A New Post Series: Staying Savvy as your Star Rises

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the current explosion of crafting (so what else is new).

It’s clear to me that we’re now a large and powerful enough movement that corporate entities are beginning to look for ways to get “a piece of the action.” And I wonder how prepared we all are for this.

Let me back right up here, and say that I do not consider all corporations to be evil. But sadly, there are a few who clearly do not value us, our community, or the work we do — beyond the dollars they think we can generate for them. So as we crafters enter greater cultural prominence, we also need to sharpen our good judgement skills.

And so, I’m offering this series of posts, which will present some simple tools for protecting yourself from potential corporate exploitation. I hope you find them useful.

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Chapter One: When Opportunity Knocks

This is beginning to happen to more and more of us: you’re minding your own business, when up pops an email from a publisher, or a website, or a start-up company.

“Hi!,” it says, “We’d like to offer you an opportunity to submit your work to our book! (Or be one of our founding members, or write about us in your blog.)”

Wow! The outside world has noticed you! This is your big chance, right?

Well, maybe. But let’s do a little investigating first. Here are some easy things you can do to find out more about who’s sending that email.

First, have you heard of them? This one’s easy. But sometimes we’re so thrilled to be contacted, we forget to consider it.

Then, poke around their website. The email you’ve received should give you a URL for the company that’s sending it. (And if it doesn’t, I would be suspicious right there.)

Before you reply, get thee to that website and look around. Read the “About Us” page. Does it contain very specific information about the company, its mission, and what exactly it does? And maybe even about a few of its founders? This is good. But if the “About Us” page contains a vague paragraph that doesn’t clearly explain the nature of the company, be suspicious.

In addition, if you see phrases like “content provider,” “new media portal,” or “web entertainment hub” in that “About” page, then you should consider that they may be looking for web content that will help them sell advertising. How do you feel about that?

What about the rest of that site? Take a deeper look around the site. Does it contain lots of information, and is it well-organized? Or is it a splash page with “Coming Soon!” plastered everywhere? This helps you know whether you’re dealing with an established company or a start-up.

Where does it link? Remember, we’re a powerful community, and we’re tightly interlinked. So this website you’re investigating — who is it linked to? If there are no outgoing links to any other craft-site, this might be cause for concern. Often, a company that just wants to provide content as a vehicle for advertising will avoid linking anywhere else, because they want to keep people on their site.

On the other hand, if the site links out to other crafty websites and blogs, then you have a golden opportunity. Contact some of those linked folks, and find out: did they trade links with this company? Do they know anything about the company?

Who owns the domain? This is important: if you’ve never heard of the company that’s contacting you, take a moment to see who registered the domain name of the website. It’s so easy to do:

1. Go to Domain Monger’s WHOIS page.
2. Enter the URL of the website, and the security code.

You’ll be able to see the name and address of the person or company who owns that domain name. Look for discrepancies of purpose. If you see, for example that the domain for “craftybigfun.com” is owned by Associated Banking Industries of America, then I’d recommend caution.

Don’t forget to use your network! And yes, you do have one. If you get a request/invitation from a company, check with your friends — have any of them also heard from the same company?

Many times, companies will send email invitations to lots of crafters at the same time. If they’re contacting you, chances are they’ve contacted at least one of your crafty friends. Find out who got the same email — was it a form email, or a personalized email? Find out if anyone you know has responded, and what happened.

I can’t stress the value of sharing this kind of information with your friends enough. We can all save each other a lot of potential heartache if we just keep each other informed!

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In the next installment, I’ll talk about some ways to protect yourself if you decide to accept a company’s offer.