condé nast woes 42 reasons ebook to print on the waterfront

THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF JOURNALISTS AND AUTHORS
RETAIN YOUR RIGHTS
ASJA2013 UPDATE
MANHATTAN BY YACHT?
WRITING LIFE
CONDÉ NAST WOES
42 REASONS
ON THE WATERFRONT
EBOOK TO PRINT
VOLUME 62 • NUMBER 3 • MARCH 2013
ASJA2013 KEYNOTE SPEAKER
A.J. JACOBS
INTERVIEWED BY BARBARA DEMARCO-BARRETT
WE WRITE WHAT YOU READ ™
The
Monthly
VOLUME 62 • NUMBER 3
MARCH 2013
PUBLICATIONS CHAIR
Tina Tessina
EDITOR
Barbara DeMarco-Barrett
ART DIRECTION
Dave Mosso
CONTRIBUTORS
Stephanie Auteri, Alisa Bowman,
Greg Breining, Iyna Bort Caruso,
Randy Dotinga, Jack El-Hai,
Bruce W. Fraser, Margie Goldsmith,
Sam Greengard, Janine Latus,
Suzanne Loebl, Judy L. Mandel,
Dorri Olds, Alexandra Owens,
Steve Weinberg,
Michele Wojciechowski, Minda Zetlin
PROOFREADERS
Bettijane Eisenpreiss,
Mary Ann Castronovo Fusco,
Toni Goldfarb, Joan Heilman,
Melanie Lasoff Levs, Kathryn Wilkens
Features
42 Reasons to Attend ASJA2013
BY RANDY DOTINGA
5
Voices on Writing: Immersion Journalist A.J. Jacobs
BY BARBARA DEMARCO-BARRETT
6
On the Waterfront: Touring Manhattan by Yacht
BY MARGIE GOLDSMITH
10
Columns & Departments
From the President’s Desk BY MINDA ZETLIN 3
Society Page
Websites and Online Activities | Member Events 4
Writing Business BY JACK EL-HAI 8
Wise Advice WITH STEPHANIE AUTERI, GREG BREINING, ALISA BOWMAN,
IYNA BORT CARUSO, RANDY DOTINGA, SAM GREENGARD, AND TINA TESSINA
9
Writing Life BY JUDY L. MANDEL 12
What’s In Store BY STEVE WEINBERG 14
ASJA Mission and Administration 15
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Features
What’s So Great About WordPress?
BY DORRI OLDS
An introduction to the state-of-the-art—but manageable—web site and blogging platform
C1
What the Heck is ASJAConnect?
BY MICHELE WOJCIECHOWSKI
C13
Columns & Departments
Inside ASJA WITH ASJA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ALEXANDRA OWENS C4
New & Reinstated Members C5
Industry News The latest information from around the industry C6
MarketRate Formerly PayCheck C8
Where Writers Write BY SUZANNE LOEBL C14
ShopTalk C16
The deadline for submissions to The ASJA Monthly
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2
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MARCH 2013 WWW.ASJA.ORG
FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK
BY MINDA ZETLIN
When Bad Contracts Happen to Good Writers
I
land a new magazine or website as a client, one I’m really happy to be writing for. One I’ve been trying to crack for a while. I
get my first assignment. And then the contract arrives.
All rights. Work made for hire. I indemnify them against
any and all legal claims arising from my article, including lawyers’ fees. My notes and all research materials belong to them.
Perhaps I even agree not to write on this topic for anyone else for
some period of time.
Opening a new contract usually gives me a feeling of dread.
I don’t really think these publishing houses have lawyers sitting around plush offices trying to come up with new and creative ways to screw writers. Or maybe I do think that. How else
could they have come up with phrases like “in any medium ever
to be invented”? Why else would they keep adding new clauses
that make writing for periodicals and websites an increasingly
dispiriting prospect?
The latest assault on writers’ rights actually made The New
York Times’ website (ironically, the Times itself wound up losing a Supreme Court case after it resold freelancers’ work that it
didn’t have rights to). In a new twist on the nothing-you-writeever-belongs-to-you theme, Condé Nast’s new contract gives the
publisher the right to option movie and TV rights arising from
articles. You may think this sounds trivial—how often does an
article turn into a movie?—but films from Urban Cowboy to Argo
originated as articles, as have many television programs and
documentaries that may not be as widely known but still helped
their authors pay their mortgages. It may not happen often, but
when it does, it really, really matters. (See page 8 for ASJA Past
President Jack El-Hai’s account of having his articles optioned.)
Here’s the problem, though: It’s Condé Nast. I can dream of
the day when all writers everywhere will say, “No thanks, Wired/
New Yorker/Vanity Fair—I won’t take that plum assignment because your contract is unconscionable.” But then I wake up and
reality sets in.
It’s a reality I’ve seen too many times before. If you’ve been
around this profession as long as I have as (which is to say—ack!—
almost 30 years) you remember what contracts used to look like.
First North American serial rights, print only. In those days, you
would actually get an extra check when an overseas edition of a
magazine picked up an article, or it was resold for use in a book,
or someone wanted to order reprints of your piece. Each set of
rights was a different negotiation, and an opportunity for at least
a little more income. Then the Internet appeared, and publications far and wide decided they’d like to publish and sell content
online without the pesky bother of having to pay writers extra for
reusing their work. Never mind that those new uses were bringing in new revenue for those publishers.
ASJA and other writers’ groups fought hard against those
contracts, advising writers that handing over all of our rights for
the dwindling sums publishers were paying was a bad bargain.
It’s a battle that we lost. Since then, the lawyers in their plush
offices have continued to find newer and more creative ways to
make things worse for us. Which brings us to today.
Most of the contracts that land in my inbox now are patently
unfair. You may think I’m saying that because I’m a writer and
I’m biased. Not so much. Many of them say that the publisher acquires all rights (as an asset my work belongs entirely to them),
but also that I indemnify them completely against any legal action (as a liability it belongs entirely to me). Could that meet any
sane person’s definition of fairness?
So what do I do about them? Well a contract is actually only
a proposal after all—what the publisher would like me to sign.
It may seem like a take-it-or-leave-it situation, but in my experience, that’s not the case most of the time. When I push back,
they may come up with another contract with better terms. Or
I may be able to delete or modify the indemnity clause. I’m not
suggesting we can go back to the first rights contracts of yesteryear, or that today’s contracts will be fair even after we’ve negotiated them. Or even that it’s always possible to get a publisher to
change its contract—it’s not. But it is always, always worth a try.
These days, bestseller books and movies and TV
programs are launched from blogs and webzines
and other untraditional sources. There are more
places to tell a good story and even get paid decently for it than ever before.
There are those brave writers, such as El-Hai, who just say
no to unfair contracts. It’s easier to do that if you’re one of the
high-profile masters of narrative nonfiction that magazines like
the Condé Nast titles seek out. Or if you happen to have a topic
that screams “Movie!” Writers aren’t stupid: We know when an
article has real Hollywood potential, and we know better than
to sign that potential away for the measly $5,000 that is Condé
Nast’s highest offer.
Fortunately for us, major magazines are no longer the only
high-profile way to publish our articles. These days, bestseller
books and movies and TV programs are launched from blogs and
webzines and other untraditional sources. There are more places to tell a good story and even get paid decently for it than ever
before. Julie & Julia started out as a blog and ended up as a film
starring Meryl Streep. I don’t know of a Byliner or Atavist piece
that got picked up by Hollywood, but if it hasn’t happened yet, it’s
only a matter of time. Consider all this before signing a contract
that turns your stomach.
