COMPLAINT about SEARCH Magazine / Heldref Publications

[angelahoy]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: COMPLAINT about SEARCH Magazine / Heldref Publications / Helen Dwight Reid Educational Foundation / et. al.
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:21:24 -0400
From: Angela Hoy <angie@booklocker.com>
To: editor@searchmagazine.org, samkean@gmail.com, skean@searchmagazine.org, AStephens@heldref.org, cpolcino@heldref.org, jdenton@heldref.org

August 20, 2009

Peter Manseau, Editor - editor@searchmagazine.org
Sam Kean, Assigning Editor - samkean@gmail.com, skean@searchmagazine.org
SEARCH Magazin / searchmagazine.org
1319 18th Street NW
Washington, DC 20036

and

Azalia Stephens, Accounting Manager - AStephens@heldref.org
Christine Polcino, Chief Operating Officer - cpolcino@heldref.org
Jim Denton, President / Executive Director - jdenton@heldref.org
Heldref Publications / heldref.org
Helen Dwight Reid Educational Foundation
1319 Eighteenth Street, NW
Washington, DC · 20036

WritersWeekly.com has received a complaint about:
SEARCH Magazine / searchmagazine.org and Helen Dwight Reid Educational
Foundation / Heldref Publications / heldref.org, PUBLISHER of - ANQ: A
Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews,
Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health: An International
Journal, Arts Education Policy Review,
Asian Affairs: An American Review, Behavioral Medicine, Change, The
Clearing House, College Teaching,
Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, Current, Demokratizatsiya,
Environment, The Explicator, The Germanic Review, Historical Methods,
History: Reviews of New Books, Hospital Topics, Journal of American
College Health,
The Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society, The Journal of
Economic Education, Journal of Education for Business, The Journal of
Educational Research, The Journal of Environmental Education, The
Journal of Experimental Education, The Journal of General Psychology,
The Journal of Genetic Psychology, Journal of Motor Behavior, Journal of
Popular Film and Television, The Journal of Psychology:
Interdisciplinary and Applied, The Journal of Social Psychology,
Perspectives on Political Science, Preventing School Failure, Rocks &
Minerals, Romance Quarterly, Science Activities, Search, The Social
Studies, Symposium, Weatherwise, and World Affairs

WritersWeekly.com is a publication that publishes information for
and about freelance writers. The publication is the
largest-circulation freelance writing ezine in the world.

As part of that information, WritersWeekly.com publishes a Warnings
section on its website and in its newsletter. This warning section
contains reports about publications that are unprofessional in
dealing with writers, haven't paid writers money that is owed to
them, who have not abided by their contracts, or who have unfair
contract terms. These reports are used by WritersWeekly.com's
subscribers
to decide which publications they should and should not work with.

Your firm has been submitted to us for inclusion in the
WritersWeekly.com Whispers and Warnings section.

Step one of our investigation of this report is to gather all
relevant correspondence between your publication and the person
submitting the complaint so that we can piece together that person's
side of the story. Step one of our investigation has been completed.

-------------
THE COMPLAINT
-------------

MM (name not published here but was, of course, provided to the publisher)
alleges you owe him $1500, which includes $700 in travel
expenses.

See allegation under my signature.

-----------------
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
-----------------

The second step in our investigation is to send this communication
to your firm to get its side of the story. If you have evidence
disputing these allegations, or would like to make your own
statement about these allegations for publication in our report, please
email angela@writersweekly.com within two business days.

***All correspondence for our investigations must be in writing and
is subject to publication.***

If you do owe this person money, we strongly suggest you read
this article before responding:
http://www.writersweekly.com/the_latest_from_angelahoycom/003628_09132006.html

Our report on your firm is scheduled for inclusion in our
publication next Wednesday, though it may appear in our Whispers and
Warnings forum before that time.

If there is no response to these allegations, WritersWeekly.com will
still publish this complaint, but our readers will not be able to
read your side of the story.

We appreciate your prompt response in this matter.

Angela Hoy
Publisher
WritersWeekly.com

-----------------
THE COMPLAINT
-----------------

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Letter for Whispers and Warnings -- Heldref Publications
Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 19:33:57 -0500
From: MM

8/4/09

Dear Angela:

For nearly a decade, I've been an avid follower of WritersWeekly,
landing several good gigs from your Market listings and even penning a
column for you. I'm writing this letter for your Whispers and Warnings
forum.

Upon my return from Chicago on an assignment for Search Magazine
(http://www.searchmagazine.org) that included travel costs this June, I
was suddenly informed that -- after over a decade in various
incarnations -- the magazine was out of business.

"The market has conspired against us," my assigning editor, Sam Kean,
emailed. "That puts you in a crappy position, and I apologize. My
editor and I had no way of knowing."

