Diane LeBow speaks about her and John Montgomery’s recent trip to Syria, Jordan and Lebanon at the August BATW meeting. (photo © Jim Shubin)

It was clear from the August presentation on Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, that our intrepid travelers Diane Lebow, John Montgomery and Alena Bartoli agree with Shaw’s sentiments. They traveled by horse, camel and burro to chronicle and photograph some of the world’s most misunderstood regions.  They ate camel in Palmya, visited mosques in all three countries and immersed themselves in the bathing ritual of the Dead Sea. It was “Eat, Pray, Love” . . . Middle Eastern style.

Accompanied by John Montgomery’s gorgeous images, Diane LeBow narrated adventure tales, tidbits, and information about Syria and Lebanon. Visiting from Jordan for the event, educational tour consultant Alena Bartoli shared her expertise on Jordan.

Here are 10 fascinating facts that BATW members learned from the presentation:

Alena Bartoli talks about Jordan at the August BATW meeting. (photo © Jim Shubin)Here are 10 fascinating facts that BATW members learned from the presentation:

1. Syria is safe. Very safe. LeBow says in Syria they left their car unlocked without fear of theft.

2. Women have equal Constitutional rights in all three countries with a high level of free education.

3. Tourism is booming in Syria – up 55% this year according to LeBow, who says there are good highways and luxurious hotels in Damascus and other parts of the country. A new trend is turning 14^th century mansions into B & B’s in Damascus.

Donna Peck samples humus and other Lebanese food from Tannourine restaurant in San Mateo at the August meeting. (photo © Jim Shubin)

4. Across Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, people are gracious and friendly, often inviting Americans into their homes for dinner.

5. Travelers can be perfectly comfortable wearing modest, yet “normal clothing” in all three of these countries. LeBow says that in urban centers you’ll find some women covered in black from head to toe and others in t-shirts and jeans. One Lebanese girl they photographed was wearing a t-shirt that said “Girls Kick Ass”.

6. Lebanon is known as the Switzerland of the Middle East and expects 2.5 million tourists this year. Beirut is a “Phoenix” – rising out of the ashes of war and rebuilding the city.

7. The Dead Sea is famous for its spa treatments and is becoming an international tourist Mecca offering 5-star resorts by American Hotel chains like Holiday Inn and Marriot.

Anwar George Kenicer, who helped arrange the donation of Lebanese food from San Mateo's Tannourine restaurant, tries the falafels. (photo © Jim Shubin)

8. Petra, Jordan, has the largest donkey population in the Middle East and civilization that dates back to 10,000 B.C.

9. It’s an honor to have a dinner companion “serve” you by pulling meat off the bone (by hand) and putting it on your plate. Your utensil is your right hand.

10. Aqaba, Jordan, is the country’s only seaport (known for swimming, snorkeling and fishing) and a jumping off point for travel to Israel and Saudi Arabia. The Jordanian government is working to make Aqaba a destination.

Blue Mosque in Beirut, Lebanon (photo © John Montgomery)

The presentation was augmented by a Middle Eastern feast coordinated by BATW member Anwar George Kneiser and provided by Tannourine Restaurant in San Mateo. Their savory offerings of Lebanese pizza, hummus, falafels and pistachio and orange blossom pudding brought the flavors of the Middle East to life.

Other meeting notes: Thank you to the Philippine Culture Center for providing the meeting space and to Ed Walsh for providing the coffee and pastries.

The Treasury at Petra, Jordan (photo © John Montgomery)

Announcements:

Elisa Southard and Erin Caslavka are heading up the 5^th BATW Student Travel Writing Contest. Volunteers who would like to help are asked to contact Elisa at elisasouthard@gmail.com.

Lee Foster’s August 24 talk at the Walnut Creek Library follows a write-up on his work in the Contra Costa Times.

The September 18 meeting is entitled: A Great Story Idea: Stalking It, Styling It, Selling It. Panelists are Georgia Hesse and Judy Wylie.

