mental_floss Magazine / Mental Floss, LLC

Shake-up at Mental Floss? (merged into BR&BC thread)

I queried Neely Harris at Mental Floss five weeks ago, never heard anything back. That's very unusual for the magazine; I've written for them once, pitched a few times, and I always heard from them within seven to ten days. After a couple of weeks, I double-checked the website's submissions page. Things had changed in the two weeks since I queried. Neely was no longer listed as the editor; it's now Jim Kaminsky. Since I had used the editor's specific email the first time, I re-queried to the general submission email addy listed.Three weeks, nothing.

Is there anyone on AW currently working with them? Have you noticed changes in procedure and times? Just curious. I really enjoyed working with them, but I wonder if I should just move on with this story idea and try them later with another one.

Mental Floss magazine

Has anyone ever written for them? How much do they pay? How do they deal with rights?

I did a search and found this old conversation, but no recent info. (Mods, apologies, I couldn't figure out how to reply to the old convo.)

I did a google search and found this blog post from 2007, in which a freelance writer says Mental Floss has fine print that says all pitches become the property of Mental Floss, with no compensation to the writer. Very troubling. But, that's 2007. Surely they've changed?

Well, I found this on their website:

Disclaimer: All submissions made to mental_floss become the property of Mental Floss Inc and may be used without further permission by the submitter and without compensation to the submitter. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not submit anything to mental_floss.

Click to expand...

Are they really as bad as they sound? I like the magazine but based on this, I'm inclined to stay far away from them.

That's an appalling T&C. That's not just a rights grab in the usual sense; they're claiming rights over people's pitches. Ideas aren't even copyrightable. It's so incredibly cynical and greedy.

So, all submissions are unconditional donations -- theirs to use as they see fit whether they accept them and/or compensate you or not? Wow.

I've enjoyed their YouTube videos, but I'd never send them anything. Not with those terms.

I'm glad I'm not the only person who finds this troubling. I'm a trivia geek, and I've enjoyed reading their webste and watching their YouTube videos. I've even written some stuff that would probably be a great fit for their magazine. But with terms like that, I'm not even comfortable with querying them, much less writing for them.

About the only thing I'd accept terms like this is for a letter to the editor of a local newspaper.