Today I was approached by a travel website that saw my travelogue stories on BootsnAll. They wanted to reprint my stories on their new site. I am hesitant to link them here because that will just give extra exposure to a less than mediocre site.
Anyway, I give them credit for asking my permission instead of just stealing them, as has happened to people I know. But I politely refused. Even though they had a good domain name, I just didn’t like the site. Travel websites are a dime a dozen, and this one didn’t show me any promise of originality or wow me with any smooth aesthetics. Maybe they just wanted to make money with ads on the popular subject of travel. Who knows? But in my book, I’d rather allign my work with projects that are meaningful to me.
Writing for free is not bad, but feel good about who you are giving it to.
Thanks for addressing this. I got the same email, and my reaction was similar to yours. My instinct was to decline, but it’s helpful to have your take since you see so much of this. I think they just pulled all the names from BnA without even selecting specific content, since mine really doesn’t seem appropriate for their site.
I got this email as well and found it interesting that they wanted permission to reprint my stories (plural) when I’ve only submitted one story.
Hmm, sounds a bit dodgy. I’d keep tabs on them if any of you decline them. They may try to use your material anyway.