But if you do give in and sign, take the advice that ASJA’s
first Contracts Chair once gave me: “Scream,” he said. “Don’t be
afraid to tell them how much you object.”
No matter how powerless we feel, that’s something all of us
can do. ¢
Minda Zetlin is president of ASJA, a columnist for the
Inc. magazine website and author of several books,
including The Geek Gap: Why Business and Technology
Professionals Don’t Understand Each Other and Why
They Need Each Other to Survive (Prometheus Books,
2006), co-authored with her husband, Bill Pfleging.
Read and comment on articles online
at the all-new ASJA Monthly website:
asjamonthly.org
THE ASJA MONTHLY
MARCH 2013 WWW.ASJA.ORG
3
Society Page
New & Noteworthy Member Happenings
T
Sally Abrahms
Hilary Davidson
Judy L. Mandel’s
Replacement Child
Mary Shafer
his month Sally Abrahms, who specializes in aging and Boomers and
writes a weekly AARP blog for family caregivers, will moderate a panel
at the Chicago Boomer Business Summit, part of the American Society
on Aging conference … In January, SATW president Lillian Africano created and moderated a number of panels at The New York Times Travel Show at
the Javits Center … Hilary Davidson’s third novel, Evil In All Its Disguises —
about the mysterious disappearance of a journalist on a press trip in Acapulco—
will be published by Forge on March 5. She won the 2011 Anthony Award for
Best First Novel … Margie Goldsmith’s recent pieces include a six-page feature for Hemispheres Magazine, a story on Grand Central Station in Feb/
March’s National Geographic Traveler, and radio spots for “The Travel Show,”
KPAM (Portland, OR) … Michele C. Hollow, who writes the blog Pet News
and Views, will be a featured guest at the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals
… Irene S. Levine was among the winners of the 21st North American Travel
Journalists Association Awards competition. She won Gold, Silver and Bronze
awards as well as two honorable mentions for travel articles that appeared
in the Boston Globe, Philadelphia Inquirer, and online at the NBC Universal
website Life Goes Strong … Judy L. Mandel’s memoir, Replacement Child
(Seal Press/Perseus) is being released on March 5 … Maxine Rock’s 10th book,
Adventures in Faun Forest, was published on January 21 when more than 70
people came to watch the book roll off the presses at BookLogix in Atlanta.
Four local newspapers covered the event. Funds from book sales will support
leukemia research, a favorite family charity … Publishers Weekly calls John
Rosengren’s Hank Greenberg: The Hero of Heroes a “warm-hearted, intelligent biography.” This month, New American Library releases the biography
of the Hall of Fame ballplayer … In February Mary Shafer, extreme weather
enthusiast, spoke to the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the American Meteorological
Society on the subject of her book: Devastation on the Delaware: Stories and
Images of the Deadly Flood of 1955. Just before that, she attended Chasercon,
the annual conference of storm chasers, in Denver … Susan Shapiro’s New
York Times essay caused a stir with 300 anti-memoir comments and got her
on Gawker, WNYC and NPR. Her agent Kirby Kim sold The Bosnia List, a
memoir she’s coauthoring with Kenan Trebincevic, to Wendy Wolf at Viking.
It chronicles the story of how Trebincevic, a 30-year-old Bosnian Muslim who
was the victim of ethnic cleansing in the 1992 Balkan war, goes back to his
homeland to confront the guilty. ¢
Websites, Blogs & Social Media Outposts
The following websites, blogs, et al, revolve around members whose news is detailed above.
Sally Abrams sallyabrahms.com
John Rosengren HankGreenberg.net
Hilary Davidson hilarydavidson.com
Mary Shafer TheWordForge.com
maryshafer
Michele C. Hollow petnewsandviews.com
Susan Shapiro
opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/31/
make-me-worry-youre-not-o-k/
Irene Levine MoreTimeToTravel.com
Judy L. Mandel replacementchild.com
Member Events
Barbara DeMarco-Barrett radio show with A.J. Jacobs, 2013
ASJA Keynote speaker, 3.6 “Writers on Writing,” KUCI-FM,
kuci.org, 9am PT
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MARCH 2013 WWW.ASJA.ORG
Joan Detz, class on “The Business of Six-Figure Speechwriting”
3.23 Philadelphia, PA joandetz.com/biz.shtml
42 REASONS
18. Vanity Fair, Slate and the New Yorker are all sending editors
to speak.
BY RANDY DOTINGA,
20. An all-star panel from the Op-Ed project will inspire you to
bring your voice to editorial/opinion pages.
TO ATTEND
ASJA2013
CONFERENCE CHAIR
S
ince we started our annual confabs more than four decades
ago, one thing has remained constant: a commitment to
helping freelance writers and nonfiction authors make it.
These days, many of us are remaking our careers to stay
afloat: we’re exploring everything from custom publishing and
speechwriting to fiction and teaching journalism.
ASJA is here to help. Armed with new kinds of sessions and
events, ASJA 2013 is intensely focused on helping you reinvent and
reinvigorate your career.
In honor of our 42nd anniversary, here are 42 reasons you
can’t miss the best writers’ conference in the country:
1. 30+ literary agents are waiting to hear about your book proposal at Personal Pitch with Agents and Editors on Member
Day.
2. ASJA member Sree Sreenivasan, chief digital officer of
Columbia University, is back to tell you what you need to
know about technology.
19. Our members-only Pitch Slam will give some of you a chance
to pitch stories to editors at top magazines and hear their immediate reactions.
21. Bestselling authors D.T. Max, Ted Conover, and Gwen Cooper
are among our speakers.
22. We’re digging deeply into the world of custom publishing with
sessions on topics like content marketing and being a paid
spokesperson.
23. Want to be a creative coach? A journalism educator? You’re
covered.
24. The Roosevelt Hotel is conveniently located just two blocks
from Grand Central Station.
25. ASJA Connect, our first-ever networking event, offers an unprecedented opportunity to meet editors, agents, publishers,
and more.
26. Did we mention the cocktails?
27. Special workshops will be devoted to speechwriting and public speaking.
28. Sessions will teach you how to survive—financially and personally—as a foreign correspondent.
3. Simon & Shuster, Random House, and St. Martin’s Press are
just a few of the publishers who are sending editors to attend.
29. History.com, OnEarth.org, and the New Republic are sending
editors.
4. For the first time, we’re offering fascinating and inexpensive
field trips before the conference for locals and early arrivals.
30. The NY Times says one of our speakers “specializes in the
raunchy and perverse.” See if you can guess which one.
5. Speakers include 6+ New York Times-bestselling authors.
31. Outside Magazine, Rolling Stone, and Bon Appetit are sending editors.
6. Humorist and ASJA member A.J. Jacobs, our keynote speaker, just wrote a best-selling book called Drop Dead Healthy.
He’s looking good, ladies!
7. Cocktails, cocktails and more cocktails.
8. Members can attend one, two, or three days: Your choice.
(Nonmembers can attend two panel- and activity-packed days.)
9. Want to change the world with your words? Sessions will
teach you how and include details about surviving financially
while doing it.
32. Spring flowers are in bloom in the Big Apple in late April.
33. Sessions will offer expert insight into developing a sideline in
three fiction genres: mystery, sci-fi/fantasy, and young adult/
children’s.
34. The average high temperature in May in NYC is 71 degrees.
We’ll be almost there in late April.
