Dear Aliya: The magazine won’t pay me. Now what?

May 28, 2009 by

From my InBox:

Dear Aliya:

This is for that section on your blog when you give advice. I am so mad. It’s been a year. And a magazine that I wrote a story for still has not paid me. I have called, emailed and sent snail mail. At first, they just kept saying one more month. And now, no one is even returning my calls or emails.

This was my first story for this magazine. And it’s a national publication. I know that all magazines are going through it right now. But I’m pissed. It’s not like I don’t need the money.

And how come they can’t even reach out and give me the real deal on what’s going on? That is so disrespectful to me.

Now what do I do? They owe me 500.00. Which is nothing to them. But it’s something to me.

My friends have told me that if I try too hard to get the money back, I won’t be able to write for the magazine ever again. I’m just starting out.  I don’t want to lose this connection. But it’s been a year and they have not assigned me anything else anyway.

Have you ever been in this situation? What did you do?

Signed,

Broke in Brooklyn

My (extended) response to Broke…
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Be My Guest: Rosalyn Yates

May 27, 2009 by

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Back in February, I received an entry for the PitchMe! column from a young lady named Rosalyn Yates. Rosalyn was trying to perfect the perfect pitch. (Say that three times fast!)  We all pitched in and helped her out by giving her our opinons. She handled our critique with aplomb–a sign of a solid writer with great potential.

I’m so happy to have Ms. Yates back in the fold–this time as a guest blogger.

Rosalyn’s got a bone to pick with Disney about their upcoming animated film, The Princess and The Frog. The new princess is Black. Her love interest? Not Black.

Does it matter? Check out what Rosalyn has to say….

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Be My Guest: Tara Pringle Jefferson

May 20, 2009 by
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She had six children. Found a doctor to give her eight more. And my guest today can't get her tubes tied. Hmmmm.

A few months ago, I got a submission for the Pitch Me section of my blog. A young woman who wanted to get her tubes tied had written an essay for a mothering website. They passed on her essay and she wanted my thoughts on why. I read the essay. And I thought it was great. I wasn’t sure why the website didn’t publish it. But I explained that Pitch Me was for ideas that were passed on–not fully completed stories.

But I urged Tara to pitch the essay to another magazine. It was timely and it was provocative–two great combinations.

Then, I asked Tara if she’d be willing to share her story with us. I’m not a large-circulation magazine–yet–but we do have a community of people who’d be interested in hearing her story.

Tara agreed.

And I’m honored to have her as my second guest blogger…

It’s quite a dilemma Ms. Jefferson has. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts. Enjoy…

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Regrets: Malcolm Shabazz

May 19, 2009 by

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October, 2007. Offices of GIANT magazine. I’m sitting across from editor-in-chief Smokey D. Fontaine. We’re going over stories I’ll be covering in the upcoming year. .

“Do you think you could find Malcolm X’s grandson?” he asked. “That would make an interesting story.”

I shrugged.

“I can find anybody. You know that. But should we find him?”

Smokey rubbed his hands together and his face lit up.

“Of course we should! This young man is a part of history. Malcolm X never had sons of his own. So this young man is the male heir. And then he was found responsible in the death of Betty Shabazz, his own grandmother, Malcolm’s widow. That story would be crazy!”

Before we continue, let me tell you a little bit about Smokey.
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Tonight’s TweetChat: Life After Hip Hop Journalism

May 18, 2009 by

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Dear readers…

I had a great time last week during my first TweetChat and I’m urging you all to log on at 8 PM tonight for my weekly Q&A with my co-host, Chloe Hilliard.

Tonight’s topic: Life After Hip Hop Journalism and the Future of Urban Magazines. You all know that I have a lot to say on the topic. And I’m sure you all do too.

For those of you who are not yet on Twitter, get on board and stop playing!

Once you get your user id and password, log on to tweetchat.com. The name of the room you want to enter is #jsticks.

This is really the best way to enjoy the chat. Because you won’t see any other Twitter-traffic—just the Q&A. (You can also just log on to twitter.com and participate that way. But it’s a bit more confusing.)

It’s on from 8-9:3o PM.

Our guest Tweeter will be the one and only dream hampton.

Here’s a sample of what went down last week. Enjoy. And I hope to see you online tonight!

-A