John Soares, author of Writing College Textbook Supplements
The About.com Freelance Writing Blog alerted me to an alarming New York Times story about freelance writers and editors not getting paid by Inkwell Publishing Solutions for work they’ve done for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt K-12 textbooks:
Mr. Baxter is one of about 50 unpaid freelance writers, editors, page designers and others who worked this year for Inkwell on textbooks that are to be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, which is owned by a holding company based in the Cayman Islands, and floats in oceans of debt.
“The explanation I have been given is that Houghton Mifflin Harcourt owes Inkwell money,” Mr. Baxter said.
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Mr. Egan said that after he left Inkwell in late January, he went to work at another book development company, and is owed about $13,000 there, also for work done on Houghton textbooks.
Note that this is just one article and we can’t tell for sure exactly what is going on. However, Inkwell Publishing Solutions should certainly be paying its writers, regardless of whether or not Houghton Mifflin Harcourt pays Inkwell.
Our main focus on this blog is writing college textbook supplements, which can also include writing portions of textbooks. For the record, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt College Division was bought by Cengage Learning in July, 2008, so if you focus on the college level you won’t be dealing with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
I’ve always gotten paid for every one of the more than 200 textbook supplements and ancillaries I’ve created, though some of the payments took a while to get to me. However, I’ve only worked directly on projects for major college textbook publishers, although I’ve certainly interacted with many of the companies the publishers hire to do the various tasks it takes to create a textbook.
It is important for supplement writers to pay attention to the financial health of the companies they work for or hope to work for. I recently wrote an extensive post about how to evaluate the economic situation of college textbook publishers, specifically Pearson Higher Education. I’ve also written about how consolidation and privatization in college textbook publishing can affect you.
Meanwhile, I hope Inkwell Publishing Solutions and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt do the right thing and make sure the writers, editors, and page designers get paid.
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Someone who commented on the blog post at http://grandgesture.blogspot.com/2009/06/minnow-leaves-them-wanting-more.html claims to have access to a memo that was distributed to all Houghton Mifflin Harcourt employees after the Times story appeared, saying that HMH did pay Inkwell and is asking the Times to print a correction. This may not be the end of the story.
Katharine’s last blog post..Freelancers Left High and Dry
Katharine, thanks for contributing the update. For people who want to read the blog post and the replies, some of which contain advice for the stiffed writers, visit:
http://grandgesture.blogspot.com/2009/06/minnow-leaves-them-wanting-more.html
As I said in my post, we still don’t have all the facts. It would greatly surprise me if a major textbook publisher stopped paying suppliers. To do so would be interpreted by many — freelancers, textbook writers, sales and editorial staff, instructors, school boards — that the company would soon be out of business. It would be hard to retain freelancers and employees, and instructors and agencies that adopt textbooks would likely look to other options.
That said, we need to wait for more information. A reply to a blog post from an anonymous contributor is not sufficient.
The author of the MobyLives blog called HMH for comment and got one:
http://mhpbooks.com/mobylives/?p=7501
And what about Houghton Mifflin Harcourt—which the Times describes as being “owned by a holding company based in the Cayman Islands” that “floats in oceans of debt”? What’s their side of the story? The Times says “The company did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday and Friday.”
But all it took was one phone call from MobyLives: Josef Blumenfeld, vice president of communications at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, told us that “there’s no truth to the story,” insisting that all Inkwell invoices had been paid in full since June 1.
The original June 19 column in the Times now has a postscript:
“The About New York column on Sunday, about the closing of Inkwell Publishing Solutions, a book development company in Manhattan, reported that about 50 of its freelancers were still owed hundreds of thousands of dollars for their work on textbooks commissioned by the publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. In an e-mail message to the freelancers, Inkwell’s president blamed slow payments by Houghton, which did not respond to three requests for comment before the column was published. On Monday, a spokesman for Houghton said it had made the “vast majority” of its payments on time to Inkwell, with the final two checks it owed issued
on May 8 and June 1. Inkwell ceased operations in mid-May.”
Katharine’s last blog post..Freelancers Left High and Dry
Katharine, thanks so much for the update.
This same thing is happening to freelance writers who worked for LinkIt!/CCI. Writers who submitted invoices for work done in February still haven’t been paid (as of early August) and the powers-that-be (Joshua and Reginald Powe) refuse even to communicate with these writers. Rumour has it that they, too, are hiding behind the “Harcourt hasn’t paid us” line. And in the meantime, the hiring clients (South Carolina and HMH) are publishing the work of these writers even though the writers have not been paid. A copyright attorney should be involved, but freelance writers don’t have the means to engage an attorney so they are screwed.
I worked for Inkwell from 2000 to about 2006. They were using the same basic excuse (a major publisher not paying them) as grounds for not paying us for months when I first started. So what lured us all in? They paid higher rates than nearly anyone else, they had amazing staff with great brains and talent (writers, actors, poets, teachers — I’ve never worked with such a great bunch of freelance colleagues, to be honest), and eventually, you did get your money. That all changed around 2006 or so. I went through major hoops to get paid, and finally did. And then I swore never again. But this is just the kind of thing we’re going to see more and more in this economy. You might say they were just ahead of the curve.
Jana, thanks for sharing your experiences with Inkwell. I’m glad you got out in time and that you were paid for all of your work.
I have never worked for an intermediary company like Inkwell. All of my over 200 projects have been directly with the publisher, and I’ve always been paid. A few times it was a bit slow and required a reminder or two, but in general I’ve had no problems.
I suggest that people considering freelance writing for a company should Google the company along with “complaint.”