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JDD Media

JenniferDZ

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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
 

DaveKuzminski

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I'm interested in knowing the name of the magazine and in receiving copies of any emails you might have with him.



Also, unless you do a complete rewrite, those articles as is would have to be marketed as reprints since he's used the first publication rights.
 

JenniferDZ

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The names of the magazines I wrote for were Military View and Senior View. I am in the process now of getting my emails in order. I do have every single one, including all the contact information for all the people I interviewed for the articles! He e-mailed me again tonight criticizing me for getting "hostile," and I e-mailed him back saying that I would contact my lawyer tomorrow. This is silly, considering that the amount he agreed to pay me was not very much. He probably has a higher phone bill every month! I'll let you know when my stuff is in order.


Jennifer DZ
 

Celeste

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Grrr...Doesn't that just drive ya' mad!

I had a very similar experience with a publisher, who assigned me to write four articles. I whipped all four articles out in a week, sent them, he loved them, wrote back saying, "Awesome! Give me your address, I'll send you a check!". I never received a check. I wrote him several times asking where my check was, when my articles would be published, also asking for the contract -- which he avoided like the plague, after asking him several times about a contract. He gave me assinine excuses after excuse. Finally, I got fed up and withdrew my articles and posted a warning about him at 'Whispers & Warnings'. About a month later, he finally found out about my post and then posted in response basically telling me he never promised me anything, along with a bunch of other BS. But what he didn't know was that I saved all his e-mails quoting what he assigned, when and what I would be paid. That shut him up real fast. Then he claimed that he never published any of my articles and owed me nothing. I decided to just write it off as a bad experience with a BAD, unprofessional publisher, warn others about him and move on. Well, just recently a friend of mine brought me a copy of his magazine with MY article published. I was pissed! I wrote him telling him he owes me for the article he published without my knowledge, even after I withdrew them and even after he swore up and down that he never used any of my work. He wrote back telling me his graphics guy was to blame, that my article wasn't supposed to appear in the issue, but his graphics guy put it in and told me he'd send me a check. It's been three weeks since and still no check. And it would not have taken but a day or two to get to me if he sent it out when he was supposed to because we are in the same city. After waiting a week and a half, I forwarded him the e-mail he sent telling me he'd send the check, as a reminder, telling him I'll give him one more week before I persue further action against him. I got no response and I've still not received my check. So, I'm taking him to court. I'm getting my money!

I feel for ya'. These scumbags think they can use us and get away with this crap. Well, I'm not letting this one slide! :mad:

I've learned a very big lesson from this experience. I will not write one word, or send in any work until I have a contract signed, or the check in my hands!

Good luck to you!

celeste
 
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Celeste

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He e-mailed me again tonight criticizing me for getting "hostile,"

Lol...Oh boy! I got the same thing. Accused of getting hostile, etc... He threw all kinds of insults at me.

This is silly, considering that the amount he agreed to pay me was not very much. He probably has a higher phone bill every month! I'll let you know when my stuff is in order.

Exactly! The amount this guy owes me is nothing compared to the way he throws money around town, etc... while he's living in a $500,000 house!
 
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ctudor

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Jennifer,

I had the same experience with Josh Dinnerman a couple of years ago. His method of operation was the same. I posted my complaint on writersweekly.com. You should ask Angela Hoy (who runs the site) what happened after that. It was totally bizzare. I hate to share the bad news, but don't expect to get paid. Josh Dinnerman is a crook. I know of one other writer who got the shaft as well. Josh uses the internet to find writers then uses the distance of Hawaii to isolate himself from any recourse. But if enough writers use the internet to get the word out against him, perhaps he'll pay his just dues after all.
 

JenniferDZ

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Wow, Celeste, our stories certainly sound similar. I never before encountered anybody like this. I was hoping that he was the exception to the rule, but I guess there are more of them. I agree--never, ever, ever am I going to write without a contract again. It's a good thing he's in the same city. It should be easy to get him to court. I'm trying to figure out now what to do with him being in Hawaii.

Good luck...let me know if you get the money. I'll drink a toast to you!
Jennifer DZ
 

JenniferDZ

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you're not alone

Thanks for the post! I'm going to e-mail Angela now. I'm also looking into calling a lawyer friend and asking him about what to do next..that's after getting my stuff to Dave. I already called a couple of the people I interviewed to see if they have a copy of the articles I wrote. Do you still have your information? Invoices, etc.? If we can do something, maybe we can do it together and both get paid. I will at least do all I can to ruin his reputation.

