Permissions

So I got an email from a publishing conglomerate that wanted to use something I'd written nine years ago as part of a reference anthology and online database.

We'd made the same arrangement for a different article a while back, and they sent me a smallish check for the non-exclusive rights, which was fine. Not much, but found money and all that. Groceries. Maybe a winter coat.

This time the contract arrived with no mention of money at all.

I'm assuming the permissions director just forgot to enter it at the appropriate place in the contract (there's a line that says " ___ GRATIS  $___ FEE", with neither box checked).

Or have we reached the point where large companies expect writers to give away their secondary rights for free?

Thoughts?

Comments

[R]

I thought it was just me. I've had a couple of these in the last little while, too. An automaker's Miami-based advertising agency contacted me, wanting to use a photo I'd run alongside an auto review I published. It was going to go into a promotional brochure -- I think they said 30,000 or 50,000 copies.

Sure, said I. Not a problem. What size do you need? And what about remuneration?

Silence.

"Ummm ... well, how much would you want?"

We finally negotiated a price. Chump change, really, if you considered what they'd pay to have a professional go out and stage the shot. But as you say, groceries or a winter coat with a bit left over, and I'd already been paid once for the photo and digital costs nothing to send.

That was May, I think. As requested, I sent an invoice. Then they had me fill out a W9 form, although they then said, "Oh, wait, you're in Canada, you don't need that. But fill it out anyway."

In July, another person contacted me. You need to send an invoice and fill out a W9. I've done that, I said. But here you go, I'll do it again.

August. Guess what they needed -- again. From another person.

Two weeks ago, I got a message on my cell phone. Am I supposed to pay this invoice in U.S. or Canadian dollars, she asked. And she rattled off the phone number so quickly that I finally gave up, on the fifth try, of attempting to write it down. I contacted the original person, who gave me her email address. I sent her an email saying, in effect, just pay the damn thing in U.S. dollars, and today would be nice.

I'm forcing myself to think that it's just taking a while to make its way up from Miami to Ontario, but I have a funny feeling I'm going to have to make a few more phone calls yet.

R

Further to this, I finally received my payment on October 23. For a photo I agreed to sell to them in June. They spelled my name wrong on the check and had the wrong postal code on it, which may explain the week's delay from the time they said they actually mailed it.

Along with the check was an "Important Notification" on blindingly neon pink paper; among the help requested "to ensure the timely payment of your invoices" was this:

"All invoices must be received timely...if a payment to us is denied due to a delayed invoice from you, we will request that you issue us a credit for that invoice."

Hmmmmm.

I love this job sometimes...