Appear to have been shafted by a magazine - advice from any journos? (sorry a bit long)

[somethinganything]

Got myself into a bloody stupid situation with a magazine I've been writing for.

I'm such an idiot for letting it get to this stage but here's the deal. I've filed 3 articles for them over the past few months - only 2 have been printed. I accepted a really, really poor rate because I was on maternity leave anyway (and therefore only allowed to earn minimal amount) but I liked the subject matter and thought they'd make good cuttings and be useful when pitching other articles on a similar topic.

But, the mag failed to give me a byline (or any sort of credit) for the first one so I complained and the editor said it'd been a cock-up by the designer that she hadn't spotted pre-print and promised I'd get a proper credit for the second one.

Second article is printed again with no byline, just my name in the flannel panel (pretty bloody useless when there's nothing to link it to my feature) - obviously I complained again, the editor got a bit slippery and said it'd never been their policy to put bylines on that particular feature (it's a regular). Then she backed down, promised a proper byline for the next one and agreed to send me pdfs of the first two articles with credits added retrospectively.

So, I agreed to do a third (yes, yes, I have been spectactularly daft). She told me halfway through that it had been postponed to Sept issue and extended my deadline. I submit the article, she's happy with it, Sept issue arrives through my door and my article's not in it. Ring up the magazine, the editor has left v suddenly under some sort of cloud, the new editor claims no knowledge of anything, says she's been give no handover but will "try to squeeze the article in to a future issue if possible".

As if all that wasn't bad enough I haven't been paid for any of it - have been chasing the accounts department, have asked the new editor to follow it up for me but still nothing. They aren't even acknowledging my emails.

The last contact I had with the editor was over a week ago, she hasn't got back to me to confirm she has the article (which she asked me to send her) and seems to be ignoring my calls.

Is there anything I can do or am I screwed? Just so pissed off that I wasted time I could have been spending with my lovely new DD writing three substantial articles and now have absolutely nothing to show for it.

Any advice v welcome

Not a journo but assuming you have some sort of proof that the articles were commissioned (emails, etc) I would have thought the Small Claims Court would be your next option. I think you can do it all online and that the cost is minimal.

Yes, I would email and maybe phone their accounts department again, stating that you were commissioned for the pieces and will be filing with the Small Claims Court if you don't hear back sharpish.

Do you have a contract with the publishing company? Where I work all freelancers have to have signed a contract in order to be set up on the system (that governs commissions and payments).

Thanks, both. I will look into the small claims court - it's only a total of £275 so if it's a really lengthy process it might not be worth it. Just trying to salvage something from the process because it's all been so annoying.

Rhian82 unfortunately not, though I do work with some companies who do it that way. I think this lot are a real bunch of cowboys TBH. I wasn't given proper commissioning notes but I do have email records of everything the editor asked for.

Are you a member of the union?

I think this is the way that journalism is going - if they can get away with delaying payment for as long as possible (or not paying at all), they'll do it. I have done work for a national newspaper that I work regularly for and it's almost as if they think I am writing pieces to pass the time: I get paid less than originally agreed or I have to add lots of stuff that wasn't initially asked for and get no extra money or the article never gets used and their policy is "payment on publication". This isn't really helping you is it?

My advice would be to send one final email (firm but reasonable) to the new editor, keep it brief but relevant and copy in the managing editor and/or publisher. Give them a specific timeframe to answer - say, 7 days - and then say that regrettably, as you are maternity leave, you will have to look into recovering your fee and other costs through the courts. As you don't sound too fussed about writing for them again - and why would you be? - you won't exactly be losing out if they decide to dig their heels in and make you go to the small claims court. But I would soften the email to the new editor a little (I realise that you have inherited this situation etc etc) because people do gossip about freelancers and you don't want to get a reputation as stroppy.

Forget about the byline: just chase the money. Payment on publication is rubbish - you're owed the money within 28 days. Forward the email pointing out you were commissioned, and hassle the accounts department.

Actually, I've never not been paid in the end.

But, ime, accounts departments don't do anything except wait for payment instructions to come down from the editorial staff. If the editor is ignoring the request for payment, the accounts clerk will shrug shoulders and say that there is nothing s/he can do.

Agree that it's not worth fighting over byline at this stage.

