| Back to Home > Bulletin Board > Media Issues > Topic: Schofield Media -- freelancers getting paid? |
Topic: Schofield Media -- freelancers getting paid?
| Author | Message |
| AudienceDvlpmntPro | Posted – 3/18/2007 7:26:21 PM | show profile | email poster Hi. Have any freelancers had trouble getting paid by Schofield Media -- a b2b magazine publisher in Chicago? www.schofield-media.com Or have any other problems been encountered when dealing with this company? Please advise. Thank you! |
| aroughfirstdraft | Posted – 3/31/2007 6:41:26 PM | show profile | email poster Schofield Media - Did you already do work for Schofield Media, and you are wondering if and when you will be paid? Or, are you mulling over the possibility of working with them and merely doing due dilligence? As far as "...any other problems been encountered...", the answer is yes: http://badpitch.blogspot.com/2007/02/so-called-media-you-should-avoid.html If you pick up any stringer work with these people, you would be well advised to sign it Alan Smithee. Good Luck. |
| AudienceDvlpmntPro | Posted – 4/2/2007 4:05:01 AM | show profile | email poster Schofield Media -- freelancers getting paid? Thanks for your response. I am conducting due diligence because of concerns similar to yours of which I have become aware. I do not know how widespread the complaints are. Does anyone else out in MediaBistro world share these concerns and/or have direct experience of problems with this company? |
| jkrukowski | Posted – 4/3/2007 10:54:12 PM | show profile Schofield Media in Chicago does not use freelancers. |
| BlackedTape | Posted – 4/4/2007 7:47:01 PM | show profile Oh Really? Then what is this? http://www.fooddrink-magazine.com/content_archives/JanFeb07/06.html |
| AudienceDvlpmntPro | Posted – 4/4/2007 9:52:56 PM | show profile | email poster Schofield DOES use freelancers! Why the lie/coverup?! Whoa! Good catch on the falsehood posted by "jkrukowski." Would that person care to explain himself/herself re: denying the use of freelancers by Schofield Media? What is going on here?! The freelancer listed below wrote the linked article in the Jan/Feb '07 issue of Food and Drink magazine: "Bruce Boyers is a freelance writer based in Glendale, Calif. For more information on Kurt McVay Art Glass ... " |
| BlackedTape | Posted – 4/4/2007 11:12:19 PM | show profile If this is really him? Then it would be John Krukowski. http://navigator.bacons.com/ARCHIVE/Venture_NorthAmerica.asp |
| BlackedTape | Posted – 4/4/2007 11:25:36 PM | show profile And more... http://home.ezezine.com/886_2/886_2-2006.09.20.16.44.archive.txt God Bless Al Gore for inventing the Internet, it's not just porn anymore. |
| BlackedTape | Posted – 4/4/2007 11:43:16 PM | show profile I just read aroughfirstdraft's link. Do these people really sell ads to the suppliers of the feature company? I don't believe it, that has to be some kind of hoax or practical joke. Who would say yes to something like that. This doesn't even qualify as "vanity" publishing, there isn't even a proper term for it. Puke. |
| jkrukowski1 | Posted – 4/5/2007 11:56:21 AM | show profile Bruce Boyers was not employed by Schofield Media. And the blurb about Venture is re: column contributors, who are not paid. If you have a question or concern, I suggest you e-mail me at jkrukowski@schofield-media.com, rather than making assumptions. |
| Mag Girl | Posted – 4/5/2007 12:54:47 PM | show profile If you are going to ask for pitches, then you need to mention you're not paying writers. Don't waste people's time. And for that matter, why AREN'T writers paid? |
| AudienceDvlpmntPro | Posted – 4/5/2007 6:45:50 PM | show profile | email poster Schofield's Editorial Director's comments are contradictory John Krukowski, who we now know is Editorial Director at Schofield Media (publisher of Venture and Food and Drink, among other b2b magazines) first responds anonymously as "jkrukowski", stating that the publisher does NOT use freelancers. Fair enough. However, he is then busted by another poster who provides a link to an article in the Jan/Feb '07 issue of Food and Drink which clearly identifies the freelancer who, DRUM ROLL PLEASE, wrote it! So, a high-level employee of Schofield Media has been directly contradicted. Why would Mr. Krukowski lie about Schofield Media's use of freelancers?! Furthermore, he then avoids a follow-up question asked by another poster by providing an irrelevant answer in order to try to shift the focus from the orginal, legitimate questions re: the use of freelancers. Who the heck are these guys, why the ducking of questions, and can we get a straight answer from Editorial Director Krukowski?! (Or am I the only person confounded by his responses?) |
| Desu | Posted – 4/5/2007 6:51:08 PM | show profile No, you're not the only one. This guy is clearly no good at lying, and a message board frequented by journalists is probably not the best place to practice. |
| BlackedTape | Posted – 4/5/2007 9:28:14 PM | show profile This John Krukowski guy, if it is indeed him and not someone pulling our collective chain, is a real piece of....work. People usually lie when when they are afraid, or ashamed. This guy might be both. I think the real reason he lied was to try to maintain Schofield Media's low profile, it seems to be company policy. http://www.foliomag.com/viewmedia.asp?prmMID=5520 |
| AudienceDvlpmntPro | Posted – 4/5/2007 9:28:58 PM | show profile | email poster low employee morale at Schofield Media? Agreed, Desu. I Googled "Schofield Media" in hopes of better understanding these guys and came across the below item: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070329144806AAGRmZp I realize this is a limited sample, but it would seem that employee morale there is very low, at least amongst the sales staff. If things are as fishy there as it appears, exemplified by Krukowski's lie and "non-response response", then this place could be a sinking ship. |
