Here's a for instance. Let's say I'm going to do a book. You're all invited to contribute. The book will be a big book of cartoons. It's gonna be real big. Over 800 pages. Excited? And it's going out on a major publishing label. There will be press and reviews and great distribution. Still excited? Hurry and send me your stuff.
As one of the contributors, you can tell you friends that you may or may not be in the book. I really don't have time to let you know what's going to be in this book. But I will send you a mass e-mail:
"Due to the sheer number of entries, we cannot write each one of you and tell you exactly what your [contribution] is. Secondly, with very few exceptions, there is no payment."
Uh, yeah -- sounds like a pretty bad deal. Not the kinda deal you can pay rent on. And not the kinda deal I would want for my friends and colleagues!
The NY Times new 812 page Practical Guide to Practically Everything, with few exceptions (a few writers are getting an honorarium, but the majority are not seeing a dime), is making money off of free content.
... the extensive use of Times material from so many writers has drawn at least some grumblings among staffers. In addition to not being paid for their work to be re-used, some are miffed that they are not even being told what material from their past is included. Although each item, from single-paragraphs to lengthy article reprints, is fully credited, none of the items are indexed by author.
Now, I don't care that a representative of the Newspaper Guild of New York says, in the above quoted Editor & Publisher article, that the NYT is not legally obligated to pay -- but it's not the ethical thing to do. Gee whiz, what would Randy Cohen say?
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