April Orcutt reminds anyone with submissions for the BATW ezine to please put their name in the subject line of their email.

– Ginny Prior

CALL for READERS and JUDGES BATW’s biennial High School Travel Writing Contest kicks off September 15th with entries due by November 30, 2010. Here’s an opportunity to give back to help our future – future travel writers and future membership. It’s simple. All you need to do is read several essays and let us know which ones makes the cut. It couldn’t be easier. We’ll provide the guidelines. Here’s how it works:  You’ll receive several essays via email to read in the first week of December. Do your magic using the guidelines and email them back to us by January 15th. Our goal is to have 20 qualifying essays to judge on Readfest Day, January 22nd, 2011.   You Be the JUDGE! Join us for Essay Readfest Day, January 22, 2011. Join us for a day of BATW comaraderie when we search for essay excellence and that certain je ne sais quoi. You’ll enjoy food, drinks and the satisfaction that comes from knowing you contributed to excellence and to your own future experience as a travel article reader.  Please sign up as a reader  and/or judge by emailing ElisaSouthard@gmail.com or erin.caslavka@gmail.com.  Thank you to Larra Ryan for joining us as both reader/judge and to Janice Nieder for signing up for as a Readfest Judge.   Just an hour of your time makes a difference.

– Elisa Southard and Erin Caslavka

At first, for about three years or so, I traveled at minimal cost to the newspaper, accepting invitations from airlines, government tourism offices, hotel chains, professional organizations (for instance, the Pacific Area Travel Association, as it was then named), etc. The Examiner saw no problem in my writing negatively about a hotel or aircraft just because I had accepted an invitation, nor was there any expectation that I would favor those who had been my hosts. It worked that way, too. In fact, on an early trip as the guest of Olympic Airways, I wrote a rather harsh column about the airline, headed “An Airline Flies High, but It Isn’t Olympian.” The airline cancelled its ads; the publisher called me in and questioned me about accuracy; he believed me (why not? It was a truly miserable flight; nothing to do with weather); and that set our standard. (Naturally, had I said Greece was Nowhere, it would have been idiotic and not publishable).

The paper’s decision to start paying for my trips resulted not from ethical but from practical questions. In the early days, writers traveled with travel agents. The interests of the two groups were (and are) quite different. I objected to seeing all kinds of banquet and meeting rooms and learning how they could be divided for business meetings, conferences, parties, etc. I wanted to write about what drew travelers to destinations in the first place: art, history, architecture, food, music, sport, etc. ad infinitum. I also didn’t want to spend entire days being wined and dined in a way that would be impossible for individual travelers and readers. I wanted to select those parts of the world that the newspaper should be covering; to be in advance of the trends in some cases while also paying attention to the readership’s interests in others.

It worked splendidly. I had a great budget that allowed me to travel alone or with editors whose coverage was not in conflict at the time: LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Denver Post, etc. I was able to experience what the normal traveler would experience. Editorially, the end of the affair – which is to transmit helpful information to the reader – means traveling usually on a middle-income standard, including an occasional splurge for dining and/or entertainment (as most travelers are wont to do) and also (as an editor) buying stories about budget traveling and the occasional high-end excitement

If one travels only by invitation, he will see only the top of the market world since only expensive hotels and restaurants can afford to host the writer. Likewise, an airline will want to cater to the hosted writer by putting him in business or first class. Writers who do not pay their ways or who don’t work for publications that do will not know what economy passengers go through.

Basically, and most importantly, if the writer can travel only on freebies and press trips, he just will not see the world as it is. Also, he will experience only what the country or other host wants him to experience. I think the travel writer owes it to his readers to do his homework, come up with ideas that are not trite or overdone, and then go after those stories.

On the other hand, I have learned very much from the experts usually attached to press trips, information that would have take me weeks rather than days to learn on my own. I think the newspapers and magazines that firmly prohibit participation in press trips also are making a mistake. The answer is to make absolutely sure that the publication demands honesty on the part of the writer, whether an employee of the publication or not.

