, along with some other writers, with MB's former CFO as well as Elizabeth Spiers, who was editor there for a while. Some of us thought it was practically obscene that the company not pay writers when they claimed to be an industry community. "We can't afford to pay," they would wail, and also claim that the articles just didn't matter that much, and that they were more or less doing the writers a favor by having them up there at all. Then there were the occasional mentions of paying eventually when conditions allowed. All while having about a dozen paid people on staff. (I understand they now pay a whopping $50 per article, which is still remarkably cheap.)

Ah, but it's content - articles and discussion boards - that generally draw people in the first place. That's what creates an audience large enough to attract advertisers. As some of us said then, writing for free for Mediabistro (and you can substitution any company name in its place) is effectively investing in that organization. Now the payday for all the work came - for Touby and her investors. Not for those whose work subsidized the business model. She's done well, and good for her so far as that goes. But she also did it partially on the backs of others, who will never get credit, let alone payment, for the investment of time.

As the saying goes, you can die of exposure. That's what happens to the time and effort of writers who go along with schemes, listening to strains of, "We hope one day to be able to pay." Maybe they will, but, frankly, eventual paltry payment is just so much chicken feed best suited to poultry. When new owners come into place, they aren't going to open the payment flood gates. Hell, they bought the existing business model! Why should they pay more? Clearly writers are willing to underwrite the profits of others.

I've seen many publishing ventures make these promises of some future consideration for under payment today. But it virtually never happens. What you get now is pretty much what you'll always get. Asking someone to make money for your enterprise for nothing in return is despicable. Being willing to do it is just plain dumb. Don't be a patsy; go off and find a real assignment.

Contract Review: CanWest

Someone jsut sent me the new contract from Canadian publisher and broadcaster CanWest. It's pretty much the same for writers and photographers, so both should be able to get something from this review. Please remember that I'm not a lawyer and that this isn't legal advice:

• CanWest seeks rights for all media, including "any and all third party print, broadcast, online, digital, and other media and the right to repurpose and/or resell in any media worldwide." Furthermore, payment schedules can be changed by the company without notice, so you could find yourself suddenly working for less money than you thought.


• The first numbered clause indicates that all rihts are exclusive, so the writer or photographer can never publish the material in any way, shape, or form (including self-promotion on a web site) without permission. The company can make any changes it wants and the writer or photographer has to waive moral rights - non-existent for US writers, but for Canadians as well as for US visual artists (photographers), it means that even if the company makes you look bad with the changes, you can't take any issue. They can sublicense any of the rights to anyone, which means that, combined with the moral rights waiver, you have no control over how and in what context your material is used. If a legislature grants additional rights in this area, you waive them as well.


• The second clause looks for a warranty, or promise, that the material "shall not infringe upon or violate the rights of any third party, whether personal or proprietary, including copyright." That means if a court in any part of the world (worldwide rights) decides that your piece has infringed any rights whatsoever, you've just breached the contract. Remember that laws vary widely, and you're promising that which you probably can't know. The contract also restricts the damages you can seek to "damages at law," and that a court cannot curtail the company's rights. I know less of Canadian law than US, but I think there is a distinction in terms of the remedies available if they cause you an injury of any sort. That means you could sue for money but not to force CanWest into any particular action, including an injunction from doing something or other and where money alone won't make up for it. If you use best efforts in trying to comply with this, the company will defend you in a defamation action - but no other type of action is mentioned, so for those you're on your own.


• In section three, aside for the "independent contractor" language you might expect, the contract further says that your services "are not now, and will not become, subject to any union or collective bargaining agreement... ." In other words, should someone organize a union for freelancers in Canada, this agreement is exempt.


• Section four provides for a freelancer to get 50 percent of the gross (that at least is a reasonable amount) for syndication sales. But the contract defines that as individual sales to third parties and not part of the Base Use (everything owned by the company or affiliated with it, including broadcast media and the Canada.com web site) or Electronic Use (all third party online and digital services). Since the base use includes the CanWest News Service, that may not leave a whole lot.

Sounds like the CanWest contract is a Can't Do for freelancers who value their business.

