Journalists / Writers wanted!

Now hiring journalists and writers for a new SL mag coming out with its first issue in January/February 08. You should:

- Speak and write English very well (gramatically correct)
- Have a good sense of humour and a witty writing style
- Have lots of energy. You should be able to choose topics on your own and work independently without assignments
- Be able to handle VIPs, interview them and put everthing into an article
- Be a teamplayer

The payment varies on the job you do, if you work well it should pay out about 1kL$ a week. Nevertheless your focus should not be on the money you earn but rather on the opportunity of working for a big agency and getting in touch with loads of interesting ppl.

Pleas IM me inWorld or write to [email]ichdarfdas@gmx.ch[/email]

At those rates ($3 US per week) I think you can be fairly confident that people will not be in it for the money. (A decent rate is about $300 US per 1000 words).

Heh....
I am a journalist in rl. Would LOVE to work in SL for a decent rate with writing and doing what I am graduated to do. But hells bells... 1000L/week? I make more as an escort in 10 minutes... literally! o.O

Ppl has started to compare SL works with RL works, and they aren't the same.

I wouldn't be paying 8000 lindens for a shirt in SL, but I do in RL.

There are also ppl dancing all the day for less than 200 lindens (that's less than US$1, but they do), and it's less than what they pay for electricity and all that.

Also, don't think they will be asking you a certificate as a professional journalist... And hell, if you were professional, wouldn't you have something you like and get paid for in RL?

So if there's somebody interested on the job, I will suggest to contact him in-world or via e-mail or whatever, but if you aren't interested, why are you worring and complaining? Get a RL job and stop complaining bout what others offer.

The complaint of who is REALLY certified is that countless magazines and newspapers from rl are INSIDE of Second Life with their offices, publishing articles written by people that are not receiving the proper money that should be paid. It is a diminishing of a job that either in the virtual or real world is the same.

I make a ton of things in Second Life: clothes, skins, textures, eyes, furniture, animations etc. Those things will be sold hundreds of times, which will pay for the time spent in making them. A written article will be paid ONCE and never again. So yeah there are grounds for comparision in this specific case. It is simply outraging.

And just to satisfy curiosity, I have a rl job as a journalist, thank you. And to complement my income, I also work in Second Life in many ways, but NONE downrated like this. Some others, that do not NEED the rl money, do it for fun, and I believe that those are the ones that will accept such a low-paid type of job.

That's the thing, if you are working in RL why do you have to work in SL as hard? Nobody will get rich writting in SL, they may in RL, but not in SL. So if somebody wants to do it, I recommend to do it for fun, if not it would be a nasty spend of time without no satisfactions.

I agree with you. I have worked as a freelance writer, and to see words so undervalued is a bit upsetting. They are exportable (from SL) and can be used millions of times by the "publisher". It is a bit like making ten skins for $L1000 and handing over the rights to "a big agency" for them to sell for $L3000 each.

I agree with that, they can use it in RL too, but it's a risk you have to take if you get the job... That's the same with translations. But if you are interested and want to do it for fun, why not? He's not obligating anybody, you want to, then great, you don't want to, no prob, others might want.

And won't say any more words in this thread, cause it's not my fight

Tristan, buena suerte!!

I am pretty sure this only happens because probably in the US the journalists/writters do not have a consolidated sindicate to watch over them and regulate this kind of activity. In my country we do. There is a chart of prices and whomever plans on publishing anything under the name of magazine or newspaper MUST oblige to that chart, be it online or not, otherwise they are subject of law suit. Exception being if the journalist signs a term saying that it is a volunteer without any payment in return for its work.

And why someone might need to work on SL as hard as they work in real life? It is called paying the bills, raising your child, living in a difficult economical system and so on...

I merely recommend doing things right and proper. If you want to start a business venture in rl or in SL, you must invest money on it before seeing any profit. And that includes paying your employees decently or sharing the expenses with a group interested in the venture as a society. Those are my two, three or four cents here.

And yeah, good luck indeed, Tristan!

Sadly its common practice to be paid very little when you're starting out as writer.
Years ago I was published in a anthology very first part of the book, I only received 25 usd and 3 copies of book nothing more.
The book is quite well known in certain circles and been published many times I assume in last fourteen years.
The average for writing a short story or article piece often pays very little in real life or did the last time I looked. Often the pay is about 10 to 50 usd or was about ten years ago.
You should still be able to maintain your republishing rights, ip or copyrights of anything you write depending on the contract.