After working with him since March, Mr. Kean did not, however, tell me
how or even if I would be paid. He simply bid me a cavalier adieu! I
wish I could have left it at that, but I'm in no position to absorb the
over $700.00 in travel costs I incurred on behalf of his publication.

On June 25, 2009, I snail-mailed a bill and a letter detailing the
situation to /Search Magazine's/ publisher, Washington, DC-based Heldref
(Helen Dwight Reid Educational Foundation), http://www.heldref.org.

Addressed to accounting manager Azalia Stephens (AStephens@heldref.org
<mailto:AStephens@heldref.org>) and chief operating officer Christine
Polcino, the letter included dozens of emails I had exchanged with Mr.
Kean and my Chicago-based sources for the story. The $1,500.00
assignment and relevant details were all in writing, and I kept Mr. Kean
apprised of virtually every move I made, including emailing him the day
I departed.

A month passed and having received no response from Heldref, I emailed
several of their laid-off editors asking for information. They told me
that Heldref -- primarily a publisher of trade magazines and academic
journals -- was still a going concern, but had sold many of its titles
to UK-based Taylor and Swift.

"I'll email your note to [Heldref president] Jim Denton
(jdenton@heldref.org <mailto:jdenton@heldref.org>)," one of the editors
told me. "I'd advise you to contact him directly."

So I did, and I finally heard from none other than Sam Kean on July 21,
2009! "We're examining your payment request now," Kean emailed me.
"Can you forward to us any receipts you have from Chicago, as well as
any correspondence you had with the subjects of the would-be story?"

Though I had already forwarded most of this material in my original
letter, I obliged again, with the following note.

"Sam: I've forwarded everything I have, including four sets of emails
and one set of receipts. I do want to emphasize though, that I don't
consider this merely a 'payment request,' but a legitimate debt, due and
owing for work I did at your behest and expenses I incurred. Just
because someone decides they don't want the rest of their house painted
and they stop work on it -- for whatever reason, even closing up shop --
doesn't mean they shouldn't pay for the work that's already been done."

To which Sam replied, "I understand where you're coming from, [MM], and
I'll need to talk it over with my boss. I'm actually not working for
/Search/ any more, and doing this gratis, but please understand that I
do need to talk with them."

I thought it strange that a terminated editor would be handling an
accounting issue, but there it was.

It's now August 4th, and I've heard nothing from Mr. Kean or Heldref and
little more about the firm's fate, except this blog post from a 2009
summer intern who joined the exodus after a few drinks.

"I felt like a real member of the Heldref family when they said it was
okay for me to consume alcohol even though I was only 18. I will really
miss that," she wrote. "But forget me for a second. Try to imagine the
people who have invested so much time, energy, and hard work in this
company....Some of my colleagues have spent decades with Heldref...."
http://f1gur3s.blogspot.com/2009/06/spare-change-summer-pt-1-so-long-and.html

While I can no longer imagine under-age drinking, I can certainly
imagine people who have invested time, energy, and hard work -- and out
of pocket expenses -- in Heldref.

It's just too bad they can't seem to imagine me.

Best,

MM

~~~~~

PUBLISHER RESPONDS

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Fwd: COMPLAINT about SEARCH Magazine / Heldref Publications /
Helen Dwight Reid Educational Foundation / et. al.
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:01:14 -0400
From: James Denton <jdenton@heldref.org>

Dear Angela,

Thank you for your inquiry and the information you provided, and the
opportunity to reply to [MM]'s claims.

However, we must respectfully decline your offer except to say that it
seems to us that [MM], while not entirely in an unsympathetic
situation, has an unhelpful tendency to distort reality with
inconsistent claims, innuendo, partial truths, half-baked research,
overstatements, and annoyingly empty threats.

On August 11th I asked [MM] for additional information that would
document his basic claims. On August 13th, [MM] stated that he
engaged a collection agency to act on his behalf suggesting that we
should deal with the agency henceforth. (Oddly, he apparently omitted
his Aug 13 correspondence from the email trail he provided to you.) In
any case, when his representative contacts us, we will happily, and in
good faith, attempt to resolve his claims.

In the interim, we will stand by our 40-year record of good faith in
dealing with the journalists and scholars around the world with whom we
have worked in our publications. There are many hundreds of them.

Again, thank you for your inquiry.

Sincerely,

James Denton
Publisher
www.heldref.org
www.worldaffairsjournal.org

~~~~~

WRITERSWEEKLY RESPONDS

Subject: Re: Fwd: COMPLAINT about SEARCH Magazine / Heldref Publications / Helen Dwight Reid Educational Foundation / et. al.
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 2009 15:10:49 -0400
From: Angela Hoy
To: editor@searchmagazine.org, samkean@gmail.com, jdenton@heldref.org, skean@searchmagazine.org, AStephens@heldref.org, cpolcino@heldref.org, jdenton@heldref.org

Hi James,

Whether you choose to provide us with information or not, we are
planning to publish a warning about your firm. I'm not sure which
"representative" you are waiting to hear from.