35. Need your morning coffee? Come on down! We’ve got it brewing for you.
10. Want an autograph from your favorite speaker? Look for their
books at our on-site mini-bookstore.
36. A special session will teach you how to avoid “Scams, Ripoffs,
Pitfalls, and Deadbeats.”
11. The biography panel features some of today’s most respected
biographers.
37. Bestselling authors Kathleen Flinn (ASJA), Amy Hill Hearth
(ASJA) and Deborah Blum are among our speakers.
12. Spring is a fantastic time to visit New York City. Look at past
issues of The ASJA Monthly, plus this issue, for pieces on New
York.
38. No rubber chicken at our keynote luncheon.
13. Co-founders of The Atavist and Byliner will teach you about
the growing e-single market.
14. ASJA members get a great discount on registration.
15. Learn how to cover your assets in sessions on lawsuit prevention, personal finance, and literary contracts.
16. We’ll have a special event for new members.
17. You’ll learn how government contracts can bring you writing
income.
39. Thinking about being a publicist? A best-selling animal/nature writer? A travel blogger? You’re covered!
40. Learn how to tell your story out loud, whether on NPR or at a
special event, at the spoken-word session.
41. Our memoir writing panel will inspire you to find the story
only you can tell and bring it to print.
42. Spring outdoor lighting in NYC is flattering and you’ll look
fantastic in your Mark Bennington headshot. But don’t go
outside too long. You’ll miss something good! ¢
Register now at asjaconference.org
THE ASJA MONTHLY
MARCH 2013 WWW.ASJA.ORG
5
Voices on Writing
By Barbara DeMarco-Barrett
ASJA2013 Keynote Speaker
A.J. Jacobs
Our upcoming keynote speaker A.J. Jacobs has a wide and
varied writing career, and is one of the most unusual immersion journalists I’ve had the pleasure to meet. He is also one
quirky dude, evidenced by the bio below, written by him. And
he’ll be our entertaining and informative keynote speaker at
the ASJA annual writers conference next month (asja.org).
I
n 2004, Simon & Schuster published
The Know-It-All. It subsequently
spent eight weeks on the New
York Times paperback bestseller list. It was praised by
Time magazine, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, USA
Today, Janet Maslin in
the New York Times,
and AJ’s Uncle Henry on Amazon.com.
In 2007, The
Year of Living Biblically was released. It
spent three months on
the NYT bestseller list
and was praised by Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, The New York Times Book
Review, the Los Angeles Times, USA
Today, and others. It appeared on the cover of the evangelical magazine Relevant, but was
also featured in Penthouse. (Jacobs is proud to be a uniter, not
a divider).
In 2010, he published the book My Life as an Experiment:
One Man’s Humble Quest to Improve Himself. The book contains some previously published experiments (including “My
Outsourced Life,” Jacobs’ quest to delegate every task in his
life to India). It also has new experiments—including lifechanging quests featuring George Washington’s rules of life,
The slants of your books are fun. You do a sort of immersion narrative nonfiction. Did you find yourself just doing that, so you did more of it, or did you want to find a way to
make yourself more unusual to editors and the world of publishing, and came up with it that way?
Barbara DeMarco-Barrett is editor of The ASJA
Monthly and author of the ASJA award-winning Pen on
Fire (Harcourt, 2004). She hosts Writers on Writing on
KUCI-FM, in Southern California, and is founder of the
Pen on Fire Writers Salon in Corona del Mar, CA.
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MARCH 2013 WWW.ASJA.ORG
marital harmony, marital disharmony, multitasking, and nudity—not in that order. (The book came out in hardcover in
2009 under the title The Guinea Pig Diaries)
In 2012, Drop Dead Healthy was released. The book chronicled his attempt to become the healthiest person alive, and revamp his diet, exercise regimen, stress levels, sleep, and sex life.
In addition to his books, Jacobs is the editor at large
of Esquire magazine, for which he writes features and health columns. He has also
written for The New York Times,
Entertainment Weekly, New
York magazine, and Dental Economics magazine,
one of the top five magazines about the financial side of toothcare.
He has appeared
on Oprah, The Today
Show, Good Morning America, and
Late Night with Conan
O’Brien. He is a periodic commentator on NPR’s
Weekend Edition Saturday, where he discusses important facts, such as why opossums have 13 nipples, and on The Dr.
Oz Show, where he tests health gadgets.
The Year of Living Biblically, My Outsourced
Life, and The Know-It-All were optioned by various studios. In
2011, his book My Life as An Experiment was turned into a pilot for NBC starring Donald Sutherland.
Jacobs grew up in New York City. His father is a lawyer who
holds the world record for the most footnotes in a law review
article (4,824). His wife works for a highbrow scavenger hunt
called Watson Adventures. He still lives in New York with his
family.
I think the approach came about because I was: a) curious
about many topics and b) incredibly ignorant of many topics. I
find the best way to learn is to immerse oneself. I wanted to learn
about Bible, for instance, so I decided to live it, to follow in the
sandal-steps of my ancestors.
How did your most recent book, Drop Dead Healthy
come about?
I had tried to improve my mind (in The Know-It-All, about
my quest to read the encyclopedia). And I’d tried to improve my
spirit (in The Year of Living Biblically). So I thought I’d finish up
the trilogy and try to improve my body.
Did you become the healthiest person alive?
I never want to say that I’m the healthiest person alive because as soon as I say that, I’ll come down with some horrible
disease like rickets. That’s the way the universe works. But I certainly got a lot healthier. I lost my four-months-pregnant-looking gut. And I still write while walking on a treadmill. I’m in a
heated competition with author Rebecca Skloot to see who can
get more steps per day.
With every book, do you end up where you pretty much
thought you’d end up, or are you always surprised?
I’m often surprised. I was taken aback by how much my biblical living moved and changed me. And I can never predict life’s
twists, whether good (I was fruitful and multiplied and had twins
during my Bible year) or terrible (I had several family members
die during my year of living healthily).
In My Life as an Experiment, about outsourcing to India,
what did you find out?
That was the greatest month of my life. I hired a team of
people in Bangalore, India, to do everything for me. They answered my phone for me. When my boss emailed me, they would
respond. They argued with my wife for me. Just fantastic. I got to
sit back and read books and watch movies. As for what I learned?
I learned to be afraid for my sons’ futures. These assistants in
India are smart and eager. My kids are going to have to compete
on a global level.
Did any of your books begin as articles?
A few of the chapters in My Life as An Experiment started
out as articles—such as one chapter on how I practiced Radical
Honesty (say whatever is on your mind—which I don’t recommend, by the way), and another chapter on how scientists studied
my brain to see whether I loved my wife.
How do you know when an idea is an article or a book?
For a book, you really need growth or change. There has to
be a long arc. Articles don’t need that. As a side note, I pitched
the read-the-entire-encyclopedia idea as an article to Esquire.
Thank God my editor rejected it. Otherwise, I would have spent
a year and a half working on an article.
Every one of your books becomes a New York Times bestseller. What do you attribute this to?
A lot of it’s luck, as with everything in life. (I think all
award show speeches should begin: “I’d like to thank Random
Happenstance.”) Partly, it’s because my publisher is very supportive. Partly it’s that I try to write books that everyone can relate to. And partly it’s because readers like my wife. Usually more
than they like me, actually.
When you’re working on a book, are you so totally immersed in the subject matter or is a little bit thinking ahead
of what you’ll work on next?
I wish I could plan ahead more. But I usually am too
wrapped up in my current book to think of the next one until after publication.
