Womag news
Has anyone found suitable, and affordable, insurance appropriate to fiction writers? (If you're wondering what insurance has to do with womag writing, then you probably missed this post and the comments it generated.)
Free entry writing competition
Thanks to Alyson for sending me the link to this short story competition. They're asking for a rewrite of the Goldilocks story in up to 2,500 words. First prize is $100. You do have to join the Writing Club to take part. I've just done that to test it out. They ask for a donation, but you can chose to pay nothing (or any other amount). I signed up for free without any problems. My thinking is that if I decide to stay in the club and enter their competitions, I can donate later – but until I'm in and see what's on offer, I don't know what, if anything, it'sworth to me.
Something different
As the magazine market is shrinking, Fiona thought some of us might like to try playwriting instead. She found this opportunity from Audible for up to 5 people to receive $25,000 to write audio plays. I recently wrote a very short script opening, for a challenge in a writing group I've joined. That was enough to show this format isn't for me! Is it something you've tried, or would like to?
My news
Rather than trying to keep up with several social media platforms, write frequent newsletters, and keep the blog on my website current, I've decided to focus my efforts on the website (which is my own domain, so not splattered with adverts or subject to the restrictions and algorithms used by Facebook etc). If you'd like to read about my writing life and campervan adventures, nose round my garden, or have a look at the places we visit, then take a look here.)
The little purple book of ideas is (or will be later today) currently on sale at 99p / 99c for the ebook version.
33 comments:
Thanks for the competition info Alyson, looks interesting. And thanks for the link to the insurance chat Patsy, which I’ve just caught up with. This week I helped run workshops in a school for National Poetry Day (cue talking about Shakespeare’s birthplace, which they’d visited and I said I’d been there too. Boy - woah, so you actually met him?)
I was invited as a trustee of a local charity, so was covered by their insurance, which was checked, along with my DBS. I don’t usually run workshops, but I do a few readings, always invited by the lit mag/publisher/competition organiser and have never even thought I might need or be asked for insurance. Anyone know anything about that aspect of it?
In other news, I’ve been shortlisted for a competition that was shared on this blog. Results to be announced on my birthday, so even if I don’t win I’ll be having cake!
Well done Fiona and to everyone with positive news. I'd like to have a go at audio drama, so many thanks for that link, Fiona.
The only trouble is, I don't know how to set out a radio or an audio play!
I guess I could research it online.
I've had trouble being paid for 2 published poems from The people's friend.
I've been chasing it up since August, and it hasn't helped that Tracey has now left. Has anyone else experienced this?
Thank you, Alyson and Fiona. Re writing groups, never try to write a play where you take one scene each. 😩 Congratulations, Fiona — hopefully a good birthday surprise awaits... and cake! I will be exploring insurance but haven't yet. It's going to be a fine line between whether I think I am likely to get more stories published (as in, will I be able to keep up the writing ethic!) and timing and cost. For those of you who have a back catalogue of reprints, I am guessing those would cease if you didn't sign? Meanwhile, another rejection from TPF last week🤣 (and I'm surprised because?!) but another to be published in BOWWF ☺️ this month, so, win some, lose some. I think you are very wise to consolidate, Patsy. I do read your blog (I get the follow.it message) but I don't comment (why?).
@ Fiona - kids can se soo mean. How old were they? When I was a tour guide I discovered that younger kids knew anything historical was in the past, but couldn't grasp it was in order - it was either during their lifetime, or historical.
@ Sharon - I'm sure there will be examples of standard layouts online. If the required layout isn't stated anywhere in the rules, they're probably not too bothered, so I'd pick the simplest layout you can find.
With the payments, have you had anything through at all? Purchase orders, or anything like that?
@ Marguerite – whether or not you sign the new contract won't make any difference to stories published previously. The terms for the contract which was current at the time of sale will always apply to them. As an example, if you sold a story under all rights terms, the publisher would always have all rights to that particular story, even if you later signed a contract allowing you to keep some rights. And you wouldn't lose rights to stories sold under a contract allowing you to keep your rights, if you later sold an all rights contract.
Maybe my other blog leaves you speechless???
Hi. Just a quick reply regarding insurance. I understand from Natalie at Future that it is Professional Indemnity insurance that we need. You probably all already know this but thought I would mention it just in case. My car insurance is due soon so am going to ask the broker to give me a quote at the same time.
