Cheated by a ‘frum’ magazine. Stealing?

watergirl

Mon, May 20 2019, 9:57 am

1. Email them again but CC the Editor and Chief as well as the other editors and the business manager. Reference the dates of submission and prior communication and tell them you will take them to a din torah if you are not compensated.

2. If you dont hear back from them, its time to start calling them. Ask for the business manager.

3. All of the frum magazines have a vaad. Consider calling their posek.

4. If you still dont hear from them or get compensated, chalk this up to a lesson learned and be more careful in the future.

There is one particular magazine that has a reputation for not bring honest in how they run their publication. People have posted about that magazine on imamother by name. This is unfortunately a risk when you send your intellectual property into a publication. Pay attention to the fine print. Have you seen those story contests? When you send in your story to be entered and possibly used in a book? The fine print always says that whatever you submit becomes property of the publication and they can use it, change it, take credit for it, whatever, without payment to you or giving credit to you. This is not the most ethical thing but that's why they have the fine print. Moving forward, make different choices regarding who you send your intellectual property to. If this is the magazine that I', thinking of, you are just one of many who have been burned by them.

In your case, they told you that you would be paid and you have the proof to show for it. Would you consider asking your rav for a heter to go to small claims court? The fee is minimal and you dont have to bring a lawyer. I would do this just to make a point, if I dont hear back from them after all of my efforts.

forgetit

Mon, May 20 2019, 10:01 am

FranticFrummie wrote:

I just want to offer OP my heart felt sympathy. It's a horrible feeling to have your hard work stolen.

There used to be a blog called "You Thought We Wouldn't Notice". Unfortunately it's been taken down now, and I can't find it archived. Probably because someone got sued. I had an article posted on there about design copying. So did about a thousand other people.

I am a jewelry designer. Several years ago someone on Etsy copied a couple of my designs, then complained to Etsy admin that I was stealing her work. She was friends with one of the owners, so I got my entire shop deleted - hundreds of listings gone overnight. I lost all my customer base and all of my contacts.

The copy cat went on to be one of the top ten Etsy sellers of all time. I never recovered financially from losing my selling platform and customers.

Don't let anyone tell you that it's "just an article, and you'll write other ones." Every creation is part of your soul, and when someone takes that from you, the pain is very real.

Hug

This is beyond horrific! How did you move past it?
And, did you ever think of taking the legal route?

qwerty4

Mon, May 20 2019, 10:35 am

mommyfish wrote:

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.

I had a very similar experience, and based on the wording of the email, with the same magazine. I wrote a piece on a subject I am very passionate about and was thrilled when they accepted it.

They did send me the final piece to be published, and it was edited in a way which removed my style completely. While I understood it was their prerogative to edit, I felt that it does not portray my feelings on the subject and politely responded that I do not agree with the edited version and thus ask that they do not publish it. It was published that week. I did get paid though. Yet it was an upsetting occurrence.

FranticFrummie

Mon, May 20 2019, 10:38 am

forgetit wrote:

This is beyond horrific! How did you move past it?
And, did you ever think of taking the legal route?

I don't want to derail OP's thread further, I just wanted to commiserate.

The law does not protect handmade items. Honestly, I'm still a bit bitter about it. I moved to the selling platform Maker's Market and did extremely well, but after 2 years they weren't bringing in enough overall profit, and had to close down. Sad

I had my own website for a while, but the cost of monthly fees plus advertising, and the time invested in it really sucked all the fun out of the business.

Being an artist is not all rainbows and unicorns.

OK, enough about me. Back to the writers. How do you protect your work in the future?

Studious

Mon, May 20 2019, 10:52 am

FranticFrummie wrote:

That’s horrible! Wow.

groisamomma

Mon, May 20 2019, 12:26 pm

Small claims court, if OP wins, will not only make sure she gets paid but may also make the other side pay retribution. So this whole thing about losing more than she gains may not even apply.

Her bridges are already burned, btw. Oh, and for those advocating bais din: Please point me in the direction of a B"D that resolved a similar shaila to the satisfaction of the little guy--and not the big frum company on whose Board of Directors many of them or their friends sit.

FranticFrummie

Mon, May 20 2019, 12:30 pm

groisamomma wrote:

THIS. All of it.

ivfhelp

Mon, May 20 2019, 12:54 pm

groisamomma wrote:

Oh so now we are advocating taking money shlo kdin (otherwise known as stealing) and slandering every dayan/rav without any evidence. I thought this was a frum site. I have better things to do with my lunch break. Hatzlocha to op. I'm done with this thread.

ShishKabob

Mon, May 20 2019, 1:32 pm

Israeli_C wrote:

Utilise social media to name and shame them. Many buckle under the pressure.

If she gets an ok from a Beis Din to do this, then I think this is the best thing. People may play around with individuals but once their 'name' is out there and gets tarnished it's a good enough incentive to come through.
Good luck op! I feel so sorry that you are going thru this.
The reason why so many publications get away with this is that I guess they are rarely held accountable. Otherwise, it doesn't make sense that they can get away with this.

watergirl

Mon, May 20 2019, 1:42 pm

ShishKabob wrote:

One more thing to think about. These are the magazines that are holding the yardstick for 'yiddishkeit'. Well well, olam hasheker big time.

And thats the fuunny (not so funny) thing. They claim to have a rabbinical board who reads every word and reviews every photo. This is a real halachic issue of geneva. I'm sure these rabbinical boards who claim to hold the magazine to such a "kosher" extent that they wont print a 100 year old dead rebbitzen's tiny photo do not condone this - if they knew about it.

OP, back to my original statement. Contact the magazine's vaad, their names are printed right on the front page, and tell them. Gnevas daas is a serious thing. Much more serious than other issues that I've seen them fight over.

Laiya

Mon, May 20 2019, 1:44 pm

groisamomma wrote:

I think b"d, in general, tries to push both sides to compromise.

ShishKabob

Mon, May 20 2019, 1:49 pm

watergirl wrote:

I don't believe the claim for the Rabbinic board, if there is one, they are probably not the Rabbis that I would go to with my questions.
I lost my faith in these magazines legitimacy a while ago as you can imagine.

mommyfish

Mon, May 20 2019, 1:49 pm

OP here. Thank you all for taking the time out to respond to my problem. I’m going to send them another email and CC the higher ups (I want to have the email trail). If that doesn’t work, I’ll call and maybe pay them a visit along with DH.
It’s really not so much about the money. It’s about stealing my hard work. That’s what gets me the most upset....
I also don’t believe a word I read in magazines now.

krembo

Mon, May 20 2019, 1:52 pm

I don't think people at this magazine are deliberately trying to steal, ch'v. I think the people working there don't have training in copyright and fair use, and it doesn't cross their mind that something like this isn't okay. The people who take these jobs are people who love reading and writing and are delighted to have a job where they get to produce a magazine that brings pleasure to frum women. They don't have bad intentions.

(I had the same experience as the poster upthread, of them publishing something of mine after I told them I didn't agree with their edits and didn't want it published the way they had changed it. It still bothers me, years later. But I don't think it was with negative intentions that they did it - just they were under pressure to get the magazine out. Really wrong and unprofessional, but not malicious.)

ShishKabob

Mon, May 20 2019, 1:57 pm

krembo wrote:

Sorry, this is a very very lousy excuse for stealing. It's basic mentchlichkeit and ehrlichkeit. You don't have to go to a special college to learn this or to know this.

trixx

Mon, May 20 2019, 2:00 pm

krembo wrote:

That's cute, but doesn't fly if you're a business.