asjamonthly-public-2.. - The ASJA Monthly

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○2ASJA NewsletternewsletterContents3 29th Annual Conference4 You News6 Announcements7 From the CourtsConfidential SectionC1 Book Markets: What’s AheadC2 From the PresidentC3 LettersC5 Members-Only MeetingC6 World NewsC7 Vision of ASJA’s FutureC8 PayCheckC9 Rate Survey FormC11 Book BriefsC13 Help LineC14 Q&AC15 Market MonitorC16 Computer CornerC19 1,000 New Magazines in ’99C20 Ask the AgentsC22 BuyLine–New SoftwareC24 Online WorldVolume 49 Number 3 March 2000©2000, American Society of Journalists, Inc.PRODUCED BY THE ASJA PUBLICATIONS COM-MITTEE: Dan Hurley (chair), Claire Berman, ShereeBykofsky, Lynne S. Dumas, Wayne Harris (Web master),Florence Isaacs, Robert L. Liebman, Susan K.Perry, Timothy Perrin (newsletter editor), Sallie G.Randolph, Hal Smith (newsletter assistant editor),Janice Hopkins Tanne.The ASJA Newsletter (ISSN 1056-3849) is publishedmonthly by the American Society of Journalists andAuthors, Inc., 1501 Broadway, Suite 302, New York,NY 10036, except for a combined July-August issue.Subscriptions are $120 per year as a benefit of membership(information on membership requirementsavailable on request). Periodicals postage paid at NewYork NY and additional mailing office. POSTMAS-TER: Send address changes to ASJA Newsletter, 1501Broadway, Suite 302, New York NY 10036.American Society of Journalists & Authors1501 Broadway, Suite 302,New York, NY 10036Phone: (212) 997-0947Fax: (212) 768-7414e-mail: staff@asja.orghttp://www.asja.orgMaking Articles Paycontinued from page 1is the Army Times Publishing Company, basedin Virginia. Their primary market is Departmentof Defense employees and U.S. militarymembers. So, when travel editor Cindi Floritoffered me $225 for a feature on Italy’s sunkencity of Baiae, I gladly accepted. When she askedfor all rights, I pulled back the offer and saidthey could have exclusive rights in the DoDand US military market, to which she agreed.The point here is that many editors, it seems,have been trained — primarily because theytoo began as freelance writers — to instantlybelieve that all rights or first North Americanserial rights are theirs for the asking, as long asthey have offered some pittance of compensation.I, for one, would like to know where thisabsurd thought came from. Army Times PublishingCompany no more had a need for allrights than does The Prague Post, in the CzechRepublic.This morning, a reader of my Writer On Linecolumn, Going Global with Mike Sedge, sent amessage in which she said: “You suggest authorsestablish their own rights, rather than waitand see what an editor offers. It’s a conceptI’ve never heard of but find quite compellingand it makes ever so much sense.”Of course it makes sense. It makes goodbusiness sense! A major part of guerrilla marketingis not to let the excitement of gettingpublishing blur your business vision. That is,you must be rightfully compensated for yourwork and the rights you are licensing. The keyto rights is that you give each publication whatit needs, within the legal boundaries of the sale.For example, if a newspaper published in NewYork State is going to publish your article, ithas no need for all North American rights. InCalendarPrice: $18 per person for members andone guest accompanying a member; $30 perperson for other nonmembers. Price includeshors d’oeuvres and an open bar.Reservations are required. Because a largeturnout is expected, reserve your place earlywith the ASJA office. Deadline for reservationsis noon on March 21.Writing in a Spiritual WorldTues, March 28 – San FranciscoASJA members Donna Albrecht, authorof I Love to Tell the Story: Favorite Bible Storiesof Famous People, and Lauraine Snelling, authorof dozens of YA and adult Christian novelsand nonfiction books, highlight an eveningthat focuses on the religious and spiritual marcontinuedfrom page 1• Tomislav Podreka, author of Serendipitea,and founder of the company of the same namewhich markets premium grade loose leaf teato top restaurants nationwide.• Katharine Sands, literary agent who specializesin branding the authors she represents.• Catherine Schuller, fashion and retaileditor for Mode magazine, producer of the annualnational tour Mode on the Road, imageconsultant, and author of The Ultimate Plus-Size Modeling Guide.Time: drinks and hors d’oeuvres at 6 p.m.Program begins about 6:45.Location: Society of Illustrators, members’dining room, 128 East 63rd Street (betweenPark and Lexington Avenues), New York, NewYork.○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○this same respect, a national publication hasno need for world rights. If I am working witha periodical that insists on more rights thanare necessary, I immediately up the price ofthe article accordingly.Recently, Scientific American DiscoveringArchaeology asked me to write a piece, but insistedon all rights. I realized that they had plansfor an international as well as German-languageedition of the magazine and, thus, planned toreuse my material. I therefore quoted a priceof $1.25 per word, with the agreement thatthey would take at least two more features.They agreed to the deal. In this case I had sacrificedsome of my standard per-word fee —for all rights usage — in exchange for additionalassignments.Granted, you might lose a sale by doing this.But in the long run you may end up makingmore money by being able to sell your articlesagain and again. Despite what editors and individualsinvolved with the New York publishingindustry tell you, there are publishers thataggressively re-sell articles once they have allrights. Buzz magazine goes so far as to advertisethe resale of articles. A recent issue, forexample, carried an ad reading, among otherthings, “Reprints of any article are now availablefrom Reprints Management Services…Calltoday…”Michael SedgeMilan, ItalyThis article is excerpted from MARKETINGSTRATEGIES FOR WRITERS by ASJA Director-at-LargeMichael Sedge. The 256-pagepaperback sells for $16.95 in bookstores or bycalling (800) 491-2808. It is also available fromAmazon.com. © 1999 Michael H. Sedgecontinued on page 7