The Archives: March, 2000

PC Gamer has a new editor in chief, Rob Smith. (March 29)

Cahner's Business Information is still on a buying spree. CMD Group, publisher of 17 regional construction titles, became it's 11th purchase in a year. Meanwhile, they acquired a new CEO and cut 550 employees. (March 29)

Cross Stitch & Needlework and Decorative Woodcrafts will be closed after the July/August issues and Crayola Kids after the May issue by Meredith Corp, who will graduate Hometown Cooking and Antiques Extra from test issues to regular subscription titles. (March 21)

Architectural Digest will publish a monthly Spanish version beginning in May. It will be translated from the English version. (March 20)

Sports Afield has a new editor in chief, Chris Dorsey.

TV Guide en español, the all-color insert available in selected US markets, is closing. The company spokesman said they didn't draw enough customers. (March 20)

Ariba is a new b-to-b title from Ariba Inc and covers current and emerging trends in ecommerce.

Inc. is looking for a buyer. Competitor Success was recently sold at auction and plans to relaunch in June while Entrepreneur - so far - has announced no plans to move. (March 20)

Natural Health, a Weider Publication, has named a new editor in chief, Rachel Streit. (March 20)

Cadalyst from Advanstar.com has a new editor in chief, Sara Ferris, who will have the title of executive editor of operations. (March 20)

Offspring and Martha Stewart Baby both hit the newsstands at about the same time. You can contact Martha's editorial department at (212) 827-8000. Offspring is put out by the folks who give you SmartMoney, Hearst Communications and Dow Jones & Co. (March 20)

Casual Living has been bought by Cahners' Retail Furnishings Group, based in Greensboro, NC, which also publishes Home Accents Today, Garden Décor and Kids Today. Cheminne Taylor-Smith is editor in chief. (March 20)

Garden Design's new editor is Michael Boodro. (March 20)

Mortgage Originator, a monthly with 16,000 in circulation, has been bought by Pfingsten Publishing and will join such magazines as Décor. (March 20)

REVOLUTION, the "only magazine created for the internet generation" will be launched by Imagine Media in July 2000. (March 7)

Los Angeles Magazine is signed, sealed and delivered to the EMMIS Communications Corp which already owns Texas Monthly, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Indianapolis Monthly and Country Sampler. (March 3)

Advertising revenues surge to record levels for publishers in 1999

March 27, 2000 - Publishers got a pay raise of almost 13% last year. And January and February of this year shows the same record-setting trends. Full Story


Writers' pay stay the same as publishers' income soars

An exclusive survey by the Wooden Horse exposes writers' pay scales to be what we all suspected: Stagnant. Full Story

Real Simple not so simple: Is Time Inc's biggest launch ever

Simple is in. At least, that's what Managing Editor Susan Wyland has been pitching lately. However, "competition" seems the more appropriate word for this Martha Stewart Living look-alike. Full Story

TIME digital goes monthly

March 20, 2000 - Time Digital, a supplement to Time magazine and a web site (www.time.com/time/digital/), will begin as a stand-alone monthly in May. The proposed ratebase is reported at 1 million.


Publishers find 10M to fight postal rate increase

The magazine publishers' trade association Magazine Publishers of America will spend US $10 million to fight a proposed 15% US Postal Service (USPS) rate hike for mailing magazines to take effect in 2001.

The MPA president, Nina Link, said the use of the ten million US dollars will include "an extensive magazine advertising campaign".


Want to write about men's fashion? Query DETAILS. Yes, DETAILS!

LIFE closes as a periodical

Business targeted eCOMPANY now launches May 6

Want the writing job of your dreams? Need better writing assignments?

Our copywriter, Kimberli Munkres, shares her list of 26 sites where you will probably find the exact assignments you seek.

Attention Writers and Editors:

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From: NWU National Office West - nwu@nwu.org

IMPORTANT WRITER ALERT!!! PLEASE POST AND RE-POST!!!

Dear Writer:

As you may know, a number of publications are now issuing contracts demanding that writers sign away past rights for articles already published. Obviously, this practice is deplorable-but most important the practice creates an unenforceable contract (along with being a contract of adhesion and undue influence), if a publisher does not offer additional compensation.

It is established precedent in virtually all states that modifying an existing contract requires additional "consideration." While this is not intended to constitute formal legal advice, here are two citations for you to use:

A case in Illinois citation:

Flint v. CASA of Du Page County, 285 Ill.
pp. 3d. 152, 161, 674 N.E.2d 831, 221 Ill. Dec. 38 (1996)

To support the modification or amendment of a contract, there must be consideration. Flint, 256 Ill. App. 3d at 162 (finding that since there was no consideration for an amendment to a contract, the amendment was unenforceable). According to Flint: "Valuable consideration for a contract consists of some right, interest, profit, or benefit accruing to one party, or some forbearance, detriment, loss, or responsibility given, suffered, or undertaken by the other. A promise to do something that one is already obligated to do is no consideration and creates no new obligation"

A New York case:

The case (Ludwig v. NYNEX Service Co., 838 F. Supp. 769 (S.D. N.Y. 1993) says that a modification of a services contract must be supported by consideration (a detriment to the one offering the modification and a benefit to the one accepting the modification). The same rule as in Illinois, and also supported by a treatise by Lon L. Fuller & Melvin Aron Eisenberg, Basic Contract Law (5th ed. 1990, at pps. 157-58).

Note an important point: a contracting party in New York CAN waive "ancillary" or "collateral" conditions, without new consideration. In other words, the essence of the contract requires additional consideration to permit modification, but such side-issues as, say the date of publication, need not be supported by consideration.

In other words, if you are asked to waive any and all rights to articles previously written for a publication, this would be a modification of an essential element of the original "contracts" and, thus, not valid. But be careful about "waiver-type" language. Also, the New York case says that even if a waiver of an essential element of a previous contract is signed without additional compensation, the modified contract becomes valid once the contracting party relies on it, to the contracting party's detriment.

So.... bottom line:

You MUST ask for additional compensation before signing any contracts with publishers regarding rights to previously published and paid-for articles; and you should not sign any documents with the words "waive" or "waiver" in them.

Finally, we are continuing to explore many avenues in the wake of the victory in the lawsuit, including intensifying resistance to all-rights contracts.

Jonathan Tasini
President

National Writers Union
UAW Local 1981/AFL-CIO
Email: nwu@nwu.org
Website: http://www.nwu.org

National Office West
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Really know what editors want and eliminate unnecessary reasons for rejections - for now and forever.

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Call 1-(888) 236-7228 toll-free or (831) 728-0835
Fax (831) 761-9085