I truly wish that I had checked this out before signing with Publish America because of the ridiculous royalty check that they sent me. However I am pretty much stuck for about six more years. My cousin is a professor at University Of Tennesse and had my book placed in the college library. I know that I sold more books than what they paid for. They of course denied this and had a rather stupid tone to their letters. They denied that they were ever EricaHouse, which was in their own letter to me when I first wrote the book. I hate to see how they are treating some very fine authors and the royalties that they paid. But never again will I sign with them. I truly wish that I had known about this site before but I do now and that I suppose is important. By the way what do you think of useless knowledge site that claims articles written by the columnist are the soul property of the editor and cannot be posted elsewhere. When you have the copyright that means you put any article wherever it is requested? Frankly he seizes rights that are not his to do so. Any suggestions or thoughts on that?
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[Content site] Useless-Knowledge Magazine
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I truly wish that I had checked this out before signing with Publish America because of the ridiculous royalty check that they sent me. However I am pretty much stuck for about six more years. My cousin is a professor at University Of Tennesse and had my book placed in the college library. I know that I sold more books than what they paid for. They of course denied this and had a rather stupid tone to their letters. They denied that they were ever EricaHouse, which was in their own letter to me when I first wrote the book. I hate to see how they are treating some very fine authors and the royalties that they paid. But never again will I sign with them. I truly wish that I had known about this site before but I do now and that I suppose is important. By the way what do you think of useless knowledge site that claims articles written by the columnist are the soul property of the editor and cannot be posted elsewhere. When you have the copyright that means you put any article wherever it is requested? Frankly he seizes rights that are not his to do so. Any suggestions or thoughts on that?
Hi Judy,
Good question, wrong place to put it. I split it out into its own thread.
I haven't looked into this company's policies specifically, but there are many publications with similar demands.
Giving up all rights (or work-for-hire) is always bad for a writer. If you're getting paid big bucks to give up your rights, it may be worth it for you. If you're getting paid nothing, it strikes me as crazy that any publication would expect you to give up your rights!
There are plenty of places to submit your work that ask for one-time rights only.
Good question, wrong place to put it. I split it out into its own thread.
I haven't looked into this company's policies specifically, but there are many publications with similar demands.
Giving up all rights (or work-for-hire) is always bad for a writer. If you're getting paid big bucks to give up your rights, it may be worth it for you. If you're getting paid nothing, it strikes me as crazy that any publication would expect you to give up your rights!
There are plenty of places to submit your work that ask for one-time rights only.
Thanks
Thanks because he paid nothing for the articles and I posted over one hundred and then he posted my image to which my husband got into him about doing that without permission. But if you read his site you see that he says the articles are exclusive. I was invited there because of a published book through PublishAmerica and it was supposed to be to promote my book. So that is how I got involved with that online magazine? I know better now and I am trying to find the ones that do pay. Fanstory is another scam of PublishAmerica.
Thanks because he paid nothing for the articles and I posted over one hundred and then he posted my image to which my husband got into him about doing that without permission. But if you read his site you see that he says the articles are exclusive. I was invited there because of a published book through PublishAmerica and it was supposed to be to promote my book. So that is how I got involved with that online magazine? I know better now and I am trying to find the ones that do pay. Fanstory is another scam of PublishAmerica.
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Copyright and publishing rights are different things.
Even though I own the copyright to a piece, I can't sell First North American Serial Rights to two different publishers.
If I sell (or give away) "all rights" ... well, silly me. Rights are valuable -- be stingy in giving them away. Particularly all of them, and even more particularly forever.
Sell a publication the minimum that they need, and keep a tight time limit.
(This is all on a "if you can" and "what's it worth to you?" basis. And you know your own situation best.)
Even though I own the copyright to a piece, I can't sell First North American Serial Rights to two different publishers.
If I sell (or give away) "all rights" ... well, silly me. Rights are valuable -- be stingy in giving them away. Particularly all of them, and even more particularly forever.
Sell a publication the minimum that they need, and keep a tight time limit.
(This is all on a "if you can" and "what's it worth to you?" basis. And you know your own situation best.)
Thank you
I truly appreciate your fast replies and again I sure wish that I had known about this before I signed anything. Anyway I did maintain my artistic freedom as I can bs too haha but I am now doing different things. One of the best things that I did was to look this site up. I did subscribe to the AbsoluteWrite magazine and I am sending in check. Again thanks for the help it is invaluble to me.
I truly appreciate your fast replies and again I sure wish that I had known about this before I signed anything. Anyway I did maintain my artistic freedom as I can bs too haha but I am now doing different things. One of the best things that I did was to look this site up. I did subscribe to the AbsoluteWrite magazine and I am sending in check. Again thanks for the help it is invaluble to me.
Thanks, Judy! Wait, did you sign anything with Useless Knowledge? I can't say for certain (maybe Jaws will chime in), but I believe that if there is no contract, it's assumed you've given only first rights to the piece, not all rights, no matter what it says on their website.
No contract was signed.
No I signed nothing and it was when I started posting on another site that I have a subscription paid up for a year that he got flaky. Some of them still write for that magazine and it has interesting stuff on it but a lot of columnists left it.
No I signed nothing and it was when I started posting on another site that I have a subscription paid up for a year that he got flaky. Some of them still write for that magazine and it has interesting stuff on it but a lot of columnists left it.
Lisa Maliga
Registered
Useless-Knowledge has some benefits
Hi Judy,
Useless-Knowledge is good for one thing -- promoting your writing and your web site. I use it to post articles that don't take long to write and are helpful to people. Generally, I write articles about a certain vanity press that fleeces writers. This is a good way to warn folks about PublishAmerica and the articles get picked up by Google and Yahoo within a matter of hours.
Aside from those obnoxious pop-ups, U-K does allow you to add links, photos, and a nice little byline.
The writing quality varies greatly on this site, but I've read some interesting and intelligently written articles on a variety of topics.
Think of it as free advertising. And they do receive upwards of 400,000 hits per month!
Hope this helps!
Hi Judy,
Useless-Knowledge is good for one thing -- promoting your writing and your web site. I use it to post articles that don't take long to write and are helpful to people. Generally, I write articles about a certain vanity press that fleeces writers. This is a good way to warn folks about PublishAmerica and the articles get picked up by Google and Yahoo within a matter of hours.
Aside from those obnoxious pop-ups, U-K does allow you to add links, photos, and a nice little byline.
The writing quality varies greatly on this site, but I've read some interesting and intelligently written articles on a variety of topics.
Think of it as free advertising. And they do receive upwards of 400,000 hits per month!
Hope this helps!
A Way To Deal With Popups
We switched to earthlink and had their spamblocker kick in. I also put a firewall in. Some readers were annoyed by whistles and the pop-ups. Yes there are several people on there that write really interesting articles.But to claim exclusive rights is what annoys many. But here lately the articles seem to be well done with the exception of one person Ron Lewis, and a few others that go on and on about their travelogues. However several authors left because of the copyright issue thing.
We switched to earthlink and had their spamblocker kick in. I also put a firewall in. Some readers were annoyed by whistles and the pop-ups. Yes there are several people on there that write really interesting articles.But to claim exclusive rights is what annoys many. But here lately the articles seem to be well done with the exception of one person Ron Lewis, and a few others that go on and on about their travelogues. However several authors left because of the copyright issue thing.
http://www.useless-knowledge.com/
They mention they'll soon have a print version...it'll be interesting to see how long that lasts.
They mention they'll soon have a print version...it'll be interesting to see how long that lasts.