Busy

I haven't had much time to post in the week or so I've left these pages barren, not without reason though. I've been working on tightening up the last batch of articles for Skuawk. Mathblues, and a new gig at UrbanDaddy.com, which is set to launch in the coming weeks. I'm also in the process of securing a copyeditting position that could net a sum of money so large that I might be able to move and actually eat later thes month when I'm off in Los Angeles. I will post as new updates arrive.

What a Tool

I recently subscribed to Freelancesuccess.com, and one of the first things I managed to do with my new account was create a nifty little webpage to showcase some of my clips. Check it out here It has gotten some good feedback, most notably from Editor Brian Cunningham at Wizard Magazine (THE Comic Book Magazine.) He said that the clips were impressive and would be forwarded to the Features Editor. It occurs to me that despite having having to butt heads to often, it's very useful to please editors and make their lives as simple and painless as possible. So, from now on, instead of sending a jumble of links in query emails, I've decided to chuck my resume altogether and simple add a link to my webpage and its neatly organized contents. Simple, easy, and the editors can browse via subject or topic however they like. I just hope they appreciate all that I'm doing for them.

Pleasant Surprise

Mediabistro.com is one of the cardinal sites I check for jobs, I also have a resume posted there as should any freelancer. They recently ran this story. I got a lovely surprise today, the bleary eyed ramble I wrote at two in the moring last week was published in the letters to the editor page. You can see it here, it's the second from the top.

I want to comment on the other two letters that so vehemently disagree with Mr. Lindsay, but it seems they are a lost cause.

Edit: Who am I kidding, I have to comment:

An open letter to the editors of Mediabistro.com: was Greg Lindsay's condescending rant about j-school really worth 2,000 words?

Lindsay seems to have missed one of the cardinal rules of journalism: be concise. Being accurate couldn't hurt, either. I'm in the graduate program at NYU. At least one professor, Jay Rosen, has his own blog. In my magazine writing class this semester, each person in my class kept a blog and updated it three times a week. (You can read our blog at journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/theoryb.) Each week, a professional journalist spoke to our 10-person class, because our professor, Adam Penenberg, is quite aware that "It's who you know, not what you know."

I don't know when Lindsay graduated from j-school, but I think he's been saving up this rambling, rudderless rant ever since. The essay wanders from French philosophers to Spy magazine to some poor undergraduate intern who got beat up on Romanesko. [sic] (Yes, Mr. Lindsay, I do read Romanesko.) But he doesn't make any clear point other than "rebellion is fun." Next time, if he wants to write about what's going on in journalism schools, maybe he should try some actual reporting first.

Hannah Clark

"I'm in the graduate program at NYU."
And there is your bias. At least have the decency to be honest about it.

"Adam Penenberg, is quite aware that 'It's who you know, not what you know.'"
Which is exactly the sentiment Lindsay was talking about. The entitlement is strong with this one. The fact that Hannah buys into this culture of nepotism and bootlicking assures me of two things, A) she completely missed the point of the letter and B) she will never take any risks in the pursuit of good writing.

I really hope she enjoys treading that neatly trimmed path that people like me, Lindsay, or anyone else with a grain of integrity have carved out for her. Some of us prefer to go screaming into the woods.

"But he doesn't make any clear point other than 'rebellion is fun.'"
Actually, he made quite a few solid points that so obviously swooshed over her head. The dangers of comfort and entitlement being one, and the decline of j-school's relevance. You would think that j-school would teach one to be an astute reader? That's quite a sum of money to throw down without basic reading comprehension.

The fact is that rebellion is fun and worthwhile to boot. Hannah should try it sometime.


I sincerely hope Hannah reads this, I think it would fun to read her rebuttal.

A Few Notes

Things have been picking up, and I'm delighted to tell the truth. From what I've experienced in this business it's feast or famine when it comes to the workload. Just a few positives notes here, then I'll move on to the bashing, and let's be honest it is more fun to bash douchebag editors and clients than it is to felate myself with job-well-done's. So here goes:


The Good
Inkwell Editorial informed me today that they would be publishing a response to a query I wrote in regard to freelancing overseas. I'll post a link when it gets published in July.

I wrote some copy the last few weeks, as mentioned in a previous post, for a restaurant called Hummus Place (109 St. Mark's Place New York, NY) in the East Village. It was just some basic information about the food, history, and nutrition of Hummus (that's all they serve). Sharon, the graphic designer, and Ori, the chef, loved the copy and I can hope for more copywriting work from Sharon. The two were delightful to work with. I'll be scanning a copy and posting it once these babies get printed up.

