The Massachusetts Independent Contractor Law was created to prevent worker exploitation, writes Andrea Shea for WBUR radio, and employers who "get busted classifying incorrectly — say, giving a worker a 1099 form at tax time rather than a W-2 — [will] face hefty fines." But writers and artists in Massachusetts are victims of Read More
Writers and Editors (RSS feed)
Freelancers Suffer Unintended Consequences of Independent Contractor Law
June 30, 2010
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Lara Logan, You Suck (for diatribe on freelance journalist)
June 30, 2010
Lara Logan, You Suck (Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone, 6-28-10).
< by going on television and, without any evidence at all, accusing the guy who beat him of cheating. That's happened to me so often, I've come to expect it. If there's a lower form of life on the planet earth than a "reputable" journalist protecting his territory, I haven't seen it.<<
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A way for authors to succeed without publishers or agents?
June 28, 2010
Publishers are cutting back on how much they publish, brick and mortar bookstores are declining in importance, and media companies that succeed will do so only by finding how to reach a niche audience, writes Jane Friedman in There Are No Rules:An Exciting Future for Authors (That Can Succeed Without Publishers or Agents) Read More
Changing e-book business practices a topic at Digital Book World
June 27, 2010
Radically changing business practices were hard for publishing executives to talk about at the debut annual conference of Digital Book World, writes Mike Shatzkin in his Shatzkin Report on the conference. One topic "that is very tough to talk about is ebook royalties, Read More
“Mothers: Don’t let your babies grow up to be freelancers"
June 26, 2010
“Mothers: Don’t let your babies grow up to be freelancers,” cracks one journalist, freelancing after leaving a staff job, as quoted by Rebecca Rosen Lum in California Progress Report story Freelance Journalists Suffering in Second Wave of News Media Collapse Read More
Does the world want a flood of crummy self-published books?
June 24, 2010
How do you find something good to read in a brave new self-published world? asks Laura Miller in When anyone can be a published author (Salon, 6-22-10). Those of us who have worked in book publishing know how much really bad writing comes through slush Read More
Shatzkin's roadmap for book publishers' future
June 14, 2010
Publishers have to change the way they do business, because digital delivery increases supply even more than it increases demand, so prices have to go down, blogs Mike Shatzkin. He writes that "getting from today (selling content) to tomorrow (selling audiences) depends on using today’s asset to build tomorrow’s." Doing this will require using "content as bait," monetizing "the eyeballs you own," not "the copyrights you own." In A roadmap for the future: 6 suggestions for today’s publishers that many can’t follow he recommends that publishers Read More
Heavy investment in digital to save The Atlantic
June 11, 2010
The struggling magazine with a historic brand has structured a comeback around "creating a solid brand identity; a digital-first strategy; building a marketing services operation; expanding live events; and maintaining a relentless focus on hiring top talent," writes Bill Mickey in Behind The Atlantic's Brand Reinvention (Audience Development, June 9, 2010). Atlantic media president Justin Smith, in his keynote address at the Folio: Show, was reported as saying The Atlantic's brand had suffered from a lack of definition. It's new tagline, "Brave Thinking," defines the brand's essence. Read More
Wiley's Deceptive Letter to Bloomberg Press Authors:
June 11, 2010
""We are pleased to inform you" that we will be slicing your royalties up to 50%, is the essence of a letter from John Wiley & Sons to Bloomberg Press authors. "John Wiley & Sons acquired Bloomberg Press, the books division of Bloomberg, in March," says the June 2010 Authors Guild alert. "At the end of April, it began sending a letter to hundreds of Bloomberg Press authors purporting to inform them 'about a few differences in the accounting systems of Bloomberg and Wiley Read More
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Metadata: something else to learn about -- fast!
June 9, 2010
Metadata is the new most important thing to know about writes Mike Shatzkin, IdeaLogical, 6-8-10. A publishing professional asks: What's the best way to index an e-book? As the reader enlarges or downsizes type on the page, the paging in an e-book will change, Read More