Keeping Quiet About Your Problems

Gawker has had a couple of pieces recently that have been making the rounds on the writers boards. One is about a New Yorker writer looking for donations to pay for rescuing his digital images from a crashed hard drive. The other concerns a writer who allegedly used a pseudonym to keep touting the glories of his own writing to Gawker.

It amazes me the types of habits and predilections a writer will advertise in public. The New Yorker popular music critic has this request for up to $5,000 in donations posted on his home page - and he wasn't going to send individual thanks to the donors, though he's willing to post an "honor roll" of those who got his data life together. How the hell does he think people in the industry, including his bosses, are going to see this? Here's a clue: corporations often do things like running background and credit checks to make sure employees or job applicants aren't going to be tempted to steal or sell off inside company information.

As for promoting via a fake email address, don't writers read news stories about authors getting outed for posting anonymous reviews on their own books? Do such people really not realize that they're not as clever as they think? That many people don't know how to uncover subterfuges unless the perpetrator is unusually skilled in technology?

But before you scoff as these displays, consider what you might be doing without realizing it. Have you ever posted on a writers' board asking whether you could get away with something that might be seen as in an ethical grey area? Ever asked about something that you wouldn't want an editor or client to know? Depending on the discretion of strangers is unwise, and you never know when that editorial client might also have access to the same board.

There's nothing wrong with being ignorant of one thing or another. (If there were, we'd all be in constant trouble.) There's nothing wrong with asking for help or in asking "dumb" questions. And there's no value in pretending to be more than you are, because the truth generally works its way out.

However, there is such a thing as being too forthcoming. You hopefully wouldn't go around telling everyone in sight about your problems in relationships, money, and self-control. Why ever would you do the same for professional weaknesses? Develop relationships with colleagues you can respect, learn which ones you can trust, and ask what you need to ask so you can learn to improve. But don't take out the online equivalent of full page ads showing you dressed in fool's motley. It's a way of building and promoting a questionable reputation ... which isn't smart business.

No Coverage Outsourcing to India ... for Now

I had mentioned the story about a web site outsourcing Pasadena city council coverage to India. Now it appears that public attention has kept the site owner from doing the outsourcing. Some writers have been passing the word triumphantly, but if anything the problem for writers is simply postponed:

"We've been prevented from doing that due to the attention that we've received," Macpherson said Monday.

What happens when the attention focuses elsewhere? Or when the next web site, or magazine or paper, does it more quietly? Polish up those skills and increase the value now. Wait, and it may be too late.

The "Best Writer" Myth

If you've ever attended a writers' conference or read the first writing business self-help book, you've come across this dictum: "Show that you're the best writer for this job." It's been repeated so often that it has become a factoid, but like many factoids, it's not really true. It just sounds like it should be.

I know that is going to sound outrageous to many, but hang in for a moment. Editors say this repeatedly for two major reasons. One is that they hear other editors say this repeatedly, and who wants to look like a dope by saying something that colleagues might find wrong. The other reason is that they are actually, albeit inaccurately, trying to convey something they need, but that relatively few writers provide.

To get to the value, let's deconstruct this statement. Is there a "best writer" in any category? Obviously not. If there were, and if the editors were serious, you'd only see one version of any story. Imagine the quandary of of the women's titles or any specialty interest magazine. They'd never be able to run a second article on a subject. And if the editors were serious abut there being a best writer for a story, there would be such competition that editorial rates would actually - gasp - go up!

That's obviously a silly thought. Editors aren't so naive as to think that writers are this uniquely and singularly qualified. No, they're actually saying something slightly different. They want the best writer they can find for that topic at that moment without actually having to put in significant effort in looking. Best writer actually means some combination of seven things:

• The writer has an advantage in covering the story. That advantage may be expert knowledge, experience covering the topic, inside connections, proximity for something that needs live coverage, or any other factor that helps get a better story.


• The writer's style or voice lends itself to the topic or will provide a unique take that adds value to the reporting.


• The writer is well-known enough that having the person connected to the topic will increase sales of the magazine or newspaper issue.


• The writer's working style will mesh well with the publication's editorial process and needs.


• The publication can keep within its budget for the writer, which could mean that the writer is inexpensive enough, or that the necessary premium isn't too dear.


• The writer is available to do the assignment.


• The editor will look good in the eyes of his or her boss after the assignment is done.