I've only submitted to Woman's Weekly a couple of times (one story was published recently, the other has been 'on file' for four years) so I've no intention of taking out public indemnity insurance. It would cost way more than I'm likely to earn from them. I'm none too sure how it would work anyway given I'm in Australia and Woman's Weekly is in the UK.
Liz
Thank you Alyson and Fiona. No, I don’t think I would attempt writing a play, I’m only just mastering formatting short stories… 😊
Although today did start with stage directions, ‘enter, walk down the central aisle, say ‘over’ and leave by the door on the left’ (nothing very exciting - a ‘flu vaccination).
Congratulations Fiona and Marguerite!
Patsy, if you are concentrating on your website, will you still continue to run this blog?
Dee
😲
No, I haven't had any paperwork from TPF at all within the last 3 months, Patsy. These 2 poems have been published already, so I don't understand it. Tracey told me that they would be on September's pay run, but nothing appeared and she's now left.
Yes, Liz, I am considering not submitting to WW in future depending on the cost of insurance. Like many of us I have stories on file with them that will probably never see the light of day.
Like Sue I asked about the insurance for WW and was told I needed:
Professional indemnity insurance — known in the US as errors and omissions (E&O) or professional liability — for claims arising from the work itself (for example, an error, or a rights or defamation issue in something you've written or supplied);
Like Sue I have an insurance company that I will ask for a quote too, but I doubt it is worth me taking it. I probably sell two stories a year to WW and they have about a dozen 'on file'.
On a different note, I just bought this from DC Thomson (actually I ordered it from my local TG Jones). It seems to be put together by My Weekly - no notification to authors - but it has lots of short cosy crimes all together if someone wants a headstart on how to write them. I've really enjoyed reading them and I'm not just saying it because I have a story in there!
Alyson
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Whodunnit-Ultimate-Crime-Fiction-Collection/dp/1917436572/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2FTZBVN0WNWPY&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.SOLtJIHxqP-jdv0dZKQ-v97LLc84LdF47hbGo_5YpC_GjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.Lbk_wZPHtVYgL2uCW8j0vcdcBFICjTSQrwCzxl3DVgA&dib_tag=se&keywords=whodunnit+21+gripping+crime+stories&qid=1791025030&sprefix=Whodu%2Caps%2C235&sr=8-1
@ Sue – I guessed that might be the kind of insurance they wanted, but that wasn't made clear to me. I've pointed out that we can't just take out insurance - we need to know what kind, and what value of cover is required. No response yet, but I didn't ask until yesterday afternoon.
If you don't mind sharing, I'd be very interested to know if your broker is able to offer something suitable and roughly what it would cost.
@ Liz – Yeah, if we only expect to sell a few stories it's not worth it.
I'm not sure if being in another country would make a difference as, presumably, people from any country could try to sue.
Gosh, remember the days when getting the grammar right was one of the most complicated things about writing?
@ Dee – The formatting aspect doesn't worry me too much. As Sharon says, we could find out how to do that. It's what we would have to leave out which puts me off. It's probably better for people who like to focus on action and dialogue, rather than internal thoughts and description.
My plan is to try to keep going with this blog. Although there's a little crossover, I mostly don't intend to post the same things on both.
@ Sharon – It sounds as though Tracey never got round to raising the payments (rather than it being a banking type issue, in which case I'd suggest contacting the finance department). I suggest contacting Lucy Crichton to say you think the payments have been overlooked.
@ Alyson – That bit of info was in the email I was sent, but it also mentioned several others and said they couldn't tell me which I needed! Not very helpful.
That collection 'Whodunnit? | The Ultimate Crime Fiction Collection' does indeed look interesting. Congratulations on having a story included.
@Patsy, yes I will certainly share the insurance quote here. It won't be for a little while though as my motor insurance isnt quite due yet.
I've just run a quick Compare the Market comparison for PI insurance. Based on the answers I gave, which I think would apply to most of us, the cheapest was £91 per year.
Sorry, should have mentioned, that was for £500,000 worth of cover. Presumably cheaper for less cover but I just put that in to get an idea.
Patsy, thanks for the advice re: TPF.
I won't go into the insurance aspect in depth. All I'll say is this - in my opinion, Future are at risk of losing their fiction writers.
When they can't fill the pages, that's when they'll start to panic.
When they haven't enough fresh material, they'll simply use re- prints, I suppose. Yet I feel that this will eventually backfire on them.
I reckon readers will get sick of seeing the same stories!