It also seems you are so in touch with your voice and
aren’t afraid to be you, which engenders, I’m sure, a certain
uninhibited way of being and of writing which can only make
your work better. Were you always like this?
That’s kind of you to say. It took me awhile to find my voice.
When I first started, I was more stilted. But I grew into the conversational tone.
Talk about your gig as editor at large of Esquire. What’s
that comprised of?
I spend almost all my time writing, despite the “editor” part
of the title. The “at large” part of the title means I gallivant around
the globe (a.k.a. sit in my apartment in my pajamas staring at the
glowing rectangle of my computer screen). I write a mix of features and personal essays. I most recently wrote a very important piece of journalism about the evil concept of Valentine’s Day.
Of course! I’ve gotten rejected hundreds,
thousands of times, and I still get dinged every day. Rejection is as much a part of a writer’s life as using a word processor or missing
deadlines or wrestling with the deep, echoing
void of despair (maybe I should speak for myself on that last one).
Does your work ever get rejected now? Did you ever have
to go through rejections and rising above, plowing ahead, all
that…?
Of course! I’ve gotten rejected hundreds, thousands of
times, and I still get dinged every day. Rejection is as much a
part of a writer’s life as using a word processor or missing deadlines or wrestling with the deep, echoing void of despair (maybe
I should speak for myself on that last one). As writers become
more entrepreneurial and have to take more chances, we’ll get
even more rejections.
What about writing now, in the digital age? How has
that changed what you do?
The digital age has ushered in some amazing changes for
writers: Research without shlepping to the library. The chance
for your work to go viral. Instant feedback from readers (which I
guess is a mixed blessing). Ability to mix in visual elements. My
only complaint? The minor matter of making money. It’s getting
harder, mostly thanks to the expectation of free content.
What changes to you see coming?
It’s really hard to predict the future in this quicksilver world.
And anyone who says they know for sure what’s coming is deluded. But I’m guessing we’ll have to be more entrepreneurial. We’ll
have to make money in a bunch of different ways, such as live
events and speaking engagements. We’ll have to learn new skills
like coding and video.
While many writers embrace the changes, some don’t.
What can you say to those writers?
I empathize. I’d be happy if publishing had frozen in 1973
and I could make a comfy living writing a book every two years
for the rest of my life. But that’s not happening. So as they say, we
must evolve or die. One trick: Instead of dreading the publicity
and marketing, I try to view it as a creative endeavor. How can I
continued on page 12
THE ASJA MONTHLY
MARCH 2013 WWW.ASJA.ORG
7
WRITING BUSINESS
BY JACK EL-HAI
Gone with the Wind
The performance rights provisions of Condé Nast’s new contracts seek to destroy our dreams
W
hen I recently heard that Condé Nast magazines —
The New Yorker, Wired, Vanity Fair, and others —
were requiring contributors to give the publisher exclusive movie and other performance rights to their work for up
to twelve months after publication, I remembered an event of my
early years as a freelance writer.
In the spring of 1991 I bought my first telephone answering machine. At the time I was working as an editor for a department store chain, and I don’t recall what kinds of messages
I hoped to play back at the end of the day. But the very first message I got, one day after I bought the machine, seized my attention and thrilled me.
It was from a man named Daryl Nickens. In a youthful voice
unsuccessfully trying to hide his excitement, he explained that he
was a screenwriter who ran a movie production company in partnership with the actor Glynn Turman. He had read an article I
had just published in American Heritage magazine and wanted
to know if the movie rights were available.
At the library I looked up Nickens and found out he really was a screenwriter. He had written teleplays for the series
Webster, A Different World, and 227, and a movie he co-wrote,
House Party 2, was in production. Turman’s name I knew from
his roles in the movie Gremlins and numerous TV shows. I
quickly found a performance rights agent who negotiated an option agreement with Nickens’ production company. Soon a check
arrived that amounted to five times what American Heritage had
paid me for the first publication rights to the article, and another check followed a year later when Nickens renewed the option.
No movie ever resulted from Nickens’ interest, but I’ve licensed the performance rights to my works many times in the
years since, with one of those productions, a PBS American
Experience documentary based on my book The Lobotomist,
making it to the screen in 2008. I could not have entered into
any of those licensing agreements with producers if I had signed
a magazine contract with the performance rights grab Condé
Nast now demands from writers. In my experience, most inquiries from movie and TV producers reach authors and their
agents within a few months of an article’s publication. If the performance rights to the article are tied up, the producers will go
away.
Let’s not fool ourselves: the odds of a magazine article attracting anyone’s attention in show business are slim. And the
chances of that interest developing into an option agreement
with money changing hands are even more remote. We all tend
to overestimate the commercial entertainment appeal of the
stories that we’ve poured our time into. Many so-called “movie
deals” that pay little or nothing and go nowhere do not benefit
the writer at all.
Occasionally, however, an agreement with a legitimate producer can transform a independent writer’s career. Joshuah
Bearman’s 2007 article for Wired, “How the CIA Used a Fake
Jack El-Hai is a past president of ASJA. Visit his website at el-hai.com.
Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran,” became the
award-winning 2012 movie Argo. The Insider resulted from
Marie Brenner’s 1996 article “The Man Who Knew Too Much” in
Vanity Fair, and Saturday Night Fever materialized from “Tribal
Rites of the New Saturday Night” written for New York magazine by Nik Cohn. Countless other articles never hit the screen
but rewarded their authors with substantial option paychecks. A
performance rights licensing agreement is something we all can
hope for, and our friends and relatives certainly seem to notice it
more than another magazine clip.
Under Condé Nast’s contract, if I have given
Wired or Vanity Fair performance rights to my
article for some period of exclusivity, then I have
destroyed my chances of licensing those rights to
my subsequent book during the same period.
The Condé Nast contract, though, dashes that hope in several ways. If one of the publisher’s affiliated producers wants to
option an article or purchase screen rights, the financial terms
are inferior to those offered by most legitimate production companies. During the period of exclusivity, it discourages producers
who are not affiliated with Condé Nast. And just as bad, at least
for writers like me, the Condé Nast contract also leaves one path
to book publishing much less attractive than it used to be.
For the past 20 years, I have evaluated my book ideas by
giving them test drives as magazine articles. I first wrote The
Lobotomist as an article in The Washington Post Magazine and
my forthcoming book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist as a story for
Scientific American Mind. Trial runs in magazines have sometimes convinced me that a story was too insubstantial or dull for
expansion into a book.
Under Condé Nast’s contract, if I have given Wired or Vanity
Fair performance rights to my article for some period of exclusivity, then I have destroyed my chances of licensing those rights
to my subsequent book during the same period. Nobody will buy
a movie option on a book if Condé Nast holds an exclusive option
on an article on the same topic by the same author. Many options
on books are negotiated before publication, when the magazine
article contract may still be in effect. Would you be willing to give
a magazine publisher exclusive performance rights to any book
that evolves from your article? You may be doing that if you sign
the Condé Nast contract.
I currently have two of my works licensed in performance
rights agreements. The Lobotomist is in development as a TV
series at HBO, and The Nazi and the Psychiatrist has been optioned for the stage and screen by Mythology Entertainment.