The travel writing community in the past was exceedingly small; now it is much larger and enforcement of ethics (and, indeed, good manners) is more difficult. If we want to continue to pursue our dedications to travel and to writing, it is up to every single one of us to do so honestly, intelligently, and to the very best of our creative ability.

Thanks for listening (reading).

– Georgia Hesse

This post is a response to member questions about how to produce a customized member directory. While these instruction may seem complex, it is likely that your needs can be met with 5) a. Simple Search or 5) e. Use a Saved Search both of which are very straight forward.

1) Click  Member Log-In on the upper right corner of the BATW website.

2) Enter your name and password and click Login

3) Click Member Directory in the dark gray bar for an alphabetical listing of all members OR

4) Click and hold on Member Directory to choose List by Category (Search) from the drop down menu.

5) You will be presented with several options:

a. Simple Search (top right)— enter a name or other search term such as a geographic area.

Advanced Search—the following 4 options can be used individually or in combination.

b. Search For Profiles By Attribute Value—use IS/IS NOT plus AND/OR on a large number of Attributes (Last Name, Company, etc) to refine a search.

c. Search Using Filters—Chose any combination of Active Members, Associates, Emeritus or Provisional members to be listed. (Hold down the Control key, Command/Apple key on a Mac, to select more than one item to be included)

d. Use Customized Display Options—Add one of these options if you want to customize the resulting list to be in reverse order or sorted by up to 3 Attributes (Last Name, Company, etc.)

e. Use a Saved Search—Choose an option from the list; Active Members then Associates or Active Members Only.

6) Click search to have the list displayed or clear to start over.

– Lee Nelson

BATW's Ethics & Etiquette panel: (from left) Edward Hasbrouck, David Page, Catherine Boire, Tom Wilmer and Erin Van Reenen (host) (photo © John Montgomery)

BATW members were treated to a lively presentation on Saturday, June 19, at the Noe Valley branch of the San Francisco Public Library. The topic: The Ethics & Etiquette of Travel Writing—that is, an examination of what’s involved from an ethical standpoint when it comes to travel-writer comps, press trips, and freebies. The panel was conceived, coordinated and moderated by BATW Program Committee member Erin Van Rheenen.

Although billed as a discussion, the event was a bit more idiosyncratic. Each of the four panelists — David Page, Edward Hasbrouck, Catherine Boire and Tom Wilmer — spoke about the “Ethics & Etiquette” from a personal standpoint. Questions were taken from the audience.

Van Rheenen introduced the program by reading an excerpt from a piece Georgia Hesse wrote for the occasion. Hesse, founder of the San Francisco Examiner’s Travel section and an internationally-recognized travel writer/editor, offered a historical perspective on ethical issues involving press trips.

Edward Hasbrouck, who is on the board of the National Writers’ Union and who has been involved in formal discussions on this topic, set up the purpose of the meeting.  He pointed out that the reason issues about ethics and gift-disclosure have come up is that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which is supposed to protect consumers, has created new guidelines for openness regarding writers’ acceptance of freebies, discounts, etc.  He pointed out that the “FTC was gutted during the Reagan Admnistration” and that an overhaul of out-of-date regulations (or lack thereof) is long overdue.  New appointees on the FTC are working to encourage “truth in advertising” – and truth about hidden advertising.

In particular, the rapid expansion of the blogging world has brought about concerns regarding payola, which is defined by dictionary.com as “a secret or private payment in return for the promotion of a product, service, etc., through the abuse of one’s position, influence, or facilities.”

In October, 2009, the FTC announced its truth-in-(hidden)-advertising guidelines.  However, the FTC was mainly talking about current laws and trying to “scare people straight” regarding disclosure of who gave them what in exchange for positive mention in a story.  Edward pointed out that the FTC is taking a good approach in saying, “Get your act together on your own initiative.”

