In Flight Mag Won’t Pay For, Er, Articles

Via True/Slant, a story of a world where all words are created equal, but some are created more equal than others. Jeff Koyen was contacted by a magazine that wanted to reprint one of his travel articles; what follows is one side of a very bizarre e-mail exchange:

Dear Mr. Koyen,
That sounds great; we are very interested. Would you be amenable to our rate of US$0.15/word? With regards to copyright, we only purchase non-exclusive rights for articles and photos.
Please let me know of any questions or concerns.
Many thanks!

Dear Mr. Koyen,
My sincerest apologies, but I failed to mention that the words “a”, “and”, and “the” are not included in the rate. Would you still be interested in writing this piece for us?

Not a joke, sadly.

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