| AudienceDvlpmntPro | Posted – 4/6/2007 5:57:09 PM | show profile | email poster Feb '06 Folio cover story featuring Schofield Media Blacktape, That is an intriguing article in Folio for which you provided the link. Thank you. The Founder/CEO, Andrew Schofield, made the cover?! I am curious to know if the company remains as "under the radar" as it was prior to the cover story. With scrutinty like these postings, I doubt it. ... and I wonder if his growth projections are on track? |
| BlackedTape | Posted – 4/6/2007 6:15:29 PM | show profile If people don't read your magazine and have never heard of you, then yes, they are keeping a low profile. As to them being a growing company, the last press release posted on their corporate website is dated 12-20-05. If they had good news, they would probably post it. |
| Chloe | Posted – 4/6/2007 8:49:25 PM | show profile Schofield Media Interesting String here. Schofield Media is very sneaky. I worked there in sales when our mags were sold to them. They had to change our group name to Ideal Media because our clients had heard of Schofield and wouldn't do business with us. Schofield is also the same group as Redcoat. |
| aroughfirstdraft | Posted – 4/6/2007 9:48:03 PM | show profile This is Schofield in a Nutshell The title is: "A PUBLISHING MODEL AS A ?CON GAME??" http://foliomag.com/viewmedia.asp?prmMID=6146&prmID=249 This guy nails it. |
| AudienceDvlpmntPro | Posted – 4/7/2007 2:02:15 PM | show profile | email poster Is anyone from Schofield Media going to defend the company? More very telling observations, including one from a former employee. And the Letter to the Editor from the Folio link rips the magazine's business model a new we-all-know what. Are any current employees of Schofield Media or its divisions going to defend the company? (Krukowski's lame and contradictory attempts aside. Cat got your tongue now, or did upper management colleagues tell you to shut things down to try to quell this controversy?) |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 4/7/2007 4:01:25 PM | show profile I've encountered a few magazines with that business model, and when I write for trades and call PR people to arrange an interview, I'll sometimes be asked if there's a fee involved with it, so this probably happens more often than you'd think. It isn't vanity publishing (which is where the author pays to get his work published) but a form of advertorial. It's similar to an advertiser buying space in Business Week or any other pub and running their own story. The only difference is that the magazines in question don't slug the stories "advertorial." A journalist would consider that unethical but these publications really aren't interested in journalism -- they're selling ads and then wrapping the advertisers stories around them. Over the years I've written for all sorts of custom publishers, advertorial providers, and the like, and the level of involvement of the advertisers in the "editorial" product can be wide ranging. For instance, I do a series of advertorials where the articles on industry trends are more or less straightforward, but I am required to include exactly two quotes from each advertiser (no more, no less -- it has to even for everyone). Officially, though, I have to tell people that advertising has no impact on who I interview. Ironically, I am allowed to interview non-advertisers (though I usually don't bother). And if I quote a non-advertiser I can include as many quotes as I like. Odd huh? --Do these people really sell ads to the suppliers of the feature company? I don't believe it, that has to be some kind of hoax or practical joke. Who would say yes to something like that. This doesn't even qualify as "vanity" publishing, there isn't even a proper term for it. Puke.-- |
| AudienceDvlpmntPro | Posted – 4/8/2007 10:41:24 PM | show profile | email poster Schofield's "advertorial" business model ... Dribble, Its business model is for real, as outlandish as it may seem. It would be interesting to be a fly on the wall when the sales pitches are made. Agreed? |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 4/8/2007 11:33:25 PM | show profile Honestly, I don't think the people you'd be pitching this to would be surprised as some of the writers on this board would be about this whole situation. I think it would be a pretty straightforward sales meeting. --Schofield's "advertorial" business model ... Dribble, Its business model is for real, as outlandish as it may seem. It would be interesting to be a fly on the wall when the sales pitches are made. Agreed?,, |
| AudienceDvlpmntPro | Posted – 4/9/2007 1:46:27 PM | show profile | email poster Not all of Schofield's publications are BPA-audited I find it noteworthy that only some of the company's publications are BPA-audited. (I realize that getting audited is not mandatory.) As far as I can tell, 4 of the Schofield titles are audited (across 2 divisions), and 4 of the Ideal division's titles are audited. Neither of the 2 RedCoat titles is audited. That leaves unaudited about half of the company's magazines across its 4 divisions and, therefore, circulation and demographics cannot be verified. I would also be curious to know how the company's sales & editorial research staff pitches the non-audited publications to potential featured companies and/or advertisers. Hiding demographic data from scrutinty and/or trying to remain under the radar? |
| scott21 | Posted – 4/10/2007 7:51:25 AM | show profile Yikes. It sounds like things are in a bad way at Schofield. I asked another member this earlier today (by accident sent it to his email account directly rather than this blog...), but how do we know all this detail about their books? It seems like that information is hard to uncover. On a different note, does anyone know of companies in the NYC area looking for editors? I, along with two friends, have been looking around for a while. |