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Celeste

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JenniferDZ said:
Wow, Celeste, our stories certainly sound similar. I never before encountered anybody like this. I was hoping that he was the exception to the rule, but I guess there are more of them. I agree--never, ever, ever am I going to write without a contract again. It's a good thing he's in the same city. It should be easy to get him to court. I'm trying to figure out now what to do with him being in Hawaii.

Good luck...let me know if you get the money. I'll drink a toast to you!
Jennifer DZ

Yeah, they certainly are very similar, aren't they! And what urks me even more about the whole deal is before he started this magazine, I'd seen him around town in the local music scene. We know a lot of the same people, but I never knew his name. I was talking to a musician friend of mine about what happened and he asked me what's the guy's (publisher) name is, I told him and my friend said, "Man! If I knew this guy is who you were dealing with, I would've told you to stay away from him a long time ago!" If only I would've known! Argh!

Good luck to you! I'll drink a toast for you too!

Thanks! I'll let you know how it goes. You do the same, keep me updated.

Unfortunately, I'm sure there are plenty of these scumbags out there. We'll just have to be more careful next time. ;)


celeste
 

Celeste

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Our local news has a feature called "Problem Solvers: Hall of Shame". People of our city who have been screwed over by local businesses, etc... send in their stories, complaints, etc.. and the news exposes these scammers. I just sent mine in about this publisher! I hope the news exposes him and he gets what he deserves, especially since his publication is supposed to represent our city!

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! And that's not the end of it. I have other plans for this so-called publisher!
 

Maryn

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Oh, Celeste, I love it. The shame of being exposed should be either highly motivating (meaning he'll pay) or enough to keep others from buying the empty promises for a while. Let us know how it plays out, will you?

Maryn, chuckling
 

Celeste

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LMAO! Oh, I will, Maryn!

I can't wait. This is gonna' be great! ;)
 

JenniferDZ

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Ooooh, Celeste, definitely let me know how it works! I think I'm turning into a very bad person. I'm actually finding pleasure in the prospect of hurting someone (or at least their reputation)! I don't think my mother would have approved!


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Celeste

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LOL...:ROFL:

Every night on the news they air "The Hall of Shame" for the day. As soon as it's
aired, or as soon as I hear from the station, I will definitely be posting to tell you about it. Laughing my butt off!

There's also another thing the news does. It's similar to "Problem Solvers: Hall of Shame". It's called "The Rip off Report". He could be picked for either one. It's up to the news. I'll let you know which one they put him in. Lol..
 
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JenniferDZ

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Angela Hoy's response

I contacted Angela Hoy of WritersWeekly.com, and she gave me permission to post this because, for some reason, she was not able to get it through:

We received a complaint about Josh Dinnerman / JDD Media in early 2004. One of our readers, Chip Tudor (see his post above on AbsoluteWrite) posted a complaint

that Josh Dinnerman owed him $450 and wouldn't pay. You can read the post here:

http://forums.writersweekly.com/viewtopic.php?t=1796

After the posting appeared, we received an email from Dinnerman's "legal"

representative, whose spelling was as bad as Dinnerman's. (See #4 in this article for a real example from this situation -
http://www.angelahoy.com/writing/archives/001479.html.)

We later told his real lawyer that Dinnerman's first "legal" representative had the

same I.P. address as Dinnerman. Hmmm... And, while we asked for a bar number from the first "legal" person, none was given.

He also signed his "legal" emails "all rights reserved" instead of a name.

I would suspect that someone throwing around such strong legal threats would at least have the courage to put a name behind those threats? I can't imagine any real attorney, paralegal or legal secretary not signing their name to a threatening letter...not one with any ethics or real law experience, anyway.

Throughout all the threatening emails, Dinnerman never bothered to post a rebuttal to our site, despite our instructions on how to do so, apparently preferring instead to

try to scare us through his attorney. Ha ha.

If you could read all the emails he sent, you'd have a good, gut-wrenching

laugh. He's quite a character. But, we suspected all along it was only

Josh Dinnerman, and no other representatives at all, claiming to be someone else (writing about himself in the third person and not signing a name).

He accused me of fabricating the complaint and posting

it to our site. Since Chip Tudor had put his real name on

the post (ctudor), Dinnerman knew all along the complaint was legitimate

(he never denied owing Chip money).

He then accused me of altering the complaint and creating the title of the complaint, which was also posted by Chip Tudor (who was, again,

owed $450 by Josh Dinnerman). The title was "Watch out for Josh Dinnerman..."

