I don’t normally ‘name and shame’ people on this blog, but this has me rather pissed off. You might remember that an article I wrote has been published in Software 2.0, at least in the French and German versions so far as I can tell. About 8 weeks ago I was asked by one of their staff to provide some personal data so I could get paid for it – sounded fair to me. I insisted on encryption (they were expecting me to send bank details across unencrypted mail – I said nay nay), but apart from that all details were provided swiftly. They also promised to send me copies of the mag, which was very welcome.
Weeks passed. I’ve followed up with multiple emails, asking for an update. No response. Early last week I lost patience entirely and emailed the editor (who originally approached us) as well as the guy who dealt with the personal data, making no bones about the fact that, having given them personal data which I don’t give out lightly, I expected a minimum of a courteous email responding to my enquiries. Nothing.
This entirely pissed me off. I took a weekend out of my very busy schedule to write that article with little notice. They seem to have no intention of paying me or sending me a copy, and they’re also sitting on personal data which I’ve no idea what they’re doing with. Sure, it was nice to have an article published about OGRE, but that doesn’t mean you can get away with publishing it, not paying, and messing about with the authors personal data.
My advice to others – if Software 2.0 approaches you for an article, tell them to pay up front or get lost. These guys seem to have no concept of being courteous to the programmers they ask to write for them.
If you’ve bought the magazine and feel like supporting me, feel free to mail them to let them know what you think. Chances are they’ll ignore you though.
[Edit]I’ve removed the reference to individuals now following a long-overdue explanation (see comments)[/Edit]
March 29th, 2005 at 3:07 am
I know this, I heart of lots of people who wrote articles for magazines and didn’t get any of the promised payment. I wrote some software for several magazines/websites, and they mostly ignored my rights after they had received what they wanted, republished and resold my programs without letting me know, and of course didn’t give me any money.
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My current opinion is that magazines in general don’t really care about law and copyrights etc. Software 2.0 also contacted me some months ago and wanted me to write an article about Irrlicht, I guess for the same edition. I declined for the reasons above.
I’m sorry for you, but I think at least Ogre received a popularity boost with this.
Niko [don't want to register
March 29th, 2005 at 6:01 am
I bought the magazine, for the last time, and will make publicity for that.
I have email the editor about that, because i don’t like people with which you have to communicate only with legal seals and registered mails.
March 29th, 2005 at 12:00 pm
If you didn’t get paid, then you still own the copyright on that article, and they are violating your copyright by distributing illegal copies of your copyrighted materials. Tell them your next step is contacting a lawyer to sue for an injunction to prevent them from distributing the magazine, and a share of their profits of any sales to date. Give them a date to pay as agreed, or you begin the legal proceedings.
The point is to be the loudest, squeakiest wheel they have ever ran into, to the point where they will pay you anything to make it stop.
Frankly, I’d go ahead and sue them just to teach them a lesson, but then I’m not a nice guy like you.
December 15th, 2005 at 3:34 pm
I was just sent a link to this post and I must say I’m a bit upset about being personally named, as the context makes it look like I’m the individual responsible for the whole affair. The truth is that I left the publishing house in question just as the issue featuring the OGRE article (a very good article, I might add) was going to print, so I had absolutely nothing to do with any of the housekeeping that comes after publication, including authors’ agreements and payments.
One of the main reasons I left was actually the worrying frequency of problems such as Steve’s — first I was contacting top professionals and working with them to create quality publications, and come payday I had to make excuses to them for someone else’s mistakes, delays and all manner of suspicious behaviour.
Steve, under the circumstances you have every right to be pissed off, but I would hate anyone to associate me personally with some of the suspicious operations at THAT publishing house, so I would much appreciate it if you took my name off the site (in that context, at any rate). Feel free to contact me by e-mail to clear up any misunderstandings that might remain.
December 15th, 2005 at 4:13 pm
Ok, I’ve removed the reference to you personally, thanks for the explanation. The main reason I was so riled by this affair was the total lack of communication, and I’d hoped to light a fire under someone with this post – which didn’t come to anything. Needless to say I’m not writing any more articles for anyone unless they pay up front. I’m glad you liked the article anyway, and congrats for leaving such a crappy company.