So what half of you seem to be saying is that sl providesthe same working renumeration as rl.well where in rl can you live in a victorian mansion on an acre of land for 4-8 dollars a week?get real.
Andif you want to promote sl in its form as a hieratrchical capitalist sytem culturally this is how to go about it.
sl has itws own economy,any renumearation should be comparable within that,if you dislike that either submit to rl or accept you are promoting a philosophy that means only rich people in rl can employ writers.
The collaborative nature of sl culturally willbe lost and the only winners existing rl monopolys with the resources to doinate cultural markets as in rl.Do you r eally want to encourage that?
Insist upon copyright and publish yoruself its easy here,then you can charge what you like and see if people will pay hundreds of us dollars for your workAndif that is how yousee the future of sl as ,form a union,get rl lawas appied to virtual publications and stitchup the market.

There is a fairly large difference between:

1. Working on SL projects collaboratively for fun and entertainment, or for a small renumeration, using SL tools where the work will be deployed in SL

and

2. Working for a large agency producing RL work that is immediately exportable and exploitable in RL, for a pittance. where SL is simply the means of communication or advertising for employees or freelancers.

I would have no problem if the OP was looking to get a few people together to make a SL rag, say a fashion magazine. Instead the OP appears to be fishing for any written work on any subject, for practically no remuneration, for use by a large agency that can deploy the work whenever they are commissioned to produce something that matches a submission.

Just sayin'.

omg... OK, thank you all for answering and sharing your thoughts. First of all I'd like to say that this offer isn't intended to rip off writers. If you're offended by the payment of 1kL$ per week I'd like to explain that the magazine will not focus on profit. It's not like we are 'selling' or 'reselling' your writing skills at a higher price.

I'm aware that creative work has it's price. However, this is the best payment we are able to offer. If you're writing for money I suggest you take another offer in RL.

However I'd like to stress that I'm looking for people who write for fun (like in a blog). You will have a lot of freedom on your topics and your articles will be published to a broad variety of readers. So if you'd like to have a chat on that job, just give a shout. If not - leave it.

refreshing... we're still looking for some more writers. If you feel like you'd like to have your articles published, please contact me inWorld.

Best regards,
Tris

Where will the work be published, Tristan? Inworld only? On a blog?

And, who owns the copyright for the published work?

Copyright is indeed the big issue here. SL is just another medium for the written word in the same way as a newspaper, book or website are. So, the issue is, who owns the copyright on what is written within SL. I haven't studied the fine print of SL's terms and conditions, but it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if every word written in SL is technically their copyright - that would be relatively standard for any medium for the published word, because remember, whenever you write something in SL, Linden Labs are 'publishing' it.

Whether that's the case or not, you still have the issue that words written within SL can easily be copied and re-used in RL. As others have observed, to match RL word rates within SL you would have to pay substantial sums of money. Comparison to some other SL jobs like dancing and escorting is pointless - those are non-skilled tasks where the animation does most of the work. Comparison to animating and building is more valid as those consume similar RL time and skills, but they are not as transferable to RL in work terms as writing is.

Upshot of all this is... find out who owns the copyright to anything written in SL, because if it isn't the writer, then not only is there little point discussing in-SL rates, but there's a huge can of worms to be opened about copyright issues. I'll post more if I get the chance to look into the T&Cs, unless someone that knows beats me to it.

Bit long and legalese, but basically, what this says (below) is that while you retain copyright of whatever you write in SL, Linden Labs has the right to use it in any way it likes for promoting SL - and that covers a huge range of things including books, TV, films and so on. So, best be aware of the consequences before you start using SL blogs or anything else in SL to try to launch a money-making writing career.

The relevant bit in the T&Cs...

"3.2 You retain copyright and other intellectual property rights with respect to Content you create in Second Life, to the extent that you have such rights under applicable law. However, you must make certain representations and warranties, and provide certain license rights, forbearances and indemnification, to Linden Lab and to other users of Second Life.