Had I signed Condé Nast’s contract, neither agreement would
have happened. I’d love to have an article published in The New
Yorker or Vanity Fair, but I love more retaining licensing control
over my writing. Let’s work together to overcome onerous contracts that damage our hopes and livelihood. We can begin by rejecting Condé Nast’s contract.
continued on page 15
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THE ASJA MONTHLY
MARCH 2013 WWW.ASJA.ORG
Wise Advice
Veteran writers share their experience
Q:
with Stephanie Auteri, Greg Breining, Alisa Bowman, Iyna Bort Caruso,
Randy Dotinga, Sam Greengard and Tina Tessina
I could spend my life doing social media, and it seems I am, more and more. I have no idea where I should be spending time or how much time I should spend tweeting, on Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+, or Tumblr. What do
you recommend and what has benefitted you most, writing-wise? I understand it’s all about building relationships,
but I can’t do them all (I don’t think). Any advice you have would be most helpful.
Stephanie Auteri
I’m a Twitter junkie. I use it to promote
my work. To promote my services. To connect
with writers, editors, and agents. To share
gratuitous cat photos. For me, it works. For
you, it might not. Because what it’s really all
about is figuring out what you want to accomplish with social media ... and then determining where your intended audience is hanging out.
Greg Breining
As anyone who has asked me to “friend”
them might guess, I started a Facebook page
four years ago and haven’t gone there since. I
don’t do Twitter or Pinterest or Tumblr. My
LinkedIn page is so static it could be carved in
granite. And I don’t blog. I wouldn’t say this is
a great business model for everyone. Or even
anyone. But the fact is, my business depends on engaging about
50 editors I work for regularly. I send them emails when I run
across something that might be of interest. I send pitches. I call
every few months, and send a newsletter on months I don’t call.
I would do the other stuff. But the things I’m doing now
seem to offer more results for the effort. If I had just written a
book with the potential to sell tens of thousands of copies, then
reaching out to readers would be imperative. If I were a blogger, Twitter and Facebook might be a great way to increase readership. What’s the lesson here? Any use of something as timeconsuming as a blog or social media has to be part of an overall business strategy. If you don’t see how it might improve your
business, directly or indirectly, it should probably be pushed way
down your list of priorities.
Alisa Bowman
Less is more. Pick one network and master
it. Since Facebook is currently the most popular social network by a wide margin, I suggest starting there. Personally, Facebook has
been a boon for my business. Just this morning I picked up an $11K editing assignment
from an editor friend who offered it to me using Facebook’s private message feature. I’ve also used Facebook to
troll for those so-difficult-to-find real person stories. And it’s great
for asking questions. For instance, whenever I can’t figure out the
grammar for a sentence, I post it to Facebook and scores of copy
editors come to my rescue. If you haven’t done so already, set up a personal page that allows you to connect to friends, colleagues and family. For privacy
and safety reasons, I don’t recommend you friend strangers or allow
them to subscribe to your personal updates. Instead, either set up a
separate like page for your business where anyone who wants to can
“like” you or become expert at using the various filters and groups
that allow you to choose who sees what status update. Connect with
as many writers, journalists and editors as you can. Then think like
the writer that you are and post the most amazing status updates
ever. Make them funny. Make them interesting. Make them entertaining. And, yet again, less is more. Post too much—especially too
much self-promotional stuff—and people will find a way to hide
your updates. Friend me, and good luck!
Iyna Bort Caruso
Determine what you want to get out of
social media and which platforms will best
accomplish those goals. For instance, while
maintaining a presence across all vehicles is
important for branding, visibility, and showcasing my work, I use Twitter for crowd sourcing and when tossing a wide net for sources. I
use LinkedIn to reconnect with old business contacts and verify
contact information for LOIs and queries. And I use Facebook
for tightening relationships with a more highly select group of
friends and colleagues.
Remember, though, it’s the content as much as the connections.
No matter the vehicle, stay on message, teach, share, and engage.
Randy Dotinga
Figure out your goals and the kinds of
connections you want to make. Do you want
to promote your work to the public at large?
Twitter and Facebook are good for that. Do
you wanna blog? Focus on posting regularly,
such as every day (no one wants to read a dusty
blog full of ancient posts) and use Wordpress or
Tumblr. Do you want to build personal relationships with readers? Try blogging, Twitter, or Facebook. Want to network like
crazy? Go to LinkedIn. Hoping to promote yourself as an expert?
Go to Twitter or your blog and start curating. Link to stories elsewhere and comment on them. Tell people what’s worth reading,
and mention your own work too.
Or maybe you’re hoping to just have fun as part of a community. You might find one while blogging or on Facebook or
continued on page 13
THE ASJA MONTHLY
MARCH 2013 WWW.ASJA.ORG
9
ON THE WATERFRONT
TOURING MANHATTAN
BY YACHT
BY MARGIE GOLDSMITH
Photo: Pim Van Hammer
The 2013 ASJA Conference is scheduled for April 25 - 27 in New York City. Between now and then, The ASJA Monthly will run
pieces by New York City denizens on places and attractions to visit while in the Big Apple. It’s never too early to plan your trip.
Visit asjaconference.org to find out more about and register for the conference.
M
anhattan’s jagged cityscape gleams as the sleek yacht
I’ve boarded glides away from its mooring at Chelsea
Piers on the Hudson River. I am on an architectural boat tour of New York Harbor and for the next three hours
we’ll sail around 32 miles of New York City looking at buildings
and highlights seen from the Harbor. There are speakers everywhere so we can hear the guide no matter where we choose to
sit or stand, bow or stern, interior or exterior. This “AIA Around
Manhattan Architecture Boat Tours on Classic Harbor Line” is
led by an AIA (American Institute of Architects) guide Arthur
Platt who says, “Geographically, New York Harbor is one of the
greatest natural harbors in the world, a result of the last great ice
age that blasted open a natural channel entrance that flows under the Verrazano Bridge.”
We have come to observe the ever-changing NYC skyscape
from a sleek mahogany-trimmed Classic Harbor Yacht designed
like a 1920s “commuter” yacht with two John Deere engines totaling 1000 horsepower. The speed is a welcome relief from the
last time I circumnavigated New York Harbor on an Outward
Bound pulling boat. Though the six-passenger boat had a sail,
NYC-based Margie Goldsmith has written about culture,
adventure, luxury, and profiles in 120 countries. A contributing writer to Elite Traveler and Black Card Mag, she
writes for Robb Report, Affluent Traveler, Business Jet
Traveler, and others. She has won 21 writing awards including the 2012 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Gold Award.
10
THE ASJA MONTHLY
MARCH 2013 WWW.ASJA.ORG
there was almost no wind, and it took us ten hours of rowing to
complete the voyage.
On the Yacht Manhattan, we speed south in Chelsea, and
are soon peering up at Jean Nouvel’s glittering Lego-like condo. Each window is a different size and shape, all in various
shades of blue. A block later we study Frank Gehry’s IAC headquarters, a curvaceous hunk of glass whose edges stick out like
a pleated skirt. We sail past the Standard Hotel, an 18-story slab
that straddles the High Line. My boyfriend Jamie and I wink at
each other. It is said that when the Standard opened, a few of the
guests made love with their shades open in full view of the people strolling the High Line below. Of course, the guide says nothing of this.
Along the edge of the Hudson at West Cove Park, mothers
push strollers, people cast fishing lines into the water, and bicyclists zip by. I bike from my apartment in midtown east south,
then head up to the George Washington Bridge, but because I’m
constantly on the lookout for walkers, cyclists, and red lights, I
mostly miss the view. Jamie squeezes my hand as we pass the
new Freedom Tower which dwarfs everything else. I’ve visited
Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty many times before, but
they never fail to excite me. We head to DUMBO (Down Under
the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) and the Brooklyn Bridge Park
where the restored Jane’s Carousel is housed in an all-glass JeanNouvel-designed pavilion.