[MM] did notify us about the collection agency (which you have not
paid, either) and evidence of that was in the initial email we sent to you.

Below is [MM]'s rebuttal to your email, along with, in our
opinion, more than ample proof that you assigned this work to him and
promised to pay him $1500 for it.

Angela Hoy
WritersWeekly.com

~~~~~

WRITER RESPONDS

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: COMPLAINT about SEARCH Magazine / Heldref Publications
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:29:35 -0500
From: MM
To: Angela Hoy

Angela:

I remain baffled that Mr. Denton -- who has run Heldref for about three
years -- continues to trivialize and misrepresent my claims, which are
based on nearly five months of emails between me and his contract
editor, Sam Kean. Those emails culminated in a *May 13, 2009
assignment* email from Mr. Kean that not only provided instructions
about how to approach the story, but delineated payment and terms. It
ended with this note: *"We don't require any more contracts or anything
for you at this time. Just let me know how things are going. -- Sam."*

I also remain baffled why Mr. Denton and his staff failed to respond to
any of my previous communications, starting with a snail-mail letter
with supporting documentation to his accounting manager, Azalia
Stephens, *on 6/25/09*. That
letter -- which was professional, courteous, and businesslike -- is
attached. I know Mr. Denton and his staff received it because Mr. Kean
said they did. He even asked me to send along receipts for my travel
expenses, *on 7/21/09,* which I've now done three times.

Only when I finally assigned the debt to a collection agency did Mr.
Denton respond to me, on *8/11/2009. *"I regret the delay in getting to
this," he emailed. "We have been in business long enough to know that
you cannot set up a collection where no contract of any kind exists.
So, let's just deal with this matter without cluttering the air
with nonsense."

I hardly consider losing over $700.00 in out-of-pocket travel expenses
"nonsense." And I consider Mr. Kean's email -- and the long chain
of emails that preceded it -- a clear, industry standard assignment,
with all the power of a contract. If it's not, then I know a whole lot
of freelancers who'd better reconsider how they take on work!

Thanks again for taking this on!

Best,

[MM]

ALSO FROM THE WRITER

I've worked with Heldref Publications many times, through other contract
editors like Marc Kaufman and Karl Giberson. Every story I wrote was
assigned -- and in precisely the way Sam Kean assigned this one.

~~~~~

COPY OF ASSIGNMENT ISSUED BY SAM KEAN

----- Original Message -----
*From:* Sam Kean <mailto:skean@searchmagazine.org>
*To:* MM
*Sent:* Wednesday, May 13, 2009 9:36 AM
*Subject:* Re: PITCH: High tech High Holy Days -- Researchers study
"smart" Jewish homes

Hello, and sorry for my delay in responding. On the issues to cover, I'd
say just make sure that you cover both the science/tech angle and the
religion angle, since that's what our readers really go for---the way
those two things mix. But don't let that notion limit you: Make sure you
cover science/religion, but we're always, always interested in a good
story, a good narrative, too. On payment, with low funding levels at
this time, we unfortunately have a cap of $1,500 for our longest feature
stories (usually 3,000 to 4,000 words), and that includes travel
expenses. We don't require any more contracts or anything for you at
this time. Just let me know how things are going.

-Sam

~~~~~

THE WRITER INCLUDED SEVERAL MORE DETAILS AND EMAILS IN HIS CORRESPONDENCE AS WELL.

~~~~~

PUBLISHER RESPONDS

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: COMPLAINT about SEARCH Magazine / Heldref Publications / Helen Dwight Reid Educational Foundation / et. al.
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 2009 09:40:53 -0400
From: James Denton <jdenton@heldref.org>
To: Angela Hoy

Hi Angela,

We have not paid the representative (collection agency) because the
representative/agency has not contacted us as [MM] said he/she
would. And, [MM] has told us to deal with the agency.

When we do, we will go from there to discuss the matter.

If you publish the warning, I trust you will include my two replies
to you.

Thank you,
James Denton

~~~~~

UPDATE: September 10, 2009

WritersWeekly is in receipt of an email sent from James Denton to MM offering a $750 settlement. MM is requesting an additional $150, which is what he had to pay the collection agency to handle his claim. He has not yet reported any response from James Denton / Heldref to his request.

[angelahoy]

UPDATE: October 2009

WritersWeekly is in receipt of an email sent by James Denton / Jim Denton of Heldref Publications to the writer where he claims they will not pay the collection agency fee because it was "unnecessary business." He will only agree to pay the original settlement amount of $750 (out of $1500 that emails above indicate the writer was promised when the article was assigned).

It is the opinion of WritersWeekly that writers should avoid Heldref Publications.