ASJA Contracts Watch

ASJA CONTRACTS WATCH CW951024 Issued October 24, 1995

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Editors at HEALTH are phoning writers, trying to line up last-minute approvals to include articles in an America Online launch due any day. The offer matches the one its sister PARENTING has been making: $25 for full-length pieces, $15 for shorter works, for all electronic rights; the publisher, TIME INC. VENTURES, promises to start paying royalties for electronic uses in two years. Stunted fee aside, the license is too broad; make it for AOL only, with a two-year limit, and a flat-fee arrangement until royalties begin may make sense. Some writers have been responding with just that argument, and editors now say all contract terms at both Health and Parenting are being reconsidered, with an eye to making writers happier. Writers would be wise to hold off on deals with both until improvements are made.

WEIDER PUBLICATIONS (SHAPE, FLEX, MEN'S FITNESS, MUSCLE & FITNESS et al.) is another magazine publisher working on a new author's contract. Some editors are said to be hoping the higher-ups agree to terms that will be more acceptable to many of the better freelancers they believe have been staying away. As with Health and Parenting, writers would be best served waiting for real improvements in terms offered.

The basic TIMES MIRROR MAGAZINES contract is, despite some writers' fears, negotiable. The company's "editorial assignment" letter calls for world rights in any media plus advertising and promotion rights, but a writer for FIELD & STREAM reports paring it down to pure first North American serial rights.

Another magazine whose editors will deal is WORKING WOMAN (LANG COMMUNICATIONS). WW's standard contract asks for rights in all media, but editors will OK an extra payment, separately noted in contract, for electronic rights. (A flat $100 is reported by one writer.) Other WW boilerplate terms need a pencil as well.

Among publications that send out an onerous contract but have a reasonable substitute waiting in the wings: MATURE OUTLOOK, a MEREDITH CORP. title. MO's first offer is work made for hire, but editors have another form for writers who balk. The replacement calls for just first North American serial rights plus promotional rights (which ought to be penciled into "brief excerpts").

The board of Washington Independent Writers has voted to join other writers' groups and hundreds of individual freelancers in opposing the current rights grab by the NEW YORK TIMES. In a message to WIW's 2,200 members, president Mary Jackson Scroggins decried the "unfair and unconscionable" strong-arming by the Times and other publishers, urging: "Writers, individually and collectively, must reverse this assault on their rights and livelihood and on the reading public."

Earlier this year, Prodigy opened an online reference service named Homework Helper. Now, INFORMATION ACCESS COMPANY (the outfit that compiles articles from hundreds of magazines into databases found on CompuServe, Lexis-Nexis, Dialog and such) has also entered the student-service market. IAC has repackaged its goodies into a homework service on the World Wide Web for students from junior high through college: COGNITO! A monthly $8.95 opens the door to an electronic library that boasts two encyclopedias, two dozen other reference books, almanacs, pamphlets and whole articles from more than 600 magazines. An announcement says the service will link to "scores of other Web pages," where more homework help may be found. Articles are priced in "tokens"; a fast look recently found a 3,000-word SMITHSONIAN article available for 20 tokens. Exact pricing details are promised "on or about November 1"; the plan is likely to include 50 free tokens with the monthly rate and a charge of $5 for each 50 additional tokens. For now, the service is open for free sampling, so writers interested in finding their own work being resold (often illegally) on the Web may explore http://www.cognito.com

[The American Society of Journalists and Authors is the national
organization of leading freelance writers. Inquiries from all are welcome: Contracts Committee, ASJA, 1501 Broadway, New York, NY 10036, tel 212-997-0947, fax 212-768-7414, e-mail 75227.1650[_at_]compuserve.com

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Alexandra Owens
<75227.1650[_at_]compuserve.com> Received on Tue Oct 24 1995 - 14:54:30 GMT