Last year (2004!) in February, I agreed to write an article for this company that was starting a couple new regional magazines in Hawaii. The publisher, Joshua Dinnerman, seemed very nice, and I had a good time writing the article. The invoice was to be sent AFTER the article was published, by regular mail, not e-mail, and payment was to be six weeks later. The article was not published until September and, during September, he asked me to write 3 more articles, and then said I could send all 4 invoices together. Now, in May 2005, the invoices have still not been paid. Every time I send him an e-mail, he asks me again for my address and the invoice amount, and even asked me to send him another invoice via snail mail, which I refused to do.
At the beginning of all this, I asked him about signing a contract, and he played dumb, saying none of his other writers had any official contract, and that basically a virtual handshake was good enough for them. What an idiot I am! I have never had a problem with a publisher before, but I will certainly never write without a contract again!
I have notified him that I will be contacting a lawyer, and that I will be marketing the pieces to re-sell, saying that if he does not pay for them, he certainly owns no rights to them. I don't know what that will do...but I am sooooo mad! Do not write for this man!
Jennifer DZ
At the beginning of all this, I asked him about signing a contract, and he played dumb, saying none of his other writers had any official contract, and that basically a virtual handshake was good enough for them. What an idiot I am! I have never had a problem with a publisher before, but I will certainly never write without a contract again!
I have notified him that I will be contacting a lawyer, and that I will be marketing the pieces to re-sell, saying that if he does not pay for them, he certainly owns no rights to them. I don't know what that will do...but I am sooooo mad! Do not write for this man!
Jennifer DZ