Ha, yes, I take your point. In that case, hammer about the original commissions. Endlessly.

I used to write for a mag where I sent (this was to the accounts dept in the end) the email of my invoice repeatedly, every day, 30 days after submission. Every damn day. Sometimes for weeks.

Is the magazine part of a publishing group? Might be worth your while writing to the managing editor.

Some publications don't give bylines - or do that annoying byline up the spine thing - which is their style but not really great for the writer. Nothing you can do about it.

I would forget about the byline, it's annoying but not compulsory for magazines to print it.

Re: payment, do your invoices have terms of payment (ie 'within 30 days') written on them? If not then make sure they do in future. I would concentrate your efforts on the accounts dept as ime editors don't have much to do with the payment process. Find out the name of the person who signs off invoices for payment and badger them politely but firmly. Btw if payment is later than 30 days you are legally entitled to charge interest (NUJ website has details on this) so if you aren't getting anywhere I would tell accts person that if you don't receive payment in eg two weeks you will be sending them an additional invoice for the interest.

Look here for good advice

somethinganything - small claims is easy except that they can choose where to attend court so if they call your bluff the hearing may be at a venue inconvenient to you.

Just write to them very politely detailing the amounbt they owe and that if not paid within 28 days you will take them to small claims court at that the amount applied for will include costs - you can look this up and specify the amount in your letter - last time I did it it was £74.

Because they owe you a relatively small amount it's likely that they will pay rather than incur the extra cost and effort of attending court.

I'm not a journo but I've dealt with some b*stards in my time!

Good luck!

Sorry to have disappeared for ages, really mad few days. V grateful for all the advice though, thanks v much for taking the time to post.

Re the byline - I do understand that they can't/don't always give them and if the editor had been straight with me from the start I'd have been fine with it, it's just the "oh I'm so sorry the designer screwed up you'll have one next time" then "oh no, we've never offered bylines" backtracking that annoyed me.

Anyway, after much chasing I've had some partial success - got the pdfs by dealing directly with the head of design and finally got the direct line of the accounts guy (who seems to have lots of different roles) from the publishing group. Spoke to him just now (I was v polite ) and he was hugely apologetic and promised to pay by end of play today! I'll believe it when I see it but at least I've had some acknowledgement.

Thanks again for all the help/advice

Sorry to come to this late.

It sounds as though the original editor was a slippery character, and may have left some messes. However, I just want to stress that that's not your problem. You have commissioning e-mails, so the company is liable. If this editor was commissioning things he had to right to, well, then they should take it out of him (it sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? It is ridiculous.)

Thanks pluperfect - you're absolutely right, I now think it was a lot to do with the outgoing editor who sounds like she's made a right hash of things all round. Having said that, l'm pretty sure the mag has cash-flow issues and therefore delays paying out for as long as poss

That's a bad combination. Sorry you are in this situation. What field do you write in?

Ah well, I'm sure I'll learn something from it and who knows, I might even get paid...

That particular series of articles was about local history. I've done all sorts of stuff in the past though, a fair bit of writing on sustainability (often from a business perspective), lots of interviews/profiles etc

And you?

I tried to CAT you, as it's a bit of a hi-jack, unless everyone else agrees to join and and share. However, you're not CAT-able, so I'll just say briefly that I wrote in the trade press. Your sustainability stuff sounds interesting. I do enjoy business writing, in general, as it's very easy to know if you're doing it properly: either the article should help someone make money or prevent him/her from losing it. By contrast, lifestyle/celebrity/consumer writing is so dependent on taste that a writer can be left at sea.

There's always the danger, as well, that non-business writing (e.g. your local history series) is harder to get paid for, or paid good rates. After all, there isn't the same financial incentive that I mentioned above.

ooh, never dealt with CAT before, is it taboo to change topic mid thread then? Yes, I suppose it would be.

Good point re the advantages of business writing - so much is down to style otherwise. And yes, rates for history stuff tends to be rubbish round these parts. Even more rubbish if you never see the fee of course. Best of luck with your writing career anyway.

Not taboo, but just seems a bit pushy to unilaterally start advertising what one does (unless one is the OP!).

As for CAT, you can change your preferences to be able to receive CAT messages, without having to pay the £5 to be an active CATter! I don't imagine MNHQ would forward anything abusive, so it can't be that scary.