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Cheated by a ‘frum’ magazine. Stealing?
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mommyfish




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, May 19 2019, 8:39 am
Hi all,
I am an aspiring writer and the following story happened recently. I’m not quite sure what to do about it. I submitted a piece to one of the frum magazines (based on a true story) and was really excited when they accepted it (my first published article.) Upon acceptance, the sent me the following email:

Your article has been accepted!

As of now, we are not yet sure in which issue your piece will appear,
but we’ll keep you posted. An email regarding compensation will follow
its publication.

In the meantime, please let us know that your piece is still available
and has not been published previously. Please include your phone
number as well.

I sent back an email with all they requested and also asked if I can see the article before publication.

A few months passed and one day my sister called me to tell me that she was reading the magazine and the article was in it! I was a little surprised since I hadn’t heard anything from the magazine about it being published and they said they would tell me. I ran out and bought the magazine..... and was shocked to see that pretty much the entire article was changed. There were maybe three sentences of my original work. They basically took the idea of the story and rewrote it. They did not put my name on, did not let me see the piece before publication and did not compensate me at all. They didn’t even tell me when it was coming out! I’ve emailed them countless times afterwards with no response. I’m really bummed. To me this is stealing and plagiarism. I’m not sure what to do now, if anything.
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ra_mom




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, May 19 2019, 8:46 am
That must be devastating! I am so sorry for your experience.
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aliavi




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, May 19 2019, 8:50 am
That sounds shocking. I’m sorry for you. Is it possible that those couple of sentences you recognized were written by another author?
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lkwdlady




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, May 19 2019, 9:00 am
That’s very disappointing.

Many (many,many...) years ago when I was in school and we were making a year book I wrote a very cute article. My classmates read it and loved it.
I was shocked when the yearbook was published and my article wasn’t in it.
Instead a more popular girl rewrote all that I had written with minor changes and placed her name on top.
Some of us from that grade are grandmothers already yet I have not forgotten that incident!


Last edited by lkwdlady on Sun, May 19 2019, 9:53 am; edited 1 time in total
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Mommyg8




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, May 19 2019, 9:39 am
I once wrote something for publication and had the same experience. Sounds like this is standard for the publishing industry?
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Simple1




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, May 19 2019, 9:48 am
Ouch. As a DLKZ, could it be a different author actually submitted it? So many times on imamother, you have people say " I could've written that exact thing." Happens to me too. You did say most of it was changed.

It is upsetting that they're not responding to you, so you can verify what happened.
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mommyfish




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, May 19 2019, 10:02 am
Simple1 wrote:
Ouch. As a DLKZ, could it be a different author actually submitted it? So many times on imamother, you have people say " I could've written that exact thing." Happens to me too. You did say most of it was changed.

It is upsetting that they're not responding to you, so you can verify what happened.


No. It was a true story that happened to my sisters son. Also, they used the title that I had put on my original work.
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Writergirl




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, May 19 2019, 10:08 am
This is so upsetting and most definitely NOT industry standard. I don't have advice for you but as a writer for many frum magazines, I want you to know this is not the norm. I hope they at least respond to your emails.
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Rappel




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, May 19 2019, 10:12 am
That's pretty terrible!!! What will you do?
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oliveoil




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, May 19 2019, 10:32 am
Stop emailing and pick up the phone. Don't hang up until you get some answers.
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Boca00




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, May 19 2019, 10:41 am
I also had a true story published in one of the magazines and the editors changed it a lot. It was frustrating because I felt the original version was better than the edited one, and the edited version wasn't really my work. Also, I had asked them not to put my full name on it, but they did.

It's so upsetting that they put someone else's name on your story, and didn't show you the edited version first. That is not ok.
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JoyInTheMorning




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, May 19 2019, 10:45 am
Do you have a timestamp for your article and when you sent it to them? For example, in email? There are online tools, some free, that can check for plagiarism. If you can get together some evidence, you might be able to get them to write a written apology and/or give you compensation.

Last edited by JoyInTheMorning on Sun, May 19 2019, 10:46 am; edited 1 time in total
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Yoyo613




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, May 19 2019, 10:46 am
Another disonest business? Or is it norm to use her unique tittle and mess around... Will they pay her in fullb at least?
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Simple1




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, May 19 2019, 10:46 am
mommyfish wrote:
No. It was a true story that happened to my sisters son. Also, they used the title that I had put on my original work.


Definitely continue trying to reach them until they answer you. I agree with OO, calling would be better.
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simcha2




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, May 19 2019, 10:57 am
Send them a letter by certified mail. State the details. Print out copies of the emails as proof.

Say you expect payment in 7days or you'll be forwarding to lawyer/ beit din.
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aricelli




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, May 19 2019, 10:58 am
Oh no! I’m in middle of writing a personal experience that I would like to submit only I keep on hearing such stories. I think the magazine I wanted to send it too was quoted more than once as doing this. I may have to send it to my second choice magazine that may be more reliable. I definately wouldnt want my experiences changed on paper to suit their purposes.
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ra_mom




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, May 19 2019, 11:01 am
simcha2 wrote:
Send them a letter by certified mail. State the details. Print out copies of the emails as proof.

Say you expect payment in 7days or you'll be forwarding to lawyer/ beit din.

This. Via certified mail return receipt.
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33055




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, May 19 2019, 11:08 am
simcha2 wrote:
Send them a letter by certified mail. State the details. Print out copies of the emails as proof.

Say you expect payment in 7days or you'll be forwarding to lawyer/ beit din.


I don't think it will be worth it, and the magazine knows it.

Either take them to small claims court and blow up every chance to be published there, or don't threaten. If you threaten, then you lose anyway.

If you file in small claims, paying an attorney to defend costs more than paying for the article. They will settle.

How much is the article worth.

This isn't legal advice.
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simcha2




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, May 19 2019, 11:24 am
Squishy wrote:
I don't think it will be worth it, and the magazine knows it.

Either take them to small claims court and blow up every chance to be published there, or don't threaten. If you threaten, then you lose anyway.

If you file in small claims, paying an attorney to defend costs more than paying for the article. They will settle.

How much is the article worth.

This isn't legal advice.


I think, the magazine thinks, they have the upper hand. They are not responding. OP has nothing to lose. Why would she ever send another piece of writing to them? They've destroyed all trust.

The threat of court is probably enough to have them send a check. At least she'll get paid for this piece.
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33055




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, May 19 2019, 11:27 am
simcha2 wrote:
I think, the magazine thinks, they have the upper hand. They are not responding. OP has nothing to lose. Why would she ever send another piece of writing to them? They've destroyed all trust.

The threat of court is probably enough to have them send a check. At least she'll get paid for this piece.


The threat to go to court is ineffective most times. It's better to file.
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