The original focus of the FTC’s new approach was not, Edward said, travel writers, but now it is trying to straighten out that area, too.  Two areas of importance are (1) endorsement (the writer telling the reader to do or buy something) and (2) disclosure of material connections that the reader would not expect or know about.

Edward said travel writers have two choices for dealing with these issues – that is, two questions to ask themselves:

1.     “What do I have to do to comply with the guidelines?”

His initial answer was: almost nothing.  The FTC is directing its ire primarily at advertisers.  The FTC wants the sponsor to tell the writer to tell the reader that he/she was sponsored (that is, given a comp, media-rate discount, press trip, etc.).  Edward thinks this is the wrong approach and suggests instead that writers answer his second question:

2.    “What is driving these regulation changes?  Are these valid concerns?”

The concerns relate to shilling – that is, to a writer presenting a company’s point-of-view in exchange for some kind of compensation but that writer not disclosing to the reader that she/he received that compensation.  In the case of print writers, the writer usually deals with an editor and/or publisher so there can be some distance and a filter between the writer and the final published story.  The problem is bigger regarding bloggers because bloggers are not only the writers on their own sites, they are also the publishers of their own site and, therefore, are also the sites’ advertising salespersons.  That means there is no distance between the writer and the generator of website revenue.  Therefore a blog can easily and secretly become an “infomercial” (“informative” commercial) or an “advertorial” (advertising masquerading as an editorial).

Writers will win greater credibility, Edward said, if they are honest and up-front with their readers – that is, if they disclose to readers all discounts, gifts, comps, freebies, etc., that they receive relating to their articles.

This honesty has to come from publicists and marketers as well as writers, Edward said.  All subsidies (including media rates that are below fair-market value) as well as freebies should be disclosed.  Readers cannot detect payola on their own, and they are upset if they discover they’ve been duped.  In order to further their own careers, writers need to do all they can to maintain their credibility with readers and that means disclosing all gifts.

(For more information, links that Edward provided are at the bottom of this post and at http://hasbrouck.org/blog/archives/001877.html.)

David Page’s credits include the Discovery Channel, Men’s Journal, and the New York Times. He talked about conflicting ethical views within travel journalism. The official policy at the New York Times is to never accept a story by anyone who has been on a press trip at any time (read this section of the NYT contract). However, many other publications have no policy regarding press trips. [Suzie notes that many BATW members have been on press trips with editors from major publications.]

Page noted that it’s almost impossible to write a guidebook without taking at least an occasional freebie. When writing Yosemite & the Southern Sierra Nevada: A Complete Guide (Countryman Press), he found the “no freebie” thing easy to do with hole-in-the-wall lodgings and inexpensive eateries; impossible to do, on his budget, when matters went upscale. So what does a writer do? As he wrote in an article entitled “Do Freebies Undermine Honesty in Travel Writing,” “Do you just wander around the hallways of the five-star hotel and maybe sit on the bed? …Or—what the hell, in the interest of actual experiential travel—do you accept a free night?”

Of course you do. Realizing that “my responsibility is to the story and reader,” Page wrote honestly…and the guidebook ended up winning a 2009 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award.

Throughout his presentation Page emphasized that honesty in writing—as opposed to offering up boiler-plate or fluff—is what wins readers over. And while honesty may at times be difficult for hotel, restaurant, and attraction owners to swallow, in the end most will appreciate being shown the error of their ways. It was thus fitting that Page ended his presentation with these simple words addressed to travel journalists and readers alike: “Write like a shill, they’re gone. Write honestly, they stay.”

[You’ll find a few links on the topic of travel-writer ethics recommended by David Page at the bottom of this post.]

BATW Associate member Catherine Boire spoke offered a perspective from “the other side.” Catherine joined BATW in 1997, shortly after moving to the Bay Area. That same year she put together BATW’s first-ever press trip. By coincidence the destination—the Napa Valley town of Calistoga—had never before hosted a press trip. While BATW members responded with enthusiasm to the idea of a visit to Calistoga (go figure!), the town’s restaurant, hotel, and attraction owners were befuddled by the new idea of giving away free lodging, meals, etc. Would it really be worth it? Catherine convinced them to take a chance, assuring them that good publicity would result. As it turned out, the trip was a success on all fronts. Everyone had a great time, no embarrassing gaffes occurred, and Catherine received many clips from the attendees.