Roosevelt Island is now home to the new FDR Four Freedoms
Park, and huge granite slabs that rip-wrap the southern tip of
the island glitter in the sunlight. We cruise beneath the 59th St
Bridge just as an aerial tram glides across the East River. The
59th St Bridge, formally known as the Ed Koch Queensborough
Bridge, is just one of 18 bridges that connect NYC to New Jersey
and the other boroughs. We pass beneath NY’s oldest standing bridge, the High Bridge in Harlem, now being restored and
which will reopen in 2014 as a pedestrian walkway and park. At
the Cloisters, built on the former CJK Billings Estate, we learn
that this captain of industry loved yachts and fast horses, and
spent so much time at the Harlem River Speedway that he built
a 25,000-square-foot lodge and stables—now Fort Tryon Park.
One of the most unexpected sights is Swindler’s Cove in Inwood
with its colorful Victorian boathouse. Years ago, I went on a
“Manhattan Bushwhack” adventure, a hike which included walking through the Inwood woods, then strewn with garbage and
debris and homeless people. Then Bette Midler created the New
York Restoration Project, and now this former eyesore is a serene
waterfront park complete with vegetable and flowering gardens,
winding paths, an observation bridge, and the restored boathouse.
But what’s this? Stuck in the muck off the Harlem River is
the yacht of Louis C.K., who obviously was not thinking about
the tide when he decided to drop anchor here. Even our guide is
shocked by the beached boat and says, “It’s going to be hours before the tide changes.” Our attention turns to the other bank of
the river and the huge blue varsity “C” on a rock face above the
train tracks, originally created in 1952 by a Columbia University
coxswain. Today, the Columbia crew maintains the “C.”
The Spuyten Duyvil Bridge is less than six feet above the
water, and we wait for it to swing open 90 degrees on its turntable so we can leave the Harlem River and continue south on the
Hudson. Just before we get to the George Washington Bridge,
our guide points out a building that seems to have the face of a
carved pumpkin, so it’s not surprising it’s called The Pumpkin
House. And then we sail beneath the GW Bridge and look out
fondly at the little Red Lighthouse, star of the children’s book,
The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Grey Bridge.
Boats and yachts bob lazily in the water at the 79th Street
Boat Basin. On the river pathway is an endless parade of runners, cyclists, strollers and dog walkers. We sail by gigantic
Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, now home to the Space
Shuttle Enterprise. I’m hoping to catch a glimpse, but unfortunately, the Shuttle is covered by a large white bubble. No matter
because there are two gigantic cruise ships docked nearby which
make even the Intrepid seem small.
The guide points out a building, 200 11th Avenue at 24th
Street, and tells us that some of the residences come complete
with a “sky garage,” an actual parking garage on the same floor
as the apartment. “Drive your car into a special elevator, push the
button, and ride up to your floor where you can park next to your
living room.” With NYC parking space at a premium, it makes
perfect sense.
Back at Pier 62, I feel less like a jaded New Yorker who
has seen it all. There’s always a way to have a fresh look at
Manhattan—you need only change your vantage point.
Directions: From Grand Central Station take the downtown
#1 train. Get off at 23rd St and 8th Avenue. Either walk to the river or get a transfer and take the M23 crosstown bus at 8th Avenue
and 23rd St. directly to Chelsea Piers. ¢
For more information:
AIA Around Manhattan Architecture Boat Tours
on Classic Harbor Line
www.sail-nyc.com 212-627-1825
New York City
nycgo.com
Photo: Pim Van Hammer
Opposite: View of Lower Manhattan with Freedom Tower. This page: View of the Chelsea Skyline with Empire State Building.
THE ASJA MONTHLY
MARCH 2013 WWW.ASJA.ORG
11
WRITING LIFE
BY JUDY L. MANDEL
Down the Publishing Rabbit Hole
One Writer’s Journey from Self-Publishing to Traditional
“B
e careful what you wish for” is what my mother used
to say. So I was excited, elated and a nervous wreck
when I found out that my previously self-published
memoir, Replacement Child, was picked up by Seal Press/Perseus
for a March 2013 release.
I thought my journey with this memoir, my first book, had
been completed. I self-published it in 2009 and was happily on
the shore watching it sail to distant lands when it was revived in
eBook form in 2011 and immediately sold thousands of copies. I
had released the eBook and forgotten about it. I swear. Then, I
got sick and landed in the hospital. It wasn’t until I checked my
bank account online while recuperating and zonked on painkillers that I saw automatic deposits I couldn’t explain. I figured it
was a hallucination, all those duplicate zeroes. But they turned
out to be from eBook sales.
I solicited advice from writer friends in my MFA program
at Stony Brook Southampton University. When I explained the
thousands of books sold, one of my teachers said, “That’s a lot
of books!” Did I want a traditional publisher? Now would be the
time to get in touch with an agent.
I knew exactly who I wanted to call, Rita Rosenkranz, an
agent who had initially had an affinity for my story when I met
her years earlier at a Connecticut writers’ conference. On hearing of my sales, she agreed, “That’s a lot of books!” In a week, she
had sold it. I have a statue of her in my living room now.
I knew the publisher would want to redesign the cover, even
though it had performed well. My sister had picked the original
one just before her death, so I had an emotional attachment to it.
But, I said “of course” as I gripped the sides of my office chair until my fingernails went white.
My editor got her first taste of my control issues when I did
not like the first three cover designs. My agent agreed, and we
both gave succinct reasons why we didn’t feel the covers reflected
the tone of the book. To the credit of my wonderful editor and
Judy L. Mandel, ASJA, is the author of Replacement
Child (2013, Seal Press/Perseus). She writes fiction
and nonfiction as well as marketing copy and lives in
Connecticut.
Voices on Writing
the publisher’s design group, my misgivings were met with understanding. Just as I was starting to step off the curb into traffic, they came back with four more options; something I never
expected. I loved one of them and with a few tweaks we were on
our way. It makes a very big difference how you feel about the
cover of your book, so my advice to writers is to make your voice
heard during this phase.
It’s never easy seeing a word, a sentence or even
a comma changed by an editor. But as William
Faulkner said, “In writing, you must kill your
darlings.”
It helps immensely to work with people who understand
your angst. My agent and editor are proficient at allaying my
fears when they see an anxious email message from me, typed
furiously at 1:00 a.m. My iPhone next to my pillow is a dangerous weapon. I am betting, though, that I am not the only author
that has a knot in their innards when her baby is having a new
cover designed, with yet another editor looking it over and photos being chosen.
I had forgotten the torture of re-reading my memoir during the editing process and now it was déjà vu all over again.
My copyeditor said they were giving it a “light edit” and we truly
had very few discrepencies. When there were some, we discussed
and negotiated. It’s never easy seeing a word, a sentence or even a
comma changed by an editor. But as William Faulkner said, “In
writing, you must kill your darlings.” After looking at the copy
edit dispassionately, I realized that there were still some darlings
left to be slaughtered and went at it.
I have to say my wish for a respected traditional publisher is
one I am glad has come to fruition. Now, though, I was starting
to dream about my family again, having finally placed them in
the recesses of my mind after writing about them for four years
straight. But, knowing that when I stop hearing their voices in my
head, they will leave me all over again, I’m taking my mother’s advice one more time. I’m being very careful what I wish for. ¢
continued from page 7
creatively promote this book? Instead of dreading the online
world, try to say, what is the most creative way I can take advantage of the digital space?