I was also contacted to write a series of health articles for some anonymous yahoo user. I always get everything in writing, so I responded that all the specifics should be written into a basic contract. Still waiting on that.

EDIT: I forgot to mention I've been tapped to write a tutorial on binary numbers for Mathblues.com. Rafiq, my editor, says that it's a chance to rewrite history and scold all those text editors who punished me with bland direction. I'm actually enjoying it, I'll post a link soon.

The Bad
I did encounter one sour bit in the last month of assignments and it still irritates me no matter how far I put it out of my mind. I was contacted by a man, we'll call him Phil, who runs a medical website. I don't care to name it, because honestly I hope his business flounders in the market. Phil is a self proclaimed salesman, originally trained as an engineer and from what he told me on the phone, "an intense guy." He asked me on the phone whether or not he came across as intense and I had to respond, not really. We met at his office, I should have known when he first walked in, fresh from lunch wearing that ridiculous buret and self importantance. We went into his office and he began grilling me on what I could do for him, like any good salesman. He even went so far as to offer me a fulltime job, as he described it, a thankless job, I'll pay you nothing and I'm difficult man to work for. Needless to say I told him I wasn't interested. I did, however, mention that it might be interesting to work gathering writers and see what projects they are working on. To this he bobbed his hand in the universal "jack off" motion. I'm not one to be upset at vulgarity, far from it, I think it's one of the wonderful quirks of language, but the self importance that this salesman had dismissed my thought was infuriating. I let it slide, he quickly retracted his statement by saying "if it's important to you, then it is important to me." Bullshit. And I know it when I see it. You don't live in New York and not see great heaps of it every day.

We eventually got to the idea of freelancing. He wanted someone to write a series of articles on some of his clients, profiles you might say, to attract visitors to his site and purchase their services. We agreed on a length, a topic, and a price, which was very low mind you. The price wasn't really what got to me. What got to me was that I had mentioned in passing once on the phone the meager sum I had received for a previous writing assignment (my first one, mind you) and with everything else that was said, he remembered that number and kept bringing it back up, as if it was a travesty that someone else should get a better deal than him. I agreed to take on the minor project since there was not much else going on. Phil proceeds to call me on the weekend urging me to get started. Perhaps he is not familiar with freelance writing, but I will let anyone else know that we freelancers keep sacred deadlines. If you miss one, it's your ass. We work from home for god's sake, it's the one parameter we must adhere. It took me a solid month to get the good people at ICE on the phone. I don't blame them at all, they are a small firm with a limited staff. I wrote the article with a series of phone interviews and notes. I sent it off to Phill and the folks at ICE. ICE liked it, Phill did not. He, as I recall, "could not get past the lead. It frustrated me." Indeed. Fine, I said, read it and give me some feed back and I will happily (well not happily) make the changes. I have not heard from him since and I am considering letting the project die on account that I have a few other clients that are infinitely more accomodating and pleasant to work with. So, in closing I learned to

A) never disclose previous fees and

B) men who style themselves as "intense" are sporting a facade that's cardboard thin. Hunter Thompson was an intense man, Henry Rollins is an intense man. Phil was just a pushy salesman. I will forever spit the word salesman with distaste and revulsion.

Title Change

There's a few things I want to touch on today. First is the obvious title change as you can so plainly see above. LOL@u.com didn't really capture everything I wanted to accomplish with this blog when I put it up, so I changed it. The new title came to me a while ago, and I don't pretend it's completely original, I'm sure someone out there has the very same moniker for a screen name, email address, or alias somewhere. I was speaking to a friend about my employment and it somehow came up that every job, or freelance gig that I had ever gotten had come from showing up, sometimes late, in jeans, beaten sneakers and a hooded sweatshirt. Everyone hums the mantra "dress to impress" ad nauseum and while it may work for some, it simply doesnt work for me. To be honest, I've never felt comfortable in a suit, or my own skin for that matter, so comfortable clothes are the best I can do. Being the manic depressive I am, my rationale was quite simple, I can go in for an interview or meeting and I can get the job or not. This, in turn, will either plunge me into depression or elation. So, I decided that I will meet these prospective employers in my rawest form, comfortable clothes, standing on comfortable soles. Regardless of whether I get the job, I have something I can feel positive about, being myself. If I am not accepted for my rash decisions, well then, I suppose it just wasn't meant to be and the employment gods are less cruel than I thought. I remarked to this friend that my success in this regard must be the appeal of my maverick writer persona, whose magnetism comes from pure, unbridled creativity and original thought. So, there you have it. Maverick Writer.com. I like it.

