Notes from the marketplace where writers keep their copyright
Every piece commissioned on Masthead earns a permanent record here. Between assignments, we write about the trade: rights, rates, and the craft of the pitch.
For editors
How to commission a story without taking the writer's copyright
You can get everything you need to publish without owning the piece forever. Here is how, and why it gets you better writers.
Rights
The case against work-for-hire
A byline is not the same as ownership. On most assignments a writer signs both away at once. It does not have to work that way.
The mechanic
How a brief becomes a byline
An editor posts an assignment in the open. Writers pitch a paragraph. Two offers settle it. Here is the whole loop, start to archive.
The Board opens when the first briefs go live. Editors post free for the first ten.
Post a brief