Archive for September 15th, 2009

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FAQs: Please Help Me!

by Colleen Doran on September 15th, 2009
Posted In: Blog, Creator Resources, copyright/trademark, Creator Resources, Creator Resources, Education, Creator Resources, Legal, Creator Resources, Publishing

This is a screen shot of my email inbox today:

inbox

I have always made a sincere effort to answer every single letter. However, I want to write and draw, and stories are not getting written and drawn when I am answering mail.

I appreciate every letter. More importantly, I appreciate the fact that many of you are coming to me for help. And I especially appreciate the fact that more and more people read this blog every day.

The best way to get me to help: DON’T write me a private email. DON’T send me a question via my Facebook box, either.

If you have a question about something you think is important about publishing, or contracts, or anything of that sort, please post that question publicly on this blog so everyone can read the answer. If the answer is important to you, it may be important to someone else.

There are no stupid questions. There are, however, some pretty silly ways of going about trying to get the answers to those questions.

Don’t come to a pro with basic questions about copyright, trademark, and contracts because many of these questions can be answered in moments with a quick web search on the official government copyright and trademark office websites.

Whenever you go to a pro, you have an opportunity to get an answer to something you can’t find on the web; some obscure contract matter, something tricky about accounting you won’t learn in the top three hits on Google. A pro is giving you their professional opinion, and they are performing this service for free. Please respect yourself and their time: do some research on your own first.

If you consider yourself a professional quality artist or writer, and you do not have basic contract knowledge, then you are not taking your work seriously. You are signaling that when you go to a pro and ask beginner questions.

Claiming you are a writer or artist while not knowing the basics of copyright and trademark law is like claiming you are a physicist who can’t do long division.

This is your job. You must know these things before you can pursue a career with any sense of professional devotion. And you should not expect professionals to take their time to act as career consultants for you when you will not make this basic effort.

I have spent hundreds of hours over the last couple of years helping out creators, writing articles, and volunteering for various organizations as an advocate. But my time is not unlimited, and I need to be able to do my own work. I also need to limit my attention to creators who are serious about their work. I could have finished several issues of my comic in the time I devoted to others over the past two years, and I just can’t do this on behalf of people who do not respect their work or my time.

This is about your self respect. This is about responsibility.

If you need someone to review your contract, here are resources where you can get pro bono or low cost legal aid. I am not a lawyer and cannot review your contract for you. Also, there is a long list of free online legal blogs at the right of this page. Any one of them will have hundreds of entries which will help you.

If you want to know about industry practices and standards, you should try the Graphic Artist Guild Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines.

If you are a publisher or creator looking for contract templates and solid, basic advice, there are many books by Tad Crawford available.

Let me revise that: if you are a publisher coming to me asking for free advice for your company, please refrain. Seriously, you are not a real publisher. Get a lawyer. Do your research. I will not work as your unpaid consultant.

And if you can’t refrain, my rate is $250 an hour.

But do yourself a favor. Get those books by Tad Crawford and that Graphic Artist Guild Handbook and read them cover to cover before you come to me again. And if there’s something you can’t find there, my rate is still $250 an hour.

If you are a publisher, you can pay for my help. And if you can’t pay me, you can’t afford to be a publisher.

You’d be grumpy too if you had to get through my inbox.

I will help creators who show me that they are also willing to help themselves.

As opposed to “publishers” helping themselves to hours of free professional consultation services.

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Applications Are Now Open for the 2010 Mentoring Program for Immigrant Artists

by Colleen Doran on September 15th, 2009
Posted In: Blog, Creator Resources, Creator Resources, Education

We are excited to announce the fourth year of New York Foundation for the Arts’ Mentoring Program for Immigrant Artists.

The 2010 Mentoring Program will pair 12-15 emerging foreign-born artists with established artists who received a NYFA Fellowship in 2009. The Fellows will act as one-on-one mentors to their immigrant artist mentees for a period of six months from January to June 2010, assisting them in gaining broader access to the New York art world by sharing opportunities to exchange ideas, resources and experiences. Mentors will also guide mentees in achieving a specific goal, such as composing an artist statement, creating a marketing brochure, or completing a grant application. The program’s objectives are to foster supportive relationships between artists at different career stages, and help emerging immigrant artists build some of the skills necessary to fairly compete and ultimately succeed as professional artists in New York.

This is a selective program that is free of charge to accepted participants. The first three cycles of the Mentoring Program were tremendous successes, and we look forward to seeing what new partnerships will take form through this year’s program.

We ask that you kindly forward this information to your colleagues, constituents and others who can take advantage of this opportunity.
Mentee applications are due Tuesday, October 13, 2009, with work samples postmarked by that date. For a full program description and detailed information on how to apply, please visit the Mentoring Program page on the NYFA website. To access the online application directly, click here. Please read carefully the information in this mailing and on the Mentoring Program page before filling out the application.

We are accepting applications from mentees who:
Live within the New York Tri-State metropolitan area (NY, NJ, and CT), and are available to meet their mentor personally for a total of at least six hours and attend three group meetings in New York City over the course of the six month cycle, January–June 2010.
Were born outside of the U.S. (Those born in Puerto Rico, Guam, and U.S territories may apply).
Attended at least K – 8 schooling outside the U.S.
Are actively working and pursuing a career as an artist for at least the past year.
Identify one or more clear goals to accomplish over the course of the six-month mentorship. Please see the Mentoring Program page for details.
Submit three work samples of recent work produced in the past two years (exceptions can be made on a case to case basis).
Are not currently enrolled in a graduate or undergraduate degree program.
Expectations for Mentee:
To set realistic goals achievable within a short term program.
To be responsible and take initiative in regards to your experience; “you will get out of the program what you put into it.”
To participate fully in a one-to-one relationship designed to facilitate personal and professional growth as a working artist.

Please contact the Immigrant Artist Project via email at i.outreach@nyfa.org or telephone at (212) 366-6900 ext. 249, with any questions.

Sincerely,

Andreia Davies, Immigrant Outreach Coordinator

Jessica Vosburgh, Immigrant Artist Project Assistant

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09/15/2009

by Colleen Doran on September 15th, 2009
Posted In: A Distant Soil Webcomic
09/15/2009
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