Once I had a quick Zoom with an editor where I had to show my driver’s license on camera. I had to show it close enough so she could read it. This was after I submitted the draft. She wanted to make sure I am a real person before publishing though. I felt at the time that it was too invasive but after reading your post I feel differently. And now I would do it again if need be. Though I am sad we got to this point. But I understand now.
I imagine the recipe you printed from Goldee was truly her writing... I recall in that essay how the editor comments about her writing being more raw and human in the beginning. Likely, she hadn't discovered how to fully harness AI yet in early 2023.
Fascinating (and scary) stuff. I’d be able to provide my ID if I ever pitched, though I’m sure that AI can generate pretty realistic images of those these days.
Wow, fascinating to see how sophisticated the AI pitches are getting.
Also, not jokes there at the end! For an article I wrote recently, my editor had me get on a Zoom call and hold up my passport to prove I was real first.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this email/post - and that's saying a lot (crowded inbox issue is real).
As a writer slowly making my way, I know this will be super challenging to navigate, and I'm glad I've created relationships before the AI time. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this matter!
Fully agree that asking for face to face (or online with video) meetings and IDs might be the way to go!
Ooph. I saw that call for pitches, and as someone who's been freelancing for 20+ years, was impressed (and grateful!) that you had been so transparent, clear, and detailed with what you were looking for. Depressing to think that you won't be doing that again. One more thing to blame our tech overlords for.
It's frightening to be sure. Reading Chris's story when it came out a few weeks gave me the chills. My daughter is a Junior in high school and her English teacher has all of the students hand write the essays in class without computers. That's her fix, at least for now. Anyway. Zoom calls seem like a good idea. I don't envy this new landscape you've got to sift through.
What a crazy world we live in! In my college's writing and photography classes, teachers are responding with a resurgence of in-class work. I was curious about what editors can do to preserve originality in this mostly remote field, and hearing how much extra effort you put in is both terrifying and inspiring. Preserving art is so important, so thank you for all you do.
Wonderfully written. I myself am considering having our contributors sign contracts that they didn’t use AI for my magazine I run called Revelry Collection. It’s a wild world we live in. Just wish it wasn’t this complicated to publish real stories by real humans.
I am (or was) a writer and would probably be pitching stories if I could figure out how to get through the barriers. In the old days publications had a masthead with contact info and it was pretty simple to make a pitch. Now it’s impossible to contact editors because they are hiding from the robots. The other day I was looking up a piece of my own writing and found that AI had plagiarized it and rewritten it into slop. It seems existential. What is the point of living in a world a world where robots write our stories?
This is something we try to balance. Our emails are publicly available on our website. But we probably won’t be posting calls for pitches to the big newsletters anymore.
Honestly, I don't blame you for hiding from robots. I'm scared of them too. I'm currently reading "Against the Machine" by Paul Kingsnorth who overthinks everything, but he's right about the horrors of AI. one great thing about hiking is, it only takes about 3 days on the trail to reset your brain and get your powers of attention back.
This whole AI nightmare almost makes me want to purposely include typos in my pitches. But seriously, thanks for your commitment to human-powered writing, and for the transparency you bring to the pitch process.
Fascinating read. I really appreciate your commitment to keeping things made by humans, even when it requires so much effort!!
As someone who works in content marketing with a lot of new writers, asking for writers to “show their work” via a Google Doc with editing history, notes, trip pics, or whatnot is another good way to confirm “yeah this looks like they actually wrote this themselves, not just copied huge chunks from who knows where”
Ahhhh Ryan this is such a good post. And so horrifying. I feel like every time I turn around there's some new eldritch horror unveiled in the form of AI scams. I feel so worried for new (real) writers while feeling selfishly relieved that I already have a name and Real Person reputation with editors. None of these AI advancements are beneficial in media, and it seems like there's no stopping it
Once I had a quick Zoom with an editor where I had to show my driver’s license on camera. I had to show it close enough so she could read it. This was after I submitted the draft. She wanted to make sure I am a real person before publishing though. I felt at the time that it was too invasive but after reading your post I feel differently. And now I would do it again if need be. Though I am sad we got to this point. But I understand now.
I imagine the recipe you printed from Goldee was truly her writing... I recall in that essay how the editor comments about her writing being more raw and human in the beginning. Likely, she hadn't discovered how to fully harness AI yet in early 2023.