Been Quiet

There's not much to report. I've been doing research for some copywriting I'm doing for a restaurant in Greenwich Village. Mildly interesting stuff, I'll not bore you with the details. I will, however, share a brief tip for any writers out there. I've learned it's a good strategy to inundate yourself with contacts and more projects than you can handle. The reason is that far more projects than you know will end up falling through the cracks, because of any of the following reasons:

Lack of money
Forgetfulness
Lack of interest
No response
The client has a friend "with an interest in writing"

It's always a good idea to keep a resume and clips portfolio up to date and posted wherever you can find space.

Jump back in.

My last post a bit brooding so, just to show that the life of a writer isn't all depression and poverty, here is what makes it all worth while: Two articles I am exceedingly proud of went live today.

Take a look and tell me what you think.

Two Film Fests, Two Worlds, One City

The Gypsy Pistoleros

The Editorial Scourge

Editors. The bane of my existence. Sure, they can be helpful and sometimes insightful, but for the life of me, I can't figure out why these bastards have so much power of the written word and the almighty dollar. They are perhaps the slowest animals known to man with the possible exception of the land tortoise.

I was recently contacted by Lincoln Media group, a publisher of maps and directories. The manager/owner (I am still not sure exactly what his job function is) sounded impressively amicable over the phone. He offered me decent amount for 4 articles of roughly 200 words that would be placed in a healthcare/HMO directory guide. Within a few days I was bounding and eager to start the assignment. I completed the agreement, lets take a look at a few excerpts here--

CONTRACTOR AGREEMENT WITH CONSULTANT: Writer

CONSULTING CONTRACT

THIS AGREEMENT is made as of _______, _________, 2005 between Lincoln Media Group, Inc., a California Corporation (Client) located in Lincoln, Placer County, California and ____________(Consultant) of ____________, _____________, California.

In the event of a conflict in the provisions of any attachments hereto and the provisions set forth in this Agreement, the provisions of such attachments shall govern.

1. Services. Consultant agrees to perform for Client the services listed in the Scope of Services section in Exhibit A, attached hereto and executed by both Client and Consultant. Such services are hereinafter referred to as “Services.” Client agrees that consultant shall have ready access to Client’s staff and resources as necessary to perform the Consultant’s services provided for by this contract.

2. Rate of Payment for Services. Client agrees to pay Consultant for Services in accordance with the schedule contained in Exhibit B attached hereto and executed by both Client and Consultant.

3. Invoicing. Client shall pay the amounts agreed to herein upon receipt of invoices which shall be sent by Consultant, and Client shall pay the amount of such invoices to Consultant. All invoices are normally paid within 7 working days; however, LMG reserves the right to pay within 30 days of receipt.

4. Confidential Information. Each party hereto (“Such Party”) shall hold in trust for the other party hereto (“Such Other Party”), and shall not disclose to any non-party to the Agreement, any confidential information of such Other Party. Confidential information is information which relates to Such Other Party’s research, development, trade secrets or business affairs, but does not include information which is generally known or easily ascertainable by non-parties via public information.

EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT WITH CONSULTANT: Writer

CONSULTING CONTRACT

• The Consultant will receive compensation solely upon the published article per designated project.
• The Consultant will be paid per project under the following schedule:

- X per article printed – normally 100-200 words with supporting visual (graph/chart).

- Payment shall be sent within 30 days of publication.

The project went well, I completed the articles, and sent them to the editor. She looked them over, offered a few editorial touches, which I made, and that was that.

When the time came for payment, I emailed the editor who directed me to my original point of contact. Fine. He referred me to the above agreement. The only discrepancy is that the agreement states payment will be made upon publication or 30 days after publication. Over the phone I was assured by the owner/manager fellow that since they were unsure of the publication date, I would be paid upon completion and acceptance. Fine. Let this be a lesson to all: Verbal agreements don't mean dick. Now, all this is really not my main concern. I'm not so dumb and green as to think that publication happens magically in a cauldron filled with bubbling viscous goo. What irritates me is the fact that while I was writing the articles and putting together research, every email I sent with questions or concerns was answered promptly and directly. Suddenly, it appears that my email has been blacklisted and my phone calls redirected. When the matter of payment is the subject, I'm no longer a writer, but a collection agent. They have no need for me once the product is in hand. Have a little fucking courtesy, man. If I inquire as to the status of my work, if it was accepted and agreed to be published, at least let me know where I stand. Don't just shut me out. Bastards.