Calling All Readers: It's Time to #StandwithWriters

6/5/2016 5 Comments

Calling All Readers: It's Time to #StandwithWriters

I love good writing, especially when it focuses on New England's food, art and culture. So when I first heard about Take Magazine, and flipped through its glossy, well-designed pages, I fell hard and fast. The publication is beautifully done. The photography is breathtaking and the writing is superb.

But they don't deserve my patronage.

Take Magazine: The Name Says it All

Take Magazine has failed to pay several of their writers. Meanwhile, they are sponsoring arts events in Boston and New Haven and raised over $20,000 through Kickstarter. And they've obviously attracted some wonderful writers. They were recognized as one of 2015's best new magazines by the Library Journal and named one of the top 30 magazine launches of the year by Media Industry News.

And yet, they haven't paid their writers.

Although I've never written for Take Magazine, I have written for other regional magazines. Typically, the magazines write the contract and determine the amount and terms of payment. With every contract I signed, I agreed to write the piece, and make any requested changes, months before it was published. I further agreed receive payment 30 days after the article was published.

Why would anyone agree to such terms?

Because if you want to make a living as a freelance writer, you agree to the terms the magazine proposes or another writer will gladly write the article and you will go back to dreaming up creative new recipes for ramen noodles.

The terms outlined above are the same terms writers agree to when they entered into a contract with Take Magazine. But even though the magazine dictated the terms of the entire relationship, they have failed to abide by those terms.

That is unacceptable.

Over the years, I have written more than a few demand letters. Each one was written after repeated requests for payment. Only after I wrote the demand letter, informing the magazine that I would pursue legal remedies if they didn't pay me what they owed, did I finally receive payment. And by then, the relationship was, as far as I was concerned, over.

But many freelance writers don't feel that they have the luxury of scratching specific publications off their list. They earn their living writing for publication, and the number of paying publications out there is diminishing. So, they live in hope that they will eventually get paid, and continue to write while eating ramen noodles.

Two of Take Magazine's writers have made their claims public, applying social media pressure in hopes that the magazine will make good on their promise. Austin Dale is owed over $2,000 for work completed months ago. Anulfo Baez has still not been paid for an article that was published in the February/March 2016 edition of the magazine.

It's Time to #StandwithWriters

It is on behalf of the writers, the smart and talented people who spend hours researching and writing a story designed to educate, inspire, entertain and inform us, the reader, that I ask you to join me in boycotting Take Magazine and any magazine that fails to pay it's writers in accordance with their contract.

Join me in calling on Take Magazine to honor their agreements by paying their writers for the work they have done. If you subscribe to the magazine, cancel your subscription until they right this wrong. And remind them of our call-to-action by using the hashtag #StandwithWriters across their social media accounts. The writers may not have much of a voice in this fight, but as readers and subscribers, we certainly do. And if Take Magazine does honor their commitment to the writers who make the magazine possible, we all win. Take Magazine thrives, the writers can keep doing the work they do so well, and we all get to enjoy a wonderful publication.

I #StandwithWriters. Do you?

5 Comments

James Wilson link

6/7/2016 11:47:39 am

All start-ups suffer moments of that are difficult to manage, no matter how well crafted the strategy or business model. The owners of TAKE have indicated their moral obligation to pay the writers, so that is not the issue. They are at a moment where they are gathering advertising revenue and subscribers to climb into a cash positive place. Calling for a boycott is the best way to assure these writers will never get paid; I daresay it is a bad strategy. TAKE has indicated is obligation and it needs some time to make good on it. I am an investor, and given I have money invested in TAKE, I have skin in this game. This "call to arms" will simply vanquish my investment and perhaps I will just have to thank you if that happens. I am sympathetic to the writers who deserve to be paid as soon as possible, but we need a strategy, for now, that strengthens TAKE not weaken it. Then the payments will flow, and selfishly, my investment will not be liquidated. I understand the litigious impulse, but here I think it is counter productive to truly positive result for all parties involved.

Alex Nich

6/13/2016 10:05:17 am

I think you're missing the point.
"Take has acknowledged it has an obligation to pay these writers" - yes, it did that when it hired their services, continuing to say so now without giving them that money is meaningless. Agreeing with my neighbour that I should return his mower, is not the same as returning it. When I borrowed it, I committed to return it. Words after that are empty. They either pay, promptly, or they face ramifications for their unethical behaviour.

