Apart from news and views on media covering tourism, travel, and hospitality, writers, editors, photogs, and bloggers share tips, leads, ideas, news, gripes. PR reps/journos ISO press releases/trips, see also "PR/Marketing." Opinions stated are not necessarily those of Tripatini.
A tribute to my friend, the late travel media icon Arthur Frommer
The legendary U.S. travel journalist and entrepreneur Arthur Frommer passed away November 18 at the age of 95. Born in Virginia and with an early boyhood in a small town in Missouri, Arthur was a lawyer who became a pioneering and great travel journalist, and who will be remembered as having helped open the joys of travel to the masses. While serving in the U.S. Army in Europe in the 1950s, he got the travel bug, came out with a travel guide for servicemen, and followed up in 1957 with…
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The advantage of living in Canada or the UK is that everything I write automatically is my copyright. Under our laws I actually have to sign something to give away or alter my copyright. I don't need to put a copyright notice on anything or register anything. If I write or snap the photo or draw the illustration, it's mine.
First, to Susan's dilemma: Just take the damned trip! The "don't ask/don't tell" gambit is the only thing to do these days, and chances are you'll gather enough info for stories for other outlets.Trust me: they won't ask and, in this economy, you are not a bad person for not telling. The point is survival.
As to a Warning List, those of us who belong to ASJA have their warning list, contributed by members. The easiest thing to do is for us to share non-bellyache info -- who's slow in pay, who's not paying at all, who's playing writers off against one another, who seems to be going out of business and, therefore, not to be trusted for future assignments. Just put your Caveat du Jour in the Comments, and we'll be grateful for it.
Long ago I began to sign Work for Hire contracts and ignored them -- re-selling magazine articles only slightly altered to other outlets after publication. And not once has the original Draconian magazine outfit found out. Devious? No: smart! We can't change the game, but we can find ways to change the ballpark in our favor.
As to rates, consider this (courtesy of an ASJA study done a decade ago): rates are about the same, or lower, than they were in the 1960s for magazines. We know that everything has gone up but writer compensation, and that ain't gonna change. We have it in our power to be as smart/devious to get out work out there.
Am off for a week (a cruise I actually paid for -- no having to interview the Hotel Manager, show up for the galley tour when I'd rather be doing anything else, etc.!). Will happily keep track of this conversation after I return August 2. Another advantage of taking a real vacation is that I am going to be computer and e-mail free for a week. Such bliss!
One question for Allan: Do you wear that red puffy suit all the time!
Courage mes amis!
As for guidebooks, they're works-for-hire. We know that going in. But at least Fodor's, Frommer's and their ilk would put your name on the title page, entitling you to being listed as author on Amazon, B&N, Borders, et al, and therefore Google. Even worse, they now put all your hard work sans byline up on the net and syndicate it elsewhere for additional monies, none of which you see. And heaven forfend you don't do the update at an even more ridiculously low fee -- your name may not be seen anywhere in the book, even though 90% of your original material might still comprise the book.
Basta! This isn't a forum for whining. We all know the problems inherent in the industry. As Mary Alice says, we need to band together to devise devious (re)solutions. :-)
Actually, in Canada we had a chance to do something about on-line revenues and we blew it! I won't bother to go into the whole episode again, but we had the chance and those who don't understand business won the day and lost the future.
As for protecting copyright, I had the same book publisher twice steal mine. The first time became a two-year legal fight. I settled out of court for more than three times what I originally asked for and more than the court could have awarded. The second time they just paid me what I asked.
As for guidebooks, I have my own thoughts on how that can be addressed. But I'm still mulling over details, so need a bit more time on it.
Cheers.
Mary Alice, shout-out back at ya (last time we saw each other, I think we were rushing back from an event to watch Lost), and your clarion call to arms (or at least nimbly typing fingers) is a tonic. I'm grateful to David and Jose for providing a forum for our community and comments.
Vis a vis copyright, intellectual property, and um, payment. We know most group newsletters discuss deadbeat (or sloooooow-paying) publishers. IMO this deserves its own "kvetch" thread or even section, both to commiserate and warn. Ed and I are currently two of many writers who've banded together to sue one deadbeat. We're not here to subsidize these publishers! Yet how often do we make concessions for start-ups, desperately hoping for a windfall by getting in on the first floor?
Once David and/or Jose suggests the appropriate thread for "warnings," I'll name names, and would encourage everyone else to do the same. This is not acting with intent to harm business; if anything we don't want to hound them into bankruptcy (probably squirreling their assets elsewhere anyway). But we have an ethical obligation not only to list deadbeats but to provide counsel regarding the best course(s) of action.
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