I’m building a website and I’d like to publish my printed work as is on my website in the form of pdfs. Can I put them up without my editor’s permission?

Short answer: No. You can’t put them up without permission.

Long answer: While you own the copyright to the TEXT on that page, the published article consists of many other elements as well, including photography, design and art work. The magazine owns the copyright to the published piece in that form.

Look at it this way- if the photographer for the piece or the designer were to put it up on his or her website, you’d probably object, right? So would they if you put it up on yours. The best way to go about this is to contact the editor at the publication and ask specifically. I’ve done this a couple of times and they’re usually okay with it. I found it a hassle though, so I’ve just put up the text of my articles on mine without the design or accompanying photography.

I sent a Letter of Introduction to an editor a while back, and she checked out my clips and credentials and told me she was impressed. Then, she wrote to me with an assignment, and get this– said that the first article is unpaid and quoted a per word rate from the second one onwards.

Say what?

It’s bad enough that they ask newbies to do this, but an experienced freelancer with five years of experience? Is this the level of respect we can command after living in poverty, busting our asses, and wondering if we can ever afford sushi? I was so damn pissed. And I showed it.

Wrote back to tell her I’m not working for free and come to think of it that pay rate sucks, so thanks, but no thanks.

She wrote back and said she’d pay that original fee for the first one, and double that for the second onwards.

I didn’t really care much about this assignment by this point, so I told her no, double from the first assignment. And you know what? The language in your contract seems to me like you’re saying you can kill this article anytime without compensation. I want to get paid even if the article gets killed, and if it’s not to your satisfaction, I will do rewrites, but if it’s still not satisfactory, you have to pay me 50%.

She came back with a yes.

You know a great way to get assignments from editors? Introduction Letters! I’ve been sending out introduction letters to editors I want to work with for the past couple of weeks, and I’ve been getting great success. So far I’ve received assignments from around seven editors and I haven’t had to think of ideas, write up queries or do anything other than send a letter saying I’m interested in writing for them.

I think part of the reason this approach is working for me is because I already have quite a bit of experience under my belt. Secondly and more importantly, I have a website where I can direct editors. With my introduction letter, I don’t include clips. I write a short bio and encourage them to check out my website. When they do, they realize I’m not a hack! I don’t have to sell myself over and over; my website’s already doing that for me. And finally, I don’t forget to mention that I specialize in catering to international clients! This used to be my biggest bottleneck when it came to getting assignments from editors. Now it’s my biggest selling point.

And since a couple of you wrote to ask me what I’m doing these days, here’s the low-down: I just finished up an assignment for Women’s Health & Fitness, am doing a nutrition piece for ePregnancy, interviewing experts for another college-oriented magazine, got a fabulous assignment for CE Lifestyles and am discussing five different ideas with the editor of a start-up for Asians in America. I also just wrapped up my second assignment for Wedding Dresses, and got the latest issue of Writer’s Digest, with what else– my article! Got six deadlines coming up in the next week and a couple more in the week after that (see why I haven’t been blogging lately?).

Oh, and my insomniac ways are back. Don’t look at me weird; I can’t help it. Really! But I’m SO not working 90-hour weeks anymore, and I’m happy that I’ve been able to make that decision guilt-free. I can safely say now that I’m a “recovered” workaholic.