Any advice you received along the way that has stuck
with you, that you’d like to offer to others?
I remember I was waist-deep in writing my last book,
and was whining to my boss (David Granger, the editor of
Esquire) about how horrible my life was. And he told me (I’m
paraphrasing): Try to remember how lucky you are that you
get to write for a living. So true. ¢
AJ Jacobs will be my guest for the entire hour on Writers on Writing on March 6 at 9 a.m. PT.
Tune in at KUCI 88.9 FM in Southern California or listen online at iTunes college radio or at www.kuci.org.
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THE ASJA MONTHLY
MARCH 2013 WWW.ASJA.ORG
In Remembrance
Shirley Camper Soman
1932 - 2013
S
hirley Camper Soman, who died on the first Sunday of
February, was a dedicated SMW/ASJA member for more
than 50 years. A faithful attendee at most
of our meetings, Shirley could always be relied
upon to ask at least one thoughtful question (often in two parts) to initiate the Q&A session.
An impassioned child advocate, social
worker, and author, Shirley published three
books on children, as well as 100s of articles on
many other subjects. Her books included How to
Get Along with Your Child; Let’s Stop Destroying
Our Children: Society’s Most Pressing Problem,
Then and Now; and Preparing for Your New
Baby. (When my daughter Jenny became pregnant for the first time, I sent her this last book,
which she said was her favorite of all the books she read on the
topic.) Shirley also wrote a board book for children, published as
Como Se Entender Melhor Com A Sua Crianca.
In 1995 Shirley went as an independent writer to the Beijing
Conference on Women to speak up for children.
In 1999 when publishing-on-demand (POD) was getting
started in a big way, she spearheaded an ASJA committee that
explored the possibility of ASJA’s affiliation with one of the
new POD publishers. As a result of the committee’s work, ASJA
signed an agreement with iUniverse offering our members free
publication for books that had gone out of print and time-limited
free publication for original manuscripts. The books would carry
Wise Advice
the imprint of ASJA Press. I was one of the first ASJA authors
to publish a book under this program, so I have Shirley to thank
for bringing into print a book that was dear to
my heart. Shirley was particularly formidable
when it came to writers’ rights. She would not
be silenced, shushed, or chased away. The ASJA/
iUniverse relationship was an outgrowth of these
values.
—Sally Wendkos Olds
L
ongtime ASJA member, Shirley Camper
Soman was deeply involved in ASJA
matters in the ’70s and ’80s when I came
to know her and was committed to social causes.
She never aged because she had the ability, always, to look ahead and find something new to do. She was a
friend to many of us, and a good sounding board, as well.
There are moments that blend / There are memories that soar
When you lose a good friend /You won’t see anymore
So here’s to you Shirley / And here’s to the past
And here’s to sweet memories / That always will last
—Alvin H. “Skip” Reiss
continued from page 9
Twitter. This can lead to dividends in the long run by helping
you make connections without the pressure to monetize them
right away. Remember to prompt conversations and be part of
other people’s conversations. Social media isn’t a one-way selfpromotion machine. And also remember: If it’s a giant pain,
you’re doing it wrong.
books or other content or simply posting interesting stuff and
hoping for the best. The former approach is more likely to yield
positive results. The latter is fun but can turn into a colossal
waste of time, if you’re not careful.
Sam Greengard
The key is to know what your goal
is, and where to find your audience. To
promote my books and my private practice, I’ve been active on Facebook and
Twitter for many years, and I syndicate
my blog posts on both sites, in addition to
DivineCaroline, SelfGrowth, YourTango,
Yahoo, and several other sites. I also post articles in which I’m
quoted to Facebook and Twitter, and I find that reporters appreciate this. Cross-posting has given me a strong presence on
the Web, and through that I’ve gotten many perks, including
speaking for corporations, conducting a couples weekend for a
women’s magazine, and even as an expert on a free Princess
Cruise for its “Romance Summit.” Reporters also contact me
because they see online evidence that I’m an expert. But the
best perk I’ve gotten for the online work is an exciting new paid
position as a relationship expert with an online startup whose
CEO found me on the web. ¢
There’s no simple answer for this one.
Navigating social media falls somewhere
between art and science. But I think that
there are a few things worth thinking
about. First, spending more time at a task
doesn’t mean that you’re more likely to succeed. It’s important to spend time strategically. This means thinking about how you can maximize exposure and focusing on posts that draw attention to your areas of
expertise and writing skills, including articles you’ve written.
Second, you should view social media in a professional
context. This means limiting the time you spend at social media sites to an hour or two each day—consider this marketing
time—and understanding which sites pay dividends professionally. LinkedIn? Yes. Twitter? Probably. Facebook? Not so
much. Also, consider whether you are building a platform for
Tina Tessina
THE ASJA MONTHLY
MARCH 2013 WWW.ASJA.ORG
13
What’s In Store
Book Reviews by Steve Weinberg
Good Prose: The Art of Nonfiction by Tracy Kidder
and Richard Todd, Random House, 210 pages, $26
Tracy Kidder and Richard Todd began collaborating in 1973
when Kidder was a hungry writer hoping to earn a living as a
book author and magazine freelancer and Todd was an editor at
The Atlantic Monthly.
Today, Kidder is a well-known author
of narrative nonfiction and Todd is still an
editor, although no longer at The Atlantic
Monthly. They have collaborated so many
times they could be considered in a professional common law marriage. They can finish
each other’s sentences—and do many times,
including in this remarkable book about writing and editing, Good Prose.
In each of the eight chapters, some passages are clearly attributed to Kidder, some
to Todd, and the rest is two-part harmony. I
was inclined to like the book before I started—I have read all of Kidder’s eight nonfiction books, and reviewed some of them for pay
in newspapers and magazines. Plus, I have
heard praise for Todd as an editor from numerous writer acquaintances of mine.
The Introduction to the book is a gem,
as is each chapter—on how to grab readers at
the beginning, on the elements of memorable narrative (story, point of view, characters,
structure), on accuracy (factual and contextual), on style, on trying to earn a living as a
moral writer, on the genre of memoir, on composing essays, on editing and being edited.
For many ASJA members who read this
book, I suspect the chapter “Being Edited and
Editing” will prove the most revelatory. It has
been my belief for many decades that of all the
topics writing/editing instruction books should address, writereditor interaction is the least discussed, and the most necessary
to discuss more fully.
Kidder and Todd thus fill a significant shortfall with the
chapter. From the writer’s perspective, Kidder shares this wise
but hardly-ever-expressed truth: “Editing isn’t just something
that happens to you. You have to learn how to be edited.” Early
in his career, Kidder sometimes felt like yelling at Todd, after a
new round of criticism, “Your reading is obtuse!” Is there a serious
writer alive who hasn’t felt the same urge?
But Kidder needed substantial editing, lots of it, during his
formative years as a magazine writer. Looking back, he wonders why Todd never lost patience. Kidder never asked Todd, but
Steve Weinberg, an ASJA member, is the author of
eight nonfiction books, with number nine in process.
That’s the same number of books as Tracy Kidder.
But Weinberg by his own estimation is only about
one-tenth as talented and one-fiftieth as well known.
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MARCH 2013 WWW.ASJA.ORG
eventually asked Todd’s wife Susan. “He’s willing to work as hard
as the writer is,” Susan replied.
