Way back long ago, in the late Fall of 2000, I was contracted by one Julia Casale to write a weekly column for LivePsychicNetwork.com (don't bother looking; if the domain exists now, it's not the same people). It was a rather sweet deal for a freelance writer with no real clips; $0.03/word on publication for all electronic rights to a series of columns about dreams and working with dreams.
Well, I got taken for a ride. At first it was "we're not quite set up to pay you yet, but we've already posted that these will be appearing weekly, so can we keep putting them up and pay you later?" and I acceded because I didn't want it to look like it was my fault that a so-called weekly column wasn't getting published weekly. But after awhile, I put my foot down, and from that moment on, I didn't get a single email from Julia. My articles were on their website and wasn't paid a dime.
After awhile the website died and I never heard from them again. I did exchange emails briefly with other authors in the same boat as me, enough to reveal that not a single one of us got paid. But none of us were able to get ahold of anyone who'd return an email.
I got off easy, though. LPN is gone--well, the name exists, but a Google shows only psychic hotlines and no actual content sites. My articles have not been illicitly spread far and wide, as far as I can tell from Google searches on representative phrases. All I lost were First Electronic Rights to a handful of 750ish word articles... which I'm now going to rework slightly and upload to Constant-Content.com in hopes of getting a little bit of green for my effort. I certainly don't feel obliged to track down Julia Casale and warn her that I'm going to do so. She broke just about every term in our written contract, after all. What she didn't pay me for, I don't consider her to have bought.
But I'm just wondering.
Has anyone reading this had any experience with her or LPN back then? Anyone heard of them since? Whatever happened to 'em? Are they bilking another crop of freelancers even now? Or have they moved on to bigger and better and hopefully more ethical things?
Curiosity, y'see. I did a Google on Julia, but I couldn't say for sure whether the person referred to in the hits is the same as the person who screwed me over. Curiosity, and the vague idea that she might one day Google her name, recognize herself in this post, and register here just to defend herself against the tale I'm tellin'. (If she does, I got the contract right here, amiga, you just try to deny it!)
Thanks for indulging me. Off to rework those articles now...
Well, I got taken for a ride. At first it was "we're not quite set up to pay you yet, but we've already posted that these will be appearing weekly, so can we keep putting them up and pay you later?" and I acceded because I didn't want it to look like it was my fault that a so-called weekly column wasn't getting published weekly. But after awhile, I put my foot down, and from that moment on, I didn't get a single email from Julia. My articles were on their website and wasn't paid a dime.
After awhile the website died and I never heard from them again. I did exchange emails briefly with other authors in the same boat as me, enough to reveal that not a single one of us got paid. But none of us were able to get ahold of anyone who'd return an email.
I got off easy, though. LPN is gone--well, the name exists, but a Google shows only psychic hotlines and no actual content sites. My articles have not been illicitly spread far and wide, as far as I can tell from Google searches on representative phrases. All I lost were First Electronic Rights to a handful of 750ish word articles... which I'm now going to rework slightly and upload to Constant-Content.com in hopes of getting a little bit of green for my effort. I certainly don't feel obliged to track down Julia Casale and warn her that I'm going to do so. She broke just about every term in our written contract, after all. What she didn't pay me for, I don't consider her to have bought.
But I'm just wondering.
Has anyone reading this had any experience with her or LPN back then? Anyone heard of them since? Whatever happened to 'em? Are they bilking another crop of freelancers even now? Or have they moved on to bigger and better and hopefully more ethical things?
Curiosity, y'see. I did a Google on Julia, but I couldn't say for sure whether the person referred to in the hits is the same as the person who screwed me over. Curiosity, and the vague idea that she might one day Google her name, recognize herself in this post, and register here just to defend herself against the tale I'm tellin'. (If she does, I got the contract right here, amiga, you just try to deny it!)
Thanks for indulging me. Off to rework those articles now...