.NET Brain Droppings

I'm a Microsoft Certified Architect (MCA)... Feel free to ask me about the program...

So I got a letter in the mail from James Fawcette today...

It was a letter of apology and a check.  I suppose I should be grateful, but I'm not.  You see the check was for 1/5 the amount it was supposed to be for!

Back in July of last year I wrote an article for .NET Magazine about .NET Remoting (I'd link the article if I could figure out how to get to the magazine archives).  The article was published in the November 2002 issue.

So, for you math wizards out there I have a math problem for you:

A developer turned author writes an article for a magazine in July 2002, the article is then published in November 2002.  The developer gets 1/5 of his payment for the article in June 2003.  When will the developer get all the money he is due?

If anyone out there has the answer to this question I'd love to hear it; because at this rate I should have all my money about the same time Longhorn ships!

Now don't get me wrong.  It was nice getting a letter that was singed by James personally apologizing for the delay in payment (I'm sure he had to sign 5000 of them), but I want him to know something:  Times are bad for everyone!  Not just Fawcette.  The quickest way for your magazine to tank is to not pay the people who provide you content!

I would love to write for Fawcette again.  In fact, after I submitted the article on .NET Remoting I was preparing another article.  But once I saw I wasn't getting paid I stopped working on it.  Now I blog.

I'd rather do this anyway...  =)

Update: Thanks to Phil for locating the link to my article, and for providing a little insight on FTP's position.  If someone at FTP would have explained it that way a long time ago, I wouldn't have so much pent up anger at them...  I cannot tell you the number of times I've called FTP, left messages, only to not recieve a call back (it's way more than 30).  Thanks Phil! 

[Listening to: Skinny Puppy - Too Dark Park]

 

Posted: Jun 30 2003, 09:08 PM by dbrowning | with 4 comment(s)

Comments

HumanCompiler said:

Blogging gets the word out to we other authors not to write for them too, unless we want to do it for free! ;)
# July 1, 2003 1:24 AM

Phil Weber said:


"I'd link the article if I could figure out how to get to the magazine archives"

Don: Typing "browning and remoting" into the search box at http://www.ftponline.com/dotnetmag/ returns the following: http://www.ftponline.com/dotnetmag/2002_11/magazine/features/dbrowning/

I'm sorry you're having difficulty getting paid. (I am an employee of FTP, but I'm just a developer; I have no influence over the payment of bills.) I can only ask that you continue to be patient with us and please give us another chance when the economy has improved. I wrote for FTP, spoke at its conferences, and consulted for them for almost 10 years before coming to work here as an employee; I can tell you from personal experience that the present situation is the exception, rather than the rule. I'm confident that it's only temporary.
# July 1, 2003 1:39 AM

TrackBack said:

# March 11, 2004 10:46 PM

Mike Schinkel said:

Fawcette they are going through a difficult time because of a high debt load from mistakes made during the dotcom period. I've been through similar. It is courageous of them to try to stick it out long enough to pay everyone off.
# March 12, 2004 12:46 PM
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