WritersWeekly.com Warnings Report

WritersWeekly Warnings Report

Date Filed: 08/14/02
Company: 982PRESS / www.982press.inchq.com

UPDATE - 10/23/02:

ANOTHER COMPLAINT:

Hi Angela!

I need your help. I have several articles on 982 Press, and Monday I sent them an email asking them to remove all of them immediately. I sent about 4 emails, and kept getting an auto-responder. I haven't heard a word from them-a real live person, anyway. What should I do?

Nicky Allard

WRITERSWEEKLY.COM did not receive a response to our inquiry.

UPDATE FROM RON CALLARI:

Angela, as you know because I have been copying you on each follow-up, I, similar to Nicky, have asked on a several occasions that my writing be removed from the site as well. And all I receive are responses that are evasive, and an insult to my character, as I have never threatened anyone within this organization, aside from telling them that you and WritersWeekly.com were copied on all of my emails. The last response from one Ms. Terry Smith is as follows:

"Please do not send us any threatening letters. Nothing will get accomplished if you cannot conduct yourself in a professional manner. We are more than happy to remove any articles as you wish, but if you are sending us insulting and threatening letters, this will be a problem." (Sept 12, 2002)

To date, my articles remain on their site.

Regards,
Ron Callari
http://www.kiddmillennium.com/writer.htm
Features~Editorial Cartoons~Photography

UPDATE - 08/21/02:

WRITERSWEEKLY COMMENT: Last week, we received two new complaints about 982Press, along with a message from the "editorial department" of 982Press (we suspect Sherry Johnson) telling us she's going to sue us if we don't remove this page. We forwarded these new complaints to her but she did not respond.

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Angela, I just read the warning on 982 Press and it didn't surprise me. I have asked that my work be taken off the site and the editor responded as such:

"We want you to remember that you signed an agreement with us (please refer to it). When we decide to pull your article(s) off, we will do so at our convenience."

I reread their agreement and no where does it indicate that a writer's work has to stay up on their site at their discretion.

My response to them was as follows:

"I want my work removed and I want it removed now. I do not want to be associated with your company. And I would think that from a customer service standpoint you would not want to be associated with someone who is not pleased with your site.

I have reread your agreement and there is no language that states that you have exclusive (non-ending) rights to keep a writer's work up on your site, to only be removed 'at your convenience', not at the author's request. Only... that timely news articles will be pulled after 2 months (which is exactly the nature of my features)???? So why are they still on the site (4 months later) ????"

Angela, please let me know who you are communicating with at 982 Press? The emails I receive from them do not even include a person's name. Sherry Johnson was the original editor, but I don't know if she is still there. Also could you include the above in your next warning notice of your newsletter.

Regards,

Ron Callari
http://www.kiddmillennium.com/writer.htm
Features~Editorial Cartoons~Photography

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Queried 982PRESS via email on June 9. They never answered my questions.

Under the subject Freelance questions, I sent the following:

1 - Is a writer's agreement needed for every article -- or group of articles -- sent in?

2 - How long do articles remain in the library?

3 - How are sidebars handled? If they are treated as separate articles, must they be 750 words long?

4 - Do you want each article to end with a line or two about the writer???

Jim Brumm

Summary:

We originally contacted this firm in March after receiving complaints like this one:

"Perhaps another addition to the Warnings column might be in order for this crowd...sounds like a typical scam-job to me. http://www.982press.inchq.com"

We investigated and found the site was charging a reading fee...yet it's a syndicate service. They were also using the 9/11 tragedy on their homepage. Along with our warning letter, I sent the following comments:

After reviewing your site, we have found these complaints to be valid. Turning a profit in the name of the deaths of thousands of Americans is horrid. And, charging a $5 proofreading fee is unacceptable. Your site is a syndicate and syndicates don't charge proofreading fees. If you're making money from every submission, what is your incentive to actually market and sell the pieces? We're also curious about the success of your marketing. Approximately how many article placements do you process per week? You state in your FAQ an example of selling to 50 or 100 editors/week for one author. Has that ever really happened?

The owner denied being a "scam" but never answered my questions about the number of articles she'd sold. She then became very nasty and even published her opinion about WritersWeekly on her homepage. But, she DID stop charging reading fees so we didn't issue a warning.

After finding new "job" postings by 982Press online again this month, I went to their site to see what they're up to these days. And, my suspicions were confirmed. They were once again charging a reading fee, but not mentioning that in the job postings. In fact, you have to read pretty far down on their site to find mention of the reading fees.

We advise all writers to avoid this firm. You can read more complaints about their practices at:

http://www.poewar.com/freelance/