Bryllyn New friend
Posts: 12
(12/16/04 5:39 pm) Reply
ACK! They accepted it... now what?
Woo woo! My first published article is going to be out in January! It's just a small local monthly newsprint magazine, but still I'M SO EXCITED.
I just got confirmation after sending a "status?" email to the editor. She had thought she'd told me they were going to use it, but I hadn't recieved anything from her.
Now, the hard part: she's already laying it out, and she hasn't mentioned one word about payment. Their guidelines specify that they pay "$40 for department article." The section I'm going to be in is the "In the outdoors" section that appears every month. That's a department... right?
$40 isn't going to make or break me, but I did submit to them thinking it was a paying market. So... how do I word asking about payment? There was no mention of a contract or rights or anything.
I don't think there's anything negotiable here. If they say their departments pay 40 bucks, expect 40 bucks.
Just bathe in the fact that they thought enough of your piece to publish it. Use it as a springboard to publish more.
Judging from your post I'm reckoning you won't see a contract. I'm figuring since you know their pay you also know what rights they're buying--must've been written down someplace.
Re: ACK!
I wouldn't worry about it either
My last published piece I submitted as a filler type thing and it ended up in the parents advice section which they do still pay for. I was a little worried at first but everything was fine. A couple days after I got the mag with my piece in it I received the check. No contract or anything.
April
"Success is getting up one more time than you fall down"
-Julie Bowden
aka eraser A fishy character and Mod Squad agent
Posts: 1879
(12/16/04 9:44 pm) Reply
Re: ACK!
Congrats Bryllyn. If you're worried about the "when," you'll mostly likely be paid within a couple of weeks after publication.
Congrats and . . .
Good for you! How exciting!
If you replied already, wait until the piece is published and see what happens.
If you haven't - when you do, thank them and ask about rights and payment--nicely.
Just my opinion.
Congrats!
Cate
LindaF New friend
Posts: 22
(12/17/04 8:14 am) Reply
Congrats!
That's awesome!
About the payment, ask the editor if you need to send an invoice or whether she'll submit one for you for payment. That way you find out about the payment without having to ask, "Hey, where's my moolah?"
Re: Congrats!
Definitely ask about sending an invoice. This is the nice way of reminding them.
Congrats on your sale, though! *claps*
But to answer the question "they accepted it, now what?": Get to work on your next article. Showing you can deliver continuous material is a very good thing! (And the extra sales won't hurt, either. )
Irate over the
lack of agitated
doofuses
Posts: 94
(12/17/04 3:24 pm) Reply
Re: Congrats!
Yeah, each week I wait and see when payroll gets a wild hair and decides to pay. I'm three months into the system and I've yet to find a pattern. It's like hatching an egg of dread at the mailbox every day.
Then again, you could always try haggling with them.
That'd be funny.
Bryllyn New friend
Posts: 13
(12/18/04 10:30 am) Reply
Re: Congrats!
Well, I sent an email asking which type of rights they bought, as it doesn't say anything in the writer's guideline. I figure that the phrasing implies the payment. Haven't heard back from the editor yet.
Re: Congrats!
Just wanted to add my congrats, too, Bryllyn. You handled it just fine; asking about the rights will probably get you the answer you need. For the future, I agree with Linda and Dawn: I would have just asked if they needed me to submit an invoice.
Copy that first check and frame it! I'm bummed I never did that. Mind you, my first check was for $9 and it bounced... which might have been even funnier to frame.
(Long story short, it was a $10 option on a screenplay, my agent took her 10%, then she closed down her bank account before I cashed it.)
)
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