As Kidder matured, he adopted the only sensible philosophy
about rewriting. He learned to like it—“maybe too much, but really it is the writer’s special privilege. We rarely get the kind of
chance in life that rewriting offers, to revise our pasts, to take
back what we’ve said and say it better before
others hear it.” Kidder estimates that most of
his magazine features and books go through
“ten more or less complete drafts.” He thinks
of each draft as a “successive approximation,
each one usually though not always closer to
the final thing, like golf shots.”
Kidder reveals that his books tend to consume three years of research, writing and rewriting. “A time has always come when I’ve
wanted to quit that job and at the same time
have been afraid of losing it. It would be worth
having an editor if only to know when a book
is done,” he says.
Among other pearls of wisdom, Todd discusses meshing personalities between writer and editor. On the surface, he and Kidder
“seemed quite different in temperament.
Kidder had a gift for externalizing his anxieties, which allowed me to pretend to a tranquility I seldom felt.” They learned how to collaborate productively, by trial and error.
Kidder needed Todd’s editing wisdom, a
lot. Still, Todd is grounded in a way that might
pleasantly surprise lots of ASJA members.
Todd says, “Editors and writers need each other. Ultimately editors need writers more than
the reverse, which is a wise thing for editors to
keep in mind.”
H
ere is information about two recently published books
that are first rate in their own ways, but that I believe
will prove to be supremely valuable to only some ASJA
members because each is aimed more at novice writers than at
oft-published writers.
Because You Have To: A Writing Life by Joan Frank,
University of Notre Dame Press, 200 pages, $18.
This is a collection of essays, many of them previously published in periodicals. Frank is the author of two short story collections and three novels. My favorite essay in the collection will
perhaps not be your favorite—the variety is impressive. The essays
are divided into six sections: “Madness in Method”; “Striving”;
“Psychic Inroads, Scenic Routes, Culs-de-Sac”; “A Booth in the
Marketplace”; “Reading”; and “Making Art.” Because I’ve had to
deal with several rejected queries lately, I felt especially connected to Frank’s essay “For My Brothers and Sisters in the Rejection
Business.” We all know that the rejection never stops, but we do
not like voicing that reality. The essay is filled with metaphors
and similes and analogies. I like this one especially: “Rejection,
then, is like the wake of a boat—proof of motion. No action from
the writer means no reaction from the world.”
Writing Business
How to Not Write Bad: The Most Common Writing
Problems and the Best Ways to Fix Them by Ben
Yagoda, Riverhead Books, 192 pages, $15.
Yagoda is a journalism professor at the University of
Delaware and the author of multiple books about good writing.
The one word version offered by Yagoda about how to not write
bad: Read. Good writers without exception read widely, and
learn from their reading. Beyond that advice, which Yagoda illustrates with pertinent examples, the book focuses on the building blocks of stories—punctuation, grammar, choosing the most
appropriate word instead of just any word, constructing compelling sentences, and employing effective transition from sentence
to sentence. Yagoda is a long-time teacher who practices firstrate narrative himself in his biography of Will Rogers and his
study of The New Yorker magazine. One of his earlier instructional books for authors is as sophisticated as this new book is
basic. That earlier book, which I have recommended often, is The
Sound on the Page: Style and Voice in Writing. ¢
continued from page 8
What can any of us do to derail the Condé Nast rights
grab and others like it? First and easiest, we can refuse to
sign contracts that limit our right to license performances
based on our work. Magazine and book publishers should
have no interest and expectation of participation in these
activities. We should negotiate away the offending parts of
these contracts.
Just as important, we should make sure that we license our performance rights only to producers and others
who are capable of paying for them decently and exploiting
them. If a magazine article has screen potential, our licensees should have a real chance of making a production happen and should be prepared to pay at least the going rate for
that privilege. Have an experienced entertainment lawyer
and performance-rights agent on your side. ¢
ASJA Mission and Administration
Founded in 1948, the American Society of Journalists and Authors is the nation’s professional association of independent nonfiction
writers. ASJA is a primary voice in representing freelancers’ interests, serving as spokesperson for their right to control and profit
from the uses of their work in online media and elsewhere. ASJA brings leadership in establishing professional and ethical standards,
and in recognizing and encouraging the pursuit of excellence in nonfiction writing. Since 2010, the ASJA Educational Foundation
has been offering programming to both established and aspiring writers that covers all aspects of professional independent writing.
ASJA headquarters is in New York City.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Upper Midwest John Rosengren
PRESIDENT Minda Zetlin
VICE PRESIDENT Gina Roberts-Grey
TREASURER Randy Dotinga
SECRETARY Sandra E. Lamb
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
Salley Shannon
PAST PRESIDENT Russell Wild
Upstate New York Gina Roberts-Grey
AT-LARGE MEMBERS
Terms expiring 2013
Damon Brown, Beverly Gray, Neil A. O’Hara
Terms expiring 2014
Laird Harrison, Beverly Blair Harzog,
Brooke Stoddard
Terms expiring 2015
Sandra Beckwith, Mickey Goodman,
Sherry Beck Paprocki
CHAPTER PRESIDENTS
Arizona Jackie Dishner
Chicago Area Joanne Y. Cleaver
New York City Tristate
Daylle Deanna Schwartz
Washington, DC
Pat McNees and Emily Paulsen
STRATEGIC PLANNING Jack El-Hai
STANDING COMMITTEE CHAIRS
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Alexandra Owens
IT MANAGER Bruce W. Miller
OFFICE STAFF Lisa Jordan, Diana Pacheco
ANNUAL WRITERS CONFERENCE
Randy Dotinga
ASJA CHARITABLE TRUST
AWARDS Co-chairs Barbara DeMarcoBarrett, Linda Marsa
BOARD OF TRUSTEES Minda Zetlin (chair),
Gina Roberts-Grey, Randy Dotinga
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Alexandra Owens
CONTRACTS AND CONFLICTS Milt Toby
EXECUTIVE Minda Zetlin
WRITERS EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE
FUND BOARD
FINANCE Randy Myers
FIRST AMENDMENT Claire Safran
FORUM Nona Aguilar, Robin DeMattia
HOSPITALITY Sherry Beck Paprocki
MARKET REPORTS Jackie Dishner
MEMBER NETWORKING Sally Stich
MEMBER RECRUITMENT Katherine Lewis
MEMBERSHIP Terry Whalin
Rocky Mountain Sandra E. Lamb
NOMINATING Janine Latus
San Diego Gina McGalliard
PAST PRESIDENTS Samuel Greengard
Southern California
Barbara DeMarco-Barrett
ASJA STAFF
ADVOCACY Salley Shannon
Northern California D. Patrick Miller
Southeast Mickey Goodman
SHOP TALK (MEMBER PROGRAMMING)
Winnie Yu
PUBLICATIONS Tina Tessina
Chair Paula Dranov
Deputy Chair Gloria Hochman
Secretary Joan Rattner Heil­man
Board Members Fran Carpentier,
Betsy Carter, John Mack Carter (emeritus),
Lisa Collier Cool, Greg Daugherty,
Katharine Davis Fishman, Florence Isaacs,
Julia Kagan, Caitlin Kelly, Judy Twersky
ASJA EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION
Program Committee
Gina Roberts-Grey (chair), Grace Daly,
Robin DeMattia, Erica Manfred,
Sara Reistad-Long
SOCIAL MEDIA & PROMOTIONS
Gina Roberts-Grey
THE ASJA MONTHLY
MARCH 2013 WWW.ASJA.ORG
15
PERIODICALS
American Society of Journalists and Authors
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New York, NY 10036
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