| Posts: 1103 |
|
UK - Scotland |
|
|
 #1 SUK Mag Folds Posted 02/07/2009 @ 23:28 |
   |
|
|
Revision #4 (Last edited: 09/07/2009 @ 13:46) |
In case you didn't know - it could be the end for the UK's longest running mag - Snowboard UK. News on SCUK here: http://www.snowboardclub.co.uk/news-8295.html
I'll post what I posted on SCUK:
I really feel for editor Mark McG who has been a joy to work with during my three years of contributing to SUK - and it's very sad to see the UK's first Snowboarding mag fold.
BUT: Mark Nutall, Managing Director of Freestyle Publications has been a nightmare to work with for the last three years, refusing to pay invoices for months and months, with me having to constantly request that they settle my invoices and me not even getting the courtesy of a reply or any explanation. I am still owed money, and am unlikely to ever see it now.
I thought this was just how they treated me, then, when investigating Nuttall and Freestyle Publications, I found this thread on a Kayaking forum regarding their Kayaking mag and it turns out the Mark Nutall/Freestyle Publications Ltd have a long habit of not paying their writers and photographers and just ignoring them when they try to find out what's happened to their money.
I've written for most of SUK's competitors (portfolio: www.snowsphere.com/pf), and Freestyle Pubs were the only company who I've ever had problems with. And I had problems three years in a row.
Therefore - If this is how Nutall runs his business and treats the people who write for him and support the mag, I can't say I'm suprised, or feel in anyway sorry for his company going bust.
I sincerely hope that the SUK title finds a buyer, and that Mark McG continues to edit the mag, but I won't be writing for SUK ever again if Mark Nutall has anything to do with running it. |
|
|
|
|
|
| #2 Re: SUK Mag Folds Posted 02/07/2009 @ 23:38 |
|
|
| In reply to post #1
... |
They sounds exactly like a couple of my clients, have recently had to threaten legal action against a large tv company for unpaid invoices so its not just the smaller companies and individuals who do it.
I really hope Mark can get it sorted, i shared a room with him a couple of years ago at the Brits and he's a great guy. We had a big chat about the mag and the 'scene' when i bumped into him last winter, didn't have a clue about the situation though, it must have been hell keeping a magazine going under those kind of conditions so he did well to keep it running for so long. Really hope he gets it up and running again |
|
|
|
|
|
| #3 Re: SUK Mag Folds Posted 14/07/2009 @ 17:02 |
|
|
Bummer.  Annoying to hear that bad business practices may have contributed too...  |
|
|
|
|
|
| #4 Re: SUK Mag Folds Posted 14/07/2009 @ 17:27 |
|
|
|
Revision #1 (Last edited: 14/07/2009 @ 17:30) |
| In reply to post #3
... |
I threatened SUK with legal action after a series of juvenile "it's in the post" or "the finance person's on holiday" excuses on some invoices of mine a couple of years ago. They paid once they realized I was going to take them all the way. So they cost me time, interest, and hassle. Obviously I had no further dealings with them.
The owners actually paid people to lie to me about the money they owed me. I guess that they thought that I'd go away, or that it'd cost them less to cheat me than to pay me. Bad mistake, but hardly a decent way to do business either.
I'm sorry to see the brand die as it's been around a long time. I hope their owners didn't manage to dump on their creditors.
It is interesting that they tried to steal from others too. I did not assume it was only me, but perhaps we should collectively have got together earlier. Some bad web publicity could have forced them to change their ways earlier. Then there'd be fewer creditors now, and perhaps they would have done better commercially if they'd spent less money on telling lies to suppliers and more on quality content. I can't think of polite words to desccribe that behaviour. |
|
|
|
|
|
| #5 Re: SUK Mag Folds Posted 14/07/2009 @ 19:01 |
|
|
|
Revision #1 (Last edited: 14/07/2009 @ 19:02) |
| In reply to post #4
... |
|
The publishing company not suk themselves i presume? |
|
|
|
| Posts: 1103 |
|
UK - Scotland |
|
|
| #6 Re: SUK Mag Folds Posted 14/07/2009 @ 21:09 |
|
|
| In reply to post #5
... |
Yes - I must stress that all the problems lay with Freestyle Publications & Mark Nutall (the MD).
The editor of Snowboard UK (Mark McGettignan) is a great guy and has nothing to do with the finance side of SUK.
Phil - I was going to post something a while back about my probs with Freestyle Pubs - but thought I'd give them the benefit of the doubt. I was on the verge of going to court to reclaim my money owed when then went into administration. I should have done it earlier.
Very interesting to know that there were others cheated by Nutall. |
|
|
|
|
|
| #7 Re: SUK Mag Folds Posted 14/07/2009 @ 22:00 |
|
|
| In reply to post #6
... |
QUOTE (Sinbad - 14/07/2009 @ 21:09) Very interesting to know that there were others cheated by Nutall.
Yes; I'm kind of wittering about it now as google visits here and perhaps knowledge of such things will save others pain in the future from the same source.
The problem is when they settle out of court you don't tend to make a big noise about it, so no one finds out their dirty little secrets.
Just in case anyone here's interested, here's how it works:
(1) You take some pictures and sometime later sell them to the magazine.
(2) You get a copy or two of the mag and raise an invoice at publication date.
(3) Three months later you should get paid.
So they're publishing your images entirely on your credit, and they don't have to pay you until they have all the cash they're going to get from the publication. You on the other hand have to pay the VAT man (ok, you can avoid that but it's a pain) and wait.
There's nothing wrong with that, but in the case of people like Mr Nutall, you then have to spend several months and a lot of effort calling and writing to them to get them to pay. Likely it'll cost both you and them more effort to get you paid than it took to shoot the things in the first place.
I have to confess that I assumed that all UK magazines were probably the same, so I didn't bother with them any more (UK Gardening magazines on the other hand are very professional...). I can see that's unlikely to be so, but it all just felt dirty.
I hope you get something if you're a creditor - for sure the administrators will be more honest than the owner was. |
|
|
|
| Posts: 1103 |
|
UK - Scotland |
|
|
| #8 Re: SUK Mag Folds Posted 15/07/2009 @ 08:34 |
|
|
| In reply to post #7
... |
Hi Phil,
I can confirm that I've never had a problem with payment from any of the other mags I've written for (Whitelines, Ski & Board, Fall Line Skiing, Snowboard Journal, etc).
It was definately a Mark Nuttall / Freestyle Publications thing.
I've submitted my invoice to the adminstrators now, but am not hopeful that I'll see much (if any) payment - whole season's worth of articles unpaid  |
|
|
|