But then comes the flip side. Not long ago a writer (not a BATW member) asked Catherine to get him a three-day comp at a high-end “camp” in the Sierra, saying that the story would appear in a major publication. This amp does not ordinarily give comps—open only three months each year, the camp has an extremely narrow window in which to make a profit. But in the end Catherine did mange to wrest permission for the three-night comp. The result? The writer never filed the story, and Catherine was left to deal with an extremely disgruntled camp manager.

Nonetheless, Catherine believes that press trips and comps are important, allowing journalists a way to visit an area or property. She stressed that it’s important to send clips of articles written from press trips to the PR consultant (she mentioned her delight when Don & Ann Jackson recently sent her a clip that—though written this year—resulted from a press trip of 15 years ago). Another tip: you’ll have more success if you make requests for help, comps, etc., through the PR consultant rather than going directly to a hotel or other manager.

BATW Board member Tom Wilmer has been on so many press trips in 25+ years as a travel writer that he long ago lost count. A bit of a raconteur, he made it clear that, in his view, press trips are vital to a hard-working travel writer because they provide opportunity, insight, ideas, knowledge and much more. As one example: Wilmer won a national Australian writing award for an article that resulted from a press trip.

But there can be a dark side, Wilmer points out, when writers feel that they must produce “glowing” or “fluffy” articles to repay a sponsor’s largesse. “If you feel beholden—if you feel as if you’re being a whore—get over it,” he said. “And get over it quick. You have a far bigger responsibility to your reader. And if the PR people have a problem? Well, too bad!”

– Suzie Rodriguez
(covering introduction, David Page, Catherine Boire and Tom Wilmer)
– April Orcutt
BATW Website Editor (covering Edward Hasbrouck)

Resources from David Page:

http://thetravelersnotebook.com/notes-on-writing/do-travel-and-leisure-style-no-freebies-policies-undermine-honesty-in-travel-writing/

A relevant section of the NYT contract: http://www.nytco.com/press/ethics.html#C

Gawker publishes a reminder memo from NYT (March 2010):
http://gawker.com/5493614/new-york-times-reminds-freelancers-not-to-accept-free-things-in-all-caps

David Foster Wallace’s “Shipping Out: On the (nearly lethal) comforts of a luxury cruise”:
http://www.harpers.org/media/pdf/dfw/HarpersMagazine-1996-01-0007859.pdf

Tom Gates’ Notes from Grand Hotel Del Mar (Matador):
http://thetravelersnotebook.com/notes-from-road/notes-from-the-grand-del-mar-hotel-san-diego/

Resources from Edward Hasbrouck:

FTC guidelines on endorsements, testimonials, and advertising (FTC press release, 5 October 2009):
http://ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm

FTC guidelines (text of the guidelines)
http://ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf

FTC guidelines (complete Federal Register notice with additional FTC commentary and discussion)
http://ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005endorsementguidesfnnotice.pdf

Edward Hasbrouck’s initial analysis and commentary on the FTC guidelines (23 October 2009)
http://hasbrouck.org/blog/archives/001756.html

Edward Hasbrouck’s  follow-up commentary and links to responses to the FTC guidelines (12 November 2009)
http://hasbrouck.org/blog/archives/001775.html

Analysis of first report of FTC investigation under the new guidelines (by Susan Getgood, co-founder of “Blog With Integrity” and author of the forthcoming Professional Blogging for Dummies book, for which she interviewed me as one of her case studies)
http://getgood.com/roadmaps/2010/04/29/thoughts-on-ftc-and-ann-taylor-loft/

