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So says Robert Niles of the Online Journalism Review in a followup to his recent three-part series on eBook publishing. Niles placed his self-published book with those two as well as Barnes & Noble and Google Books. The latter two disappointed. "While Barnes and Noble sells millions of eBooks, it banishes self-published authors into a virtual ghetto called 'Pub It!'," Niles writes. As for Google, it "has little presence on the Web, and generated almost no sales."

There are at least six different ways to sell ads on your blog, Steve Buttry writes on The Buttry Diary. Beyond listing them with examples, his suggestions include joining affiliate programs like Amazon's, syndicating your content to other web sites or print outlets, or self-publishing your content in print or e-book form. "Your success is going to rest in attracting strong traffic to your blog" via search-engine optimization and social media promotion, Buttry says.

That's the provocative point of this recent Scholarly Kitchen post. Discussing the Hathi Trust orphan works lawsuit, Rick Anderson notes that copyright law doesn't give authors complete control of their work, common belief notwithstanding. On the contrary, he writes: "Within legal limits, it’s not up to you how people use your work." Also: "It’s the law, not the copyright holder, that determines what uses can be made of a copyrighted work."

The first step toward landing a freelance assignment is usually writing a query letter. It's also a step that can mystify otherwise capable writers. If so, they might find courage in some of the 50-plus successful queries collected by the Open Notebook site in its pitch database. Contributors include some of science writing's leading practitioners, including David Dobbs, Deborah Blum, Robin Marantz Henig, Robert Irion, and Maryn McKenna.

It used to mean working for a big corporation with paid sick leave and vacation, predicable schedules, and pension, medical and dental plans. Today, says Robert Niles at the Online Journalism Review, it's more likely to mean building your own business: "The Los Angeles Times was still fat with cash from the real estate bubble when it bought out me and dozens of other employees in 2004. Unless you are the owner of the company, you're always at risk for a lay-off."

Here's an essay/diatribe that will set many freelance writers to nodding. It's from Justin D. Martin at Columbia Journalism Review and it makes a simple request: "Dear news organizations: Stop being deadbeats." Writes Martin, "What I’ve seen is that, more often than not, weeks after my work is published I have to contact the editor I worked with and ask where my money is. Then, I typically wait anywhere from four more weeks to three and a half months to get paid."

An appeals court has (for a second time) tried to reject settlement of a long-running U.S. Copyright class action suit over unauthorized use of freelance magazine articles in data bases. Meanwhile, if you have written for Canadian magazines or newspapers, you should check out terms of a Canadian class-action settlement for similar unauthorized use of freelance articles. For details, see this update from NASW member Jeff Hecht.

In this hour-long podcast, tax expert and regular ScienceWriters columnist Julian Block offers tips for staying on the taxman's good side without cheating yourself in the process. Some highlights: How to stay out of trouble as a solo practitioner (7:00); Is taking the home office deduction a red flag for an audit? (10:30); What to do when you use the same computer for business and personal use (16:00); Who gets audited and who doesn't? (22:30).