Friday 29 June 2018

Bit of an update on the Woman's Weekly issue.

(If you're wondering what issue, please see the last three blog posts and comments. Make yourself a cup of tea first.)

The 'all rights' smallprint includes giving up our moral rights. Well of course it does, as all rights means absolutely ALL rights. That means they don't have to put our name in the byline. They probably would, but they'd be under no obligation to do so – in the magazine or anywhere else. In the admittedly unlikely scenario of it being made into a film, there would be no need for them to credit the author in any way.

Mark Winterton (Manging director at WW) has said that they will give permission for authors to claim ALCS – info courtesy of Jo Styles in the comments on the last post. She also provides contact details of members of the the TI management team, for those who wish to raise any concerns or queries.

I've heard from ALCS who are looking into whether this is indeed possible. If it is, this isn't giving us any rights back. It would just allow us to claim the money – and the permission could be withdrawn at any time. I'm not saying it would be, but it could. I imagine that when offers were made for our stories six months ago, that was done in good faith – but clearly changes have happened since and the terms we thought we'd submitted and been accepted under, no longer apply.

The Society of Authors are investigating the rights issue. I and other WW authors have forwarded as much information as we can.

If you accept the new terms, you will have given up your rights and won't be able to reverse that decision. If you wait then you could still agree to them later – but it's just possible they'll have a rethink and you won't have to.

Thanks to Carol Bevitt for copying this message from The Society of Authors ...

We’re already in touch with several authors who‘ve spoken out on this - keen to hear from others who are prepared to be named in any lobbying we do, particularly SoA members who have been published by the magazine - please drop a note to mreed@societyofauthors.org.

26 comments:

Carolb said...

Thanks for the update Patsy.

A magazine wanting all rights and a moral rights waver is totally unacceptable. I support all womag writers making a stand on this issue.

#WomagWritersNeedRights

Anonymous said...

Hi Patsy, thanks for all your efforts. I've declined agreeing to the All Rights, and will lose a considerable amount of payment now as I have a lot of stories with WW not yet published. This is a very sad time for writers, but agreeing to waive our rights is a bit too much to ask. Good wishes. Kate.

Celia said...

Out of curiosity, since each 'commission' comes through individually and DeskNet asks each time 'accept' or decline' - surely doing one or the other only applies to that particular story and not any others? Or have you guys actually had an e-mail directly to you from WW with the new conditions?

Celia said...

On June 11th this year, TimeInc was rebranded TI Media. Could this be why suddenly things have changed?

Anonymous said...

Any publisher, literary agent, publication, etc. asking for all rights, is basically thieving scum.

Patsy said...

@ Celia, many of us have had emails (or phone calls) stating that in future before any story is published there will be a Desknet attachment asking us to agree to give up all rights and that if we don't agree, we won't get paid. It appears this applies to all unpublished stories including a great many which are submitted and, we thought, accepted under the old terms months ago. Some of these were accepted last year, yet will still be subject to terms introduced this week.

Patsy said...

@ Kate – I too have quite a few stories accepted but not yet published. I don't want to lose the money, but I'd rather that than give in to these unfair terms and lose my self respect.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Patsy. I too feel this is a self respect issue. Appreciate very much your stand, and the stand of other writers who will also decline. United we stand, divided we fall. Good wishes. Kate.

Janice Sadler said...

Thank you for all your efforts, Patsy. Much appreciated. Janice Sadler

carrie said...

Thanks for the update, Patsy. Publishers moving the goalposts is not on!

Rosemary Gemmell said...

Thanks for keeping us informed about this, Patsy - well done for taking a stand even though it will lose you income.

ados123 said...

Thank you for all the updates, Patsy. I too had the email from WW about the changes that would need to be accepted if I am to sell them any stories in future.

Stories recently published by them can still be claimed for ALCS, can they? When exactly does the ruling come into effect, do you know? I shall not send WW any new stories, but I have got some still with them awaiting a reply.
Alyson

Chris said...

Patsy, I've twice left comments on the subject of the new WW contract and they've twice disappeared. Am I doing something wrong?

Chris said...

Ah, just found it in the post below. Sorry, my mistake!

Anonymous said...

Alyson
Any stories already published or for which you have already done the Desknet 'Accept' thing prior to signing the All Rights agreement are under the old terms.

Any stories that have been accepted but for which you haven't had the desknet commission yet, or which have been subbed but not yet accepted and anything after that will be on the new terms. You will need to sign the All Rights attachment on the next desknet thing you get and that will apply to all stories going forward, if you wish to continue with WW.

Anon99

ados123 said...

@Anon99

Thanks. As I feared...
Alyson

Anonymous said...


Has anybody heard anything today?

Anon101

Patsy said...

@ Anon 101 The Society of Authors have contacted me – they've recieved useful information from a number of authors, some of whom are willing to be named. They'll shortly be sending a group email to everyone who has been in touch on the matter.

Anonymous said...


Thanks Patsy.

Anon101

Anonymous said...


Don't know if this has already been posted but WW have been in touch. They will email sometime this week to clarify things. Whatever that means.

Celia said...

We await developments ...

Anonymous said...


The Society of Author’s CEO Nicola Solomon will be writing to senior management at the magazine next week. The SoA are going to see if they can share their letter with some trade press outlets such as The Bookseller, Bookbrunch and others.

The story is also to be covered in Writing Magazine and Writers’ Forum.

The email expected from the mag to ‘clarify’ the situation has yet to arrive.


Update Demon.

ados123 said...

Has anyone heard anything new today. I had an email from Emma asking to buy a story that has been with them - noting that this would be on an All Rights Basis. Nothing from WW clarifying anything.
Alyson

Anonymous said...


Heard nothing yet. I'm waiting for that, the contract to be looked at, the SoA to do its work (and so on) before I decide anything. I think all WW are doing delaying things is saying how little their writers mean to them now.

ABC.

Anonymous said...

Did anybody receive the expected email from WW? I didn't.

Patsy said...

Nor me. I'm wondering if that could be a good sign, as I think simply clarifying the position they'd already decided on should be a quick and simple task – if it's their standard contract, which they say it is,they'll be well used to the terms and any question which might arise.

Maybe wishful thinking, but perhaps they're considering amending the terms slightly, to make them more acceptable. Naturally that would be more complex.