Users of the Service can create Content on Linden Lab's servers in various forms. Linden Lab acknowledges and agrees that, subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, you will retain any and all applicable copyright and other intellectual property rights with respect to any Content you create using the Service, to the extent you have such rights under applicable law.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, you understand and agree that by submitting your Content to any area of the service, you automatically grant (and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant) to Linden Lab: (a) a royalty-free, worldwide, fully paid-up, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to (i) use, reproduce and distribute your Content within the Service as permitted by you through your interactions on the Service, and (ii) use and reproduce (and to authorize third parties to use and reproduce) any of your Content in any or all media for marketing and/or promotional purposes in connection with the Service, provided that in the event that your Content appears publicly in material under the control of Linden Lab, and you provide written notice to Linden Lab of your desire to discontinue the distribution of such Content in such material (with sufficient specificity to allow Linden Lab, in its sole discretion, to identify the relevant Content and materials), Linden Lab will make commercially reasonable efforts to cease its distribution of such Content following the receipt of such notice, although Linden Lab cannot provide any assurances regarding materials produced or distributed prior to the receipt of such notice; (b) the perpetual and irrevocable right to delete any or all of your Content from Linden Lab's servers and from the Service, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and for any reason or no reason, without any liability of any kind to you or any other party; and (c) a royalty- free, fully paid-up, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to copy, analyze and use any of your Content as Linden Lab may deem necessary or desirable for purposes of debugging, testing and/or providing support services in connection with the Service. Further, you agree to grant to Linden Lab a royalty-free, worldwide, fully paid-up, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, sublicensable right and license to exercise the copyright, publicity, and database rights you have in your account information, including any data or other information generated by your account activity, in any media now known or not currently known, in accordance with our privacy policy as set forth below, including the incorporation by reference of terms posted at http://secondlife.com/corporate/privacy.php.

You also understand and agree that by submitting your Content to any area of the Service, you automatically grant (or you warrant that the owner of such Content has expressly granted) to Linden Lab and to all other users of the Service a non-exclusive, worldwide, fully paid-up, transferable, irrevocable, royalty-free and perpetual License, under any and all patent rights you may have or obtain with respect to your Content, to use your Content for all purposes within the Service. You further agree that you will not make any claims against Linden Lab or against other users of the Service based on any allegations that any activities by either of the foregoing within the Service infringe your (or anyone else's) patent rights.

You further understand and agree that: (i) you are solely responsible for understanding all copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret and other intellectual property or other laws that may apply to your Content hereunder; (ii) you are solely responsible for, and Linden Lab will have no liability in connection with, the legal consequences of any actions or failures to act on your part while using the Service, including without limitation any legal consequences relating to your intellectual property rights; and (iii) Linden Lab's acknowledgement hereunder of your intellectual property rights in your Content does not constitute a legal opinion or legal advice, but is intended solely as an expression of Linden Lab's intention not to require users of the Service to forego certain intellectual property rights with respect to Content they create using the Service, subject to the terms of this Agreement."

I would love to, but I'm on strike.



OK, seriously. I don't think writing for/in SL should be about the money. It's about sharing your passion for SL in a manner entertaining and professionally to the readership.

I think a really good way to please your staff writers is to offer them free advertisements in the publication. I would write a bit spot here and there for an ad placement--reciprocal collaboration breeds success!

IM me inworld, I'd like to see a few draft ideas and layouts...perhaps I can help. I wrote briefly for the Metaverse Messenger, as well as art direct a RL humor/lit mag my brother and I publish...

Good luck, regardless.

Thank you for your thoughts. The mag will appear on a website, similar to Second Style - so it's not a 'content created in SL'. In any case you transfer your copyrights to the magazine as you would when writing for a RL mag.
Some more info about the content: The main focus will be fashion and lifestyle. There are other topics to be covered as building, graphics, literature, music, health and business. That's also the reason why we're looking for talented and writers who'd like to share their work.

The payment will be linked to what you do, but as another reward you'll get your articles read of course. We aim at several hundred readers a day.

In any case, I'd like to point out that this isn't a metaphysical question about journalism and payment. We're doing our best to release an interesting, entertaining mag - most of us aren't paid at all for the work we're doing.
So, if any of this sounds interesting to you, please send me an email with an example of your writing to [email]ichdarfdas@gmx.ch[/email]

We are releasing Volume two , issue one on Feb 1st. If you are interested in business writing please IM Hunter Glass or email me at [email]Hunter.Glass@slbusiness.com[/email]

Regards,
Hunter
Publisher
SL Business Magazine