Twitter hashtag for discussion of travel writing ethics: #twethics

Blog With Integrity (Twitter @BlogIntegrity)
http://www.blogwithintegrity.com/

Travel Bloggers Exchange (webcast panels including Mary Engle of the FTC and Susan Getgood of BlogWithIntegrity on “Travel Writing Ethics – Freebies and Disclosures”, Sunday, 27 June 2010, 8-8:45 a.m. PDT; Twitter #tbex10)
http://www.travelblogexchange.com/profiles/blogs/tbex-10-speakers-amp-schedule

The Travel Bloggers Show (sponsored by the American Society of Travel Agents in conjunction with the ASTA trade show for travel agents and travel suppliers, Orlando, FL, September 11-14 2010; workshops with Edward Hasbrouck for travel bloggers on “Working with travel marketers and p.r. agencies” and for travel agencies, suppliers, and p.r. agencies on “How to work with travel bloggers”; Twitter @trvlbloggershow)
http://www.thetradeshow.org/thetravelbloggershow.cfm

Edward Hasbrouck’s Disclosures & Disclaimers page
http://hasbrouck.org/disclosures.html

Edward Hasbrouck’s How to Pitch Me page
http://hasbrouck.org/pitch.html

Lee Foster

The Rebecca Bruns Award is awarded bi-annually by Bay Area Travel Writers to one of its members whose dedication, both personally and professionally, has had a significant influence on fellow travel writers and their profession. Naturally, outstanding success is part of the equation, but it is not enough to say that the individual’s professional achievements are laudatory. More than that, the award recognizes originality, individuality and most of all, generosity in giving back to the writing community.

The 2010 Rebecca Bruns Award recipient is longtime BATW member Lee Foster.  Lee’s forward thinking, his dedication to professional development and education and his generosity as a teacher and mentor place him in the forefront of travel journalism today. BATW honors Lee with this recognition for his many contributions to the BATW membership and to the travel writing industry.

Congratulations, Lee Foster.

– Lee Daley

I just googled my name and saw a magazine website that used a recent story of mine without my permission. They gave me credit but not the original publication and made it look like I wrote it for them. What should I do? Is there anything I can do?  
– Beverly Mann
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From Edward Hasbrouck:

From your description, this sounds like copyright infringement.

How to proceed can be a complex question. (If you are a member of National Writers Union, their grievance advisors can help you figure out what to do.)

If the work was previously published (legally) somewhere else, there may be terms in the original publication about how you are to deal with infringement. Check your contract (you do keep copies, yes?) for its provisions. Most book contracts, for example, require the author to notify the publisher if you become aware of infringement. Then there are typically provisions for how author and publisher decide whether to proceed against the infringer separately or individually, who pays any legal fees, and how any damages you may recover are to be divided.

If it wasn’t previously published, or if you retained the rights that are being infringed (this may be the case if you licensed only print rights, retaining copyright and electronic rights, and the infringement is online), you may be on your own.

Your rights, and the possibility of collecting damages, vary depending on whether copyright was registered (either by you or the print publisher).

I am not a lawyer, but one possibility may be a copyright infringement lawsuit or, more feasibly, a threat of one, which may enable you to negotiate some compensation as a settlement. More likely, the infringer will take the bootleg copy down, but won’t want to pay damages.

If you just want to get them to take it down, your options include an informal demand letter and a formal DMCA takedown notice.

Depending on the infringer, you may chose to pursue licensing for some ongoing fee, instead of takedown, taking a tone like, “I was pleased to see that you like me article [title] enough to want to re-publish it on your site. I would be happy to license it to you for this use, on the following terms:…”

Hope this helps,
Edward

For the record, it’s just fine with me if people use content from my sites as long as they link back to the original.  The key distinction is wherether they “use” content merely by linking to it, or whether they copy it onto their site as well. Linking is (in general, but with some exceptions) permitted without permisison or notice, but copying something onto another site requires permisison.
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From Laure Latham:

[What this person did is] definitely wrong. That’s copyright infringement. Sure they credit you but they reprint the whole thing (right?), make it look like you wrote for them, and get the click and related ad revenue without paying you at the detriment of the website you originally wrote for. What are they thinking? not even asking for permission to reprint? That’s a matter for your publisher to deal with and you should coordinate with them. They’re the ones losing money on this unless you’re also paid on a click per page basis. They’ll determine what kind of action they want to pursue: take down page, allow for partial reprint with link, ask for statutory damages.

