www.inkthinkerblog.com — If you’re shopping around for virus protection software, take a look at this special offer from McAfee:

Save an additional 20% off McAfee VirusScan Plus with SiteAdvisor 2008 – 1 PC (reg. $39.99) when you shop at the McAfee U.S. website through March 31st, 2008.

Using the Coupon Code is Easy:

1. Purchase McAfee VirusScan Plus for a single user at the McAfee site for $39.99.
2. When finished shopping, just copy and paste the McAfee Coupon Code MC0811554356pC314538543 in the field provided at the bottom of the Shopping Cart screen. (Note: When entering the code, be sure to remove any blank spaces.)
3. Select “Submit Code” and your discount will appear in the cart.

I don’t use this product personally, so I can’t comment on whether it’s the best thing since sliced bread, but the price is right and the company has a great rep, so might be worth looking into if you need something like this. Anyone have personal experience with VirusScan and SiteAdvisor? Leave a comment.

Tags: freelance writing blog, freelance writing, freelance, writing, mcafee virusscan, mcafee virus scan, mcafee siteadvisor, mcafee site advisor, discount, virus protection software, coupon, inkthinker, kristen king

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King

www.inkthinkerblog.com — I registered for SOBCon08 which will be held in Chicago on May 2-4, 2008. It promises to be a good time for all, with a fantastic program. And for a 3-day event, it’s a steal at $450/person (or $350 if you’re a returning attendee). The only thing is, space is limited to 250 registrants, so if you’re planning to go DO NOT WAIT TO REGISTER.

Let me know if you’ll be there, particularly if you’re a cheap girl like me and want to share a hotel room. :)

Tags: freelance writing blog, freelance writing, freelance, writing, SOBCon, SOBCon08, blogging, blogging conference, liz strauss, chicago, inkthinker, kristen King

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King

Disclaimer: Please note that I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. If you have concerns about how to proceed if you feel that someone has violated your copyright, it is in your best interest to consult an intellectual property rights lawyer for professional advice.

www.inkthinkerblog.com — Last summer on the LK Article Challenge discussion list, one of the Challenge participants shared that a number of her articles on EzineArticles.com had been picked up and used on a blog without including her byline or resource box. This a clear violation of the EzineArticles.com Terms of Service, which state that users must:

• Respect the copyrights of the authors by publishing the entire article as it is with no changes.
• Agree to include the FULL Resource box or SIG line at the end of the article.
• Agree not to change the title or content of the article in any way.

Now, changing blatant typos is one thing. But leaving off the article byline and the author resource box so as to suggest that YOU, rather than the author, wrote the article is an unacceptable material change of the article. It’s plagiarism, for one, and it violates the permissible use of the articles, which also makes it copyright infringement. I’m of the opinion that the reason people steal content is that they can get away with it, and it’s up to authors to enforce their own copyright. Sometimes infringers don’t know that what they’re doing is wrong, and sometimes it’s willful infringement. Either way, writers need to look out for their own best interest and address the problem swiftly and consistently. Here’s my advice. When you find that your work is being used without permission or with permission but not in compliance with the conditions that allow its use, contact the infringer immediately and request that they either remedy the problem or remove the infringing content immediately. (Lawyers usually refer to this as a cease and desist letter.) [continue reading…]

www.inkthinkerblog.com — Recent articles on invoicing at FWJ (which I linked to yesterday) and The Golden Pencil have gotten me thinking about general freelance invoicing practices. And the thing is, there are no general practices. We all seem to have a vastly different way of doing things. Some I’ve seen over the last few days (paraphrased, with my comments) include:

• I invoice using PayPal. But what if the client doesn’t use PayPal?
• I use the client’s template for every client. Oh my GOD, that is insane.
• I use my own template for some clients and the client’s template for others. How do you keep it straight?
• My clients have never requested an invoice. I’m sorry, WHAT?

My feeling on invoicing is (a) that it needs to happen and (b) that it needs to be consistent. The actual method you use for invoicing doesn’t really matter as long as your invoices are professional and include all of the necessary info, but you need to be invoicing and keeping records of your income no matter what. There must be a paper trail (or pixel trail, if you do everything electronically like I do) of your income, if for no other reason than to have a record to turn to if someone fails to pay. [continue reading…]