http://www.observer.com/2010/media/print-dream-dies
To my writing friends abroad and members of Sand & Free lance Forum in the UAE--here is a link to an article published the US about a remarkable review section published by the The National Daily News paper in Abu Dhabi. It seems that the former editor was paying a dollar a word to top rated scribblers (many from the NYC area) who were getting that rate for what I remember as very long and meandering articles. I read The Review carefully for several years and did notice the heavy hitting by-lines and the (impressively) mainstream creds of the contributors. And sent plenty of queries and manuscripts which were pretty much ignored by the editor. As an experienced book journalist with some respectable credits, I was stung and puzzled at the incomprehensibly high & mighty ways of a mere English-language daily newspaper in hot, sandy Abu Dhabi. When I read somewhere that the page editor (J. Shainin) was an ex-New Yorker employee, however, I began to better understand the difficulty of the task. I guess I was simply not prestigious enough for him. Apparently he did wonders for this review section, however, bringing in high editorial standards, along with the big names from NYC. The pay unfortunately has been halved or so I heard (see below link). Still I didn't get anything in The Review until after he left... so the following boast (and paycheck) is somewhat reduced by that circumstance.
In the event (hooray!) the page finally did accept a review from me of Colin Thubron's To a Mountain in Tibet (no surprise I'd choose this author). I'd had a kind of scheme half in mind to get an early copy of Thubron's book from his publishers and flog it to more prominent editors in the US if possible. However, the grind here prevented me from following thru on it -- and by the time I came back to the surface, the book was nearly out (February, 2011). My one ambitious query to Marjorie Kehe of the Monitor was too late.
I guess I can consider myself lucky getting it published at all I suppose, what with my overall lack of high powered connections. But doubly so in the case of The National who gave me a generous 1400 words to work with -- and an editing process that was far from superficial and definitely superior to other local copy desks I've dealt with. Their initial edit was very astute -- plus two rounds of changes after that. A rare opportunity in short to transcend the formula review and shitty grammar (and I hope I didn't waste it).
You may recognize the photo -- first time it was published though I offered it to Bloomsbury and have used it here to decorate my 2008 interview with CT. The photo was the result of many many embarrassing clicks in Thubron’s apartment – the "photo session" is the part of interviews that I most detest, but necessary to get editors interested as you all know.
This address below did work for me when I tried it.
http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/books/to-a-mountain-in-tibet-a-well-travelled-writer-loses-his-breath?pageCount=0http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/books/to-a-mountain-in-tibet-a-well-travelled-writer-loses-his-breath?pageCount=0
The source of the info about this remarkable Review page is not from anyone in the UAE but comes from the sharp reading skills of David Cozy an old friend at the Kyoto Journal (now online only) in Japan. The link he provided me -- bottom of page --is to an article on the former editor of the The National (The Review), (J. Shainin) with whom I enjoyed the fruitless editorial experience described above.
If you want to know how much i got paid, you'll have to ask me.
http://www.observer.com/2010/media/print-dream-dies