@Patsy - being in another country makes a difference to the person taking out insurance. Public indemnity insurance here covers liability within Australia. I would need to pay extra to be covered for clients in another country. It’s not worth it.
Liz
That is good news Patsy, thank you.
Dee
Hi Patsy, I've been following your blog again for the last few weeks after some years of focusing on other projects. Thrilled that my story has been selected for the WI4C Leicester charity anthology, which you featured in a previous post. Thank you so much for compiling so many great contests and calls for submission!
Hi Patsy, he was about eight, very proud of the Shakespeare ruler he’d bought on the trip and keen to know more about him, so I didn’t mind too much. He also wrote a really lovely poem, probably the best in the class.
I sought a quote from an international insurance company about 10 days ago and have received no response whatsoever other than an immediate automatic one.
However, I also sought some legal advice from a contracts expert and that was interesting, to summarise their response was along the lines that
this is something that does come up often, but given that most small publishers can't get insurance against libel and plagiarism cases (just the multinationals do) it is completely unfair for Future Publishing to ask that authors earning a pittance should get it. They were of the opinion that Future Publishing should get it themselves if they don't already hold it.
Perhaps they would actually like to have a lot less authors on their books?
Many thanks for this anon. I'd like to know if we are expected to have this insurance in order to send letters, photos and fillers in to their mags, such as TV times, Woman and Woman's own. I know that Bauer take all rights to any letters, fillers and photos selected for publication .
Congratulations, Kathrin! Keep going, several of us have had successes with the free comps on this blog!
Great news Kathrin. Yes, there are so many different writing opportunities mentioned on this blog - and Patsy’s at the helm, giving her sage advice, and steering all of us in the right direction.
Dee
Thank you for continuing the discussion around insurance. LIke some others on here, I maybe sell Future about one story per year. I'd like to continue to send to them, as they are the only outfit which actually publish my work! However, I do not plan to take insurance, as that pretty much negates the amount I get paid. I agree with the comment that Future should take responsibility for their own insurance. I doubt that they will though...
Forgot to add. I have not as yet signed this contract. Have others signed it already?
@ Sharon – All the magazines currently receive far more submissions than they can use, and that includes those with closed lists or which limit the number of submissions in other ways. Although it's likely some people will decide not to sign this, or other new contracts, I doubt that will leave any magazine with two few submissions to fill the available slots.
I do agree though that repeatedly reprinting the same stories, would be very unpopular with readers, if any publisher decided to do that.
@ Liz - Ah, I see. I imagine that quite a few authors will feel it's not financially worthwhile to take out insurance.
@ Kathrin - Congratulations! And thanks for letting me know about your success. It's nice for me to know the blog is useful, and I tink we all like the reminder that these competitions are actually won by real people.
@ Anonymous - It doesn't seem fair to me that freelance short story writers are required to take out this insurance, especially when there's no guarantee of ever selling them another story,.
@ Sharon - I don't believe senders of letters have to sign contracts, so presumably not. Good point though - if it's not needed for those, why would it be for fiction?
@ Maisie – You can still submit without insurance if you've not yet signed. If anyone has signed, then they'll need to take out insurance before submitting, or they'll be in breach of that contract.
I haven't signed yet. I will only sign any contract, if I understand it and agree to accept all the terms.
I strongly suggest that anyone who has concerns or queries contact the rights department. They respond quite quickly, and are helpful. I'm still in communication with them. I don't have permission to share what I'm told. Even if I was, individuals would still need to contact the rights department themselves. What's said to me applies only to me.
Thanks, Patsy. I'll definitely contact the rights department.
Hi, more on the insurance topic. The following is what I received back from Natalie ( who sent us the contracts)
'This contract is valid from the date of signing but will apply for all contributions from now onwards. You will not be able to be paid for any contributions attached to this contract until it has been signed.'
When I asked about the deadline for signing (that is, next year) she sent this. 'The deadline is not accurate, we just didn't want the contracts to expire and have to resend.'
In view of all this it seems to me that its either sign and get insurance or dont submit to them.
What does everyone else think?
Again, speechless. I have a story this month... er...
Very disgruntled. They're publishing one of my stories in February 2027 and I've been paid already under the old contract, so I guess they can't change my Ts and Cs for that.
I interpreted the comments to mean that any contributions FROM NOW ON will be subject to the terms of the new contract. Not the ones already accepted with publication dates.
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