Subject: Re: Call for photos (warning: not about birds)
Date: Oct 16 20:51:08 1995
From: "Lisa M. Smith" - subplot at u.washington.edu


> from Lisa M. Smith, Seattle WA <subplot at u.washington.edu>

Another testimonial against selling yourself short:

About six years ago, Joyce Rue, the founder of Abundantly Yours (a support
group for morbidly obese people) and my neighbor in San Diego at the time,
thought she'd give me my big break by allowing me to write her story.
Ghostwrite, actually. My prose, her name on the cover, and she'd split
profits 60-40 with me. After doing my research, which is what any amateur
who wants to become a pro should do, I proposed working within a contract
more equitable to the writer, which terribly shocked and offended her--so
much so, that our "friendship" was over.

A couple of years later, an ex-Las Vegas-casino owner and gambler
"interviewed" me as a prospective editor of *his* life story. His writing
was atrocious, which meant that I would, in effect, end up ghostwriting
the book. Again, my prose and somebody else's name on the cover. This
time I didn't propose a contract, but simply told him how much I needed
for the project--a flat fee of $18,000, quite a low price for the amount
of time and effort involved, but I was buying into what Russell calls "a
great opportunity to show off my stuff." Though I'd already edited two
lengthy manuscripts *gratis* for a novelist friend and was confident of my
editing skills, I wasn't sure that I had the muscle yet to write an entire
book. So I asked for much less than the project was worth. When he heard
my price, the man literally laughed in my face, said he could go pick up a
bum from off the street for $3000. I managed to wish him luck, then saw
myself out of his posh La Jolla home with its lovely view of the Pacific.

Photography, painting, writing... and the list surely goes on. Too many
people want something for nothing. And for some reason, such people have
much less compunction about trying to take advantage of creative artists
than they do of, say, an attorney, or a physician.

I agree with Don and Russell: don't give away your work, unless it's to
support a good cause. Like the Tweeters tee. ;-)


---Lisa