Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Bribes!!!!


I mentioned in an earlier post all the emails I was receiving from artists who missed the book deadline(even with all the extensions)for photo submissions. And a few have been way over the line in their demands and lack of professionalism.

But now comes the "worst" (or best?) example of all! I received a bribe offer! Even when I gently told this artist "no" and said that she was asking me to spend a week or more reorganizing the entire book and captions to accommodate her, she was ok with that fact! She then offered me a bribe of her jewelry in exchange. I was surprised that this artist, who claimed she taught at a university, would not know this was very unethical conduct. As an author of an upcoming book, I can accept no compensation in exchange for an artist's work being in my book. She chose to respond again by saying that she was was not offering me a bribe but "payment for my time" (???) Now what was this time? Time spent working on the book. A bribe is a bribe.

On the plus side, it seems like artists who let the deadlines slip through the cracks, have realized that they missed a potential opportunity to be in a great book!

The key part of my second response to her is below. I will also be doing a post on myartgrant.blogspot.com on art press and gifts and compensation in the very near future.

Hi XXXXX:


In addition, you should know that for me to accept a piece of work or compensation for allowing you into the book would be very unethical and I do not operate in that manner. Offering bribes for something like that is unprofessional and unethical and I am surprised that someone who teaches at an university would engage in such activity.

Again, I am sorry for your loss but this discussion has ended.

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