The writers and readers of the world, who are not stakeholders in Take, don't have many options: 1) we can tell Take we don't like that they are sponsoring events but not paying writers. 2) We can draw attention to Take's bad behaviour, hurting their business and discouraging other writers from taking work with them. 3) We can boycott a company that doesn't keep its promises and chooses to pay for events over paying its actual bills and commitments.

Take has responded to efforts along option 1: They have acknowledged an obligation to pay the writers. But they already had and acknowledged that obligation when they used their writing. Take hasn't paid them. So option 1 did not work.

That leaves: options 2 and 3, which, as you point out, could be fatal for Take - and bad for your investment.

You, as a shareholder/investor, have a power that others do not. You, James Wilson, can call up Take, tell them you are an investor, tell them you are scared about your investment - that you don't believe a magazine can thrive that is shady about paying writers, and that even if it can, you want no part in such foul practices. Ask for your money back, or for the writers to be paid. They will listen to you more than us. If you want to avoid a boycott of Take and protect your investment, do something.

James Wilson

6/13/2016 12:12:40 pm

I understand your response, however, pragmatic action is needed now. I cannot push "TAKE" to make more money to pay you or me. They are doing all they can to get revenue through subscribers and advertisers. Subverting them now will simply undermine their commitment to make good on their debts. They have no residual resources to draw on, and I know they are cutting to the bone to make good on what they can. They are "down" and if I were to ask for my money back, that would be kicking them when they are down and to no good end. Patience is the strategy I will hold to in the belief they will turn this around. Attacking them, I will resubmit, at this time, is the best thing you can do if you never want to be paid. Sad truth. So, I don't think I missed the point; I get it. I am just making an alternate point, a pragmatic point, that perhaps has eluded you in your anger with TAKE (which is understandable). All good wishes that TAKE survives and thrives to make good on its debts. I cannot ask you to not boycott or whatever, I am just telling you what I believe will be the consequences. Nor do I have any special leverage with TAKE given my investment. I am not a shareholder. For the record, let me restate: None of us will get anything if we take actions that promote the demise of TAKE. That is the only point I wish to make. It needs time to make good on its debts. If we don't allow that, then you perhaps can enjoy its demise, but for me that is a very pyrrhic outcome. Patience is my strategy to allow it to live and prosper and pay its debts. Patience is not an ideal strategy, but it bodes well for a longer term positive result, rather than a crushing ending fueled by moral indignation (I get the understandable anger, so I did not miss that point). All good wishes to you. Moments like this are challenging ones I know.

Debra Hagan link

6/13/2016 03:09:02 pm

I've been in the publishing business as a writer and editor for more than 30 years. When the publisher runs short of money, guess who's the first not to be paid? It's the writers--always. It's not the bookkeeper or the utility company or the landlord or the caterer. It's the writers, because they have little if any power. They have very little recourse. They're expendable. If the publisher can't pay them, there are others out there. In fact, there are plenty of writers who will write for free. Of course, most don't have the same level of talent..but you get what you pay for in the end.

It's just rather despicable to take advantage of lowest paid people, who've invested so much personal time and effort in researching and writing. They've completed their "moral obligation" in delivering a product that the publisher packages and sells. It's nice that the publisher recognizes its "moral obligation" to reciprocate and pay, but that doesn't put food on the table for writers who make a living at this.

Take will have a very hard time surviving if it doesn't pay its writers. It's bad business practice.

James Wilson

6/13/2016 03:57:32 pm

Yes, yes...I think you might re-read my remarks. If you want to get paid, attacking the magazine will not work. It needs subscribers and advertisers to get the revenue to pay you. If you attack it and kill it, you will never get paid. Your moral high ground is unimpeachable, however, your tactics will lead to ruin. Patience and tolerance are the strategies if you (and I) can hope for anything at all. Watch and see the truth unfold and you will remember this email exchange as prescient. I really don't need another iteration of moral outrage; I get it. I just want my return, and your actions will simply do nothing to make that happen; in fact it will destroy that chance.

All good wishes.

YOUR CART

Musings