As you can see, this is a subjective judgment of comparative superlative worth. The "best" writer for one publication might not be the "best" for another, and your standing at the apex of all possible writers drops quickly if the magazine decides that it can't afford you.

Now that we have the theory, let's get to the practical application. What editors really ask for when saying that they want the "best" writer is that writers pitching a story address these needs. In other words, we're back to thinking like the client and trying to meet the client's needs, both spoken and unspoken, material and emotional. To increase your fitness for that latest fitness story, weave answers for each of these points into your pitch. That doesn't mean the editor will see you as the best fit. It may be that someone else with a similar idea has a better degree of connection, or more expertise, or what have you. It might be that while two writers both have five out of the seven points, one has more of the ones that are a higher priority for that editor. But the greater a degree to which you can show that you will satisfy these needs, the better and better you look to an editor.

Indian Outsourcing Teaches Business Lessons

I've seen a number of writers on writers' boards upset by news that a web site called Pasadena Now is outsourcing coverage of the Pasadena, Calif. city council to a couple of reporters in India. They are concerned that over time more reporting jobs will move overseas, putting them out of work. Their concern about the movement of work overseas is well founded. This is the way of the world, folks, and if what you do is purely intellectual in nature, there's a good chance that under the right conditions it could be done by someone in another country willing to charge much less than you. But the question is what makes up the right conditions?

In this story, you can learn three things about your business today. One is a concept called barrier to entry. That means something necessary to do a job and the difficulty of being able to supply it. In this case, the only barriers to entry for this reporting job were the ability to speak and write in English, a basic knowledge of news writing, the ability to see and hear the council meetings, and the willingness to work cheaply. What has taken people by surprise is that they assumed viewing the meetings could only happen in person.

But look at that list again. The barriers to entry were always absurdly low. Anyone who could write halfway decently and had read a beginning book on news writing would have been capable of doing the job. So ask yourself what barriers of entry there are for the types of writing you do. At writers' conferences, editors often say that they want to know what makes one freelancer the best person for the job. I think the formulation is a bit overblown, but still important. What value do you bring in terms of special knowledge, contacts developed over time, or abilities that would be difficult to duplicate? If all you offer is a willingness to make some phone calls and maybe an idea or two, your business is highly insecure. Smart writers keep improving their skills and areas of expertise and learning new ones as well as finding new ways to build relationships with clients and continually adding value that they bring to the table.

The second lesson is that you have to keep examining your current assumptions. Don't become a buggy whip manufacturer who scoffs at these new fangled horseless carriages. In the case of this story, people don't realize just what Internet distributed video makes possible. Instead of becoming a victim of technology, put it to work for you. Then you can go back to the first lesson and consider what extra value technology might let you bring. Maybe it's time to learn how to create your own photos, audio, and video so you can offer a full selection of media choices to your clients. Then you have the added benefit of additional revenue streams.

Third lesson is that value is a relative thing. I'd argue that being unable to question people both before and after the meetings meant that the coverage would be inferior. But the web site publisher in this case disagreed. Something is only of economic and business value if someone is willing to pay for it. While you're upgrading your skills and knowledge, it's time to upgrade your clients. Don't chase the cheapskates who think that there is no difference between the work of different writers. Leave them to writers who are apparently happy to work for little, because that's what they keep doing. Look for a better type of client, and when you find them, offer knowledge, skill, value, and professionalism that will keep them coming back.

Red Flags

I've added a new link under Resources: Red Flags. This document has a list of common red flags that should act as warning signs. Feel free to mention some of your own "favorites."

How Not to Tick Off Editors, Agents, and Others

Sally Wiener Grotta is a writer and photographer friend of mine who has a great blog entry on what not to say to editors and agents.

It's on the book end of things, but I think the comments are applicable to anything a writer does, whether book, magazine, corporate, or non-profit. Outside of the usual culprits - like "Don't screw up my name when sending something to me" - are some particularly relevant ones. For exmaple, the impulse to talk about yourself can be off-putting and can set off a red flag that you are going to be high maintenence. This is a perfect example of starting to understand your prospects and doing things to make them comfortable and happy. And when the prospects are happy, they're more inclined to give you assignments.