Josh Dinnerman, while, again, never denying he owed Chip Tudor $450, actually went to the trouble of hiring an attorney here in Maine who then sent a series of false accusations, trading a series of letters with our attorney. And, again, the attorney nor Josh Dinnerman ever denied owing Chip Tudor money! They simply accused me of posting and/or altering the warning.

We gave Dinnerman's attorney contact information for Chip Tudor and also for another writer who claimed he was owed money by Dinnerman (Dinnerman sent legal threats to this other writer after the warning appeared on WritersWeekly.com, which we obtained copies of). The attorney didn't bother to contact the victims.

However, once Chip Tudor picked up the phone and left a message for

Dinnerman's attorney, stating he was the individual who

posted the entire message, the letters from his attorney just suddenly stopped. We never heard from either Dinnerman or his attorney ever again.

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the entire situation was that I'm pretty sure

Dinnerman ended up with legal bills exceeding the $450 he owed to Chip Tudor. Why didn't he just pay what he owed and get on with business? I know why. Because he's a bully and a jerk. I knew from the very first email we received that he wasn't someone any writer should work for. What kind of person hires an out-of-state attorney when they only owe a writer 450 measly bucks?!

All writers should avoid Josh Dinnerman and his series of "magazines."

Angela Hoy

WritersWeekly.com

 

JenniferDZ

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letter to me from Joshua Dinnerman

Well, obviously his sojourn with Angela did nothing to educate him about the difference between slander and libel! Here is his most recent note to me.

<<Please stop slandering us...the damages are getting serious.You are on record saying some awfully vengeful and mean things.If it is not corrected we will complain to the authorities and seek damages in court. Your bill does not give you a right to hurt us.Several third parties of written to us about this....Keep going! Or

Grow up and act like a professional.>>

I sent him a bill. He hasn't paid it, despite numerous pleadings from me. He has done this to several other people. I have simply stated facts about this case. Which one of us is not acting like a professional?

Jennifer DZ

 
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Celeste

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Isn't it funny how they all tell us we're the one out of line? Lmao!!!

You know how many times I've heard of, or read on message boards editors/publishers telling a writer that exact same thing! They must really think we're a bunch of clueless idiots, huh?
 

JenniferDZ

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Yeah, Celeste, I don't get it. I'm damaging him? Let's see, he's stolen the rights to my articles, he's made me spend time following up on my invoice over and over again, and he's made me spend countless hours being angry and finding ways to get the money HE OWES ME--causing me to not be able to concentrate on things that are actually paying me. I would love to compare damages.


Dave, are ya just going to leave me hanging like that? What did he say? Or can't you legally divulge it?

Jennifer DZ
 

DaveKuzminski

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His initial letter is at the bottom followed by my response and then his reply above that:

Ok so you will not agree to revise or alter this?
Then you and your whole group will be reported to the authorities.
All rights reserved!

---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: [email protected]
Date: Wed, 18 May 2005 02:32:41 +0000

Preditors & Editors (tm) is totally independent in its operation. As a service
to writers, P&E has a right to state its opinions in the form of recommendations. Likewise, we do not have to disclose our sources. However, from what I've seen of correspondence from you to writers, P&E has seen both sides. We stand by our recommendation.

Cordially,
Dave Kuzminski, Editor
Preditors & Editors (tm)

-------------- Original message from "Joshua Dinnerman" [email protected]>:
--------------


Dave,
It has been brought to our attention that a website that you are affiliated with has catergorized our group as "Not Reccommended".We also understand that you have partaken in dialouge online with parties that we have diputes with and that dialouge has been connected through your site to other sites and is essentially spreading negative comments about us.

Accordingly we would appreciate it if you would cease from this immediately.You should also know that we have recieved several complaints in written for about this. Furthermore I would like to know how you can be so sure that we are the bad guys when we have never met or had any dealings with you.

There is always two sides to a story.

We have tried to work things out with some of the parties involved.
Naturally we are not looking for situations that create problems and would
always try to do the right thing but you have made some conclusions that are unfair and potentially damaging.

Once again please stop it.

If you have any questions about this message or if there is anything that I can answer please advise.

Joshua Dinnerman
 

CaoPaux

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You should also know that we have recieved several complaints in written for about this.
I think that sez it all right there. :Wha:
 

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JenniferDZ said:
Well, yeah, now I guess we know why he doesn't write his own articles!

I won't dipute that. ;)

Maybe this all happened because his mother named him "All rights reserved." That was really cruel of her.