I call that stealing.

Goods luck on this,

Laure
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From Suzie Rodriguez:

A while back I did an interview with Karen Misuraca that was posted on a website I maintained at the time — subject was romantic destinations in Hawaii. It was a Q&A, with “Suzie” and “Karen” before the questions and replies. There was some joking around, Karen mentioned her Hawaiian honeymoon, etc. — it was the kind of interview that only two people who know each other could conduct.

Some woman stole the entire interview and put it on her site without any attribution or link. She maintained the “Karen” and “Suzie” format, though! Karen found it — I think through the fabulous Google Alerts. I got in touch with the thief and asked her politely to either link to my site or remove it. To my astonishment, she acted insulted that I would request such a thing. I then sent a takedown notice (see below) and alerted her that I had done so. I also posted a notification on the website of ASJA (American Society of Journalists & Authors) about this incident, referring to her as a “thief,” and sent her a copy of my notificaton. I next informed her that I had turned the entire matter over to my lawyer (one of my oldest friends who is, indeed, a lawyer). I did all of this within the space of half an hour. I’m not sure which action worked, but that stolen article of mine was removed pronto.

For the record, it’s just fine with me if people use content from my sites as long as they link back to the original. That’s the accepted ethic of the Internet, and the way things should work: a link brings traffic and bots to your site, increasing its visibility. Most people do this. There’s no need to tell you they’ve done it if they put up a link, but I’ve had requests from people asking if they can put up some of my content before they actually do so.

Here is a link to a page where a copyright lawyer explains in layperson’s language what a takedown notice is and tell you how to send one. Although it’s geared to photographers, it works just the same for writers.

Suzie Rodriguez

The link to learn about takedown notices:
http://rising.blackstar.com/how-to-send-a-dmca-takedown-notice.html
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From Dick Jordan

I often post links on my blog (http://www.talestoldfromtheroad.com) to stories published on-line.  My “Travel News Updates” are an example; here’s the one from last week.

Sometimes I want to do more than just post a link to a story. When commenting on a National Geographic story, I pulled a photo from the magazine’s Website, and put in link to the article.  When I e-mailed the photographer and sent him a link to the post, he wrote back and said he was adding the link to my post to his Website as an example of “fair use” of someone else’s work.  Reading about this year’s Shanghai Expo prompted me to write a couple of posts about China; in one post I not only linked to a story by Linda Watanabe McFerrin, but quoted rather extensively from it, much to Linda’s pleasure.

I don’t, of course, “capture” an entire story by another writer, plop it into my blog, and claim authorship, as happened with Suzanne’s piece.  Hopefully, this kind of digital piracy doesn’t happen very often.  I haven’t personally experienced this, although I have had my blog posts linked to other sites (and on two occasions I asked the site to remove the link).

Dick Jordan
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From April Orcutt

I suggest you Google a unique phrase or sentence in the article using quotation marks as well to see whether anyone else posted it without even giving you credit.

April Orcutt
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From Laurie McAndish King

Good answers, everyone. I agree: ask your publisher to handle it. (If you happen to be your own publisher, or your publisher is unresponsive, then it’s your job to follow up and ask firmly for what you want.) I can’t imagine that you could get damages, but you should be able to get them to either take it down or to post only part and link to the original article.

And yes, do Google a unique phrase (in quotation marks) to check for publication elsewhere. You can also set up a Google Alert for the phrase, to automate the search on an ongoing basis.

Good luck. Let us know the outcome.

Laurie
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Next month – dealing with stolen photos . . .