[eZine] Terraform

Terraform

I sent Terraform a story almost two months ago and haven't heard a thing since. They're evidently still publishing; there's new content on the site. Does anyone have a query address for Terraform? Does anyone know what their typical response time is? Thanks for any info.

My response took about two months. They're a bit new to really know what's typical for them.

It looks like Motherboard is part of Vice Magazine, meaning that they are certainly reputable, and explains why they can pay such a high rate as a new publication.

So, here's my full experience. I submitted in November 2014, shortly after Terraform opened. In January 2015, I got an acceptance. They said they'd send the edits soon. That's the last I heard from them. I tried nudging about the edits, and eventually withdrew my story in April 2016. They're still active and buying things from other people, so I don't know what went wrong. All I know is I never heard from them again.

Just sold a story to Terraform and have just received a blank, pro forma contract. Bit concerned that a writer in a rush may sign, scan and return the contract which is blank in terms of consideration (or, for that matter, what is being bought) thus effectively giving Terraform whatever they want for free if they fill in the blanks. It also retains rights for a period after publication, but puts no timescale in which they have to publish, thus enabling them to sit on it until hell freezes over if they wish. To be fair, I think they are proposing to pay up front, though. I've never had a blank contract sent to me for information only - although the covering email is silent that this is what it is. Curious.

Presumably a mistake. It's absurd to send a blank contract intentionally.

No, queried it, and they confirmed that’s the process. They publish, and then you invoice them. When they published mine I sent a PayPal request as an invoice. I then got an email to say they didn’t use PayPal (unlike every other overseas publisher I’ve dealt with). I sent another invoice, as I would use in my non-writing day-to-day work. I then got sent their specific invoice format requirements, so in went a third, revised invoice, having found IBAN numbers, etc, for my account and also a W8-BEN. Took up most of a morning. Not sure whether the palaver is a reflection on the higher rates they pay or the show being run by nervous lawyers. Anyway, happy ending as I did end up being paid, so can confirm the whole thing is kosher - given its SFWA approval I didn’t think it wasn’t.

This is the first I've heard about it, and it doesn't sound kosher to me. I suspect SFWA doesn't know about these policies, because I can't imagine they'd be happy with them.

Does anyone have a contract they'd be willing to share? beware [at] sfwa.org . All information shared with Writer Beware is held in confidence. Thanks!

- Victoria

Happy to share the blank pro forms contract (if you give me a few days), which, in all honesty, I forgot about as a) they ran the story fairly quickly after accepting it, and b) the assault course that is there invoicing process distracted. I’m sure that, despite not signing & returning - and they haven’t chased - I’m deemed to have accepted the terms: they’ve published & paid (and paid well), and I trust they’re as happy with arrangements as I am.

I've now seen the contract--and it's a poor contract, and not just because of the blanks.

There's a 3-month exclusivity period that starts on publication, but the publisher also has the right not to publish, and if that happens there is no provision at all in the contract for the grant of rights to terminate. Also, after the 3-month exclusivity period, the publisher retains non-exclusive rights "in perpetuity," which means they could produce any number of reprints or anthologies with an author's story in them and never pay another penny. They can also assign those rights to any third party they please. So while writers are getting paid by this publisher, and do retain copyright and the right to re-publish their stories, they are also losing control of their work, given the wide-ranging publication and assignment rights this publisher retains.


I also find it bizarre, and not at all professional, that they would publish Robert's story without a signed contract in hand. That's just foolish. Contracts also protect a publisher.


Obviously what I've outlined above is a worst case scenario, and what is much more likely to happen is that the publisher will display a story, maybe put it in an anthology somewhere down the road, and that's it. But in evaluating publishing contracts, you always need to consider the worst-case scenario that's presented by the literal contract language, and ask yourself if you're comfortable with that, even if it's a remote possibility.


This is the second sizeable media company I've heard about in the past couple of years that's unprofessional in its contract dealings (the other is Jerrick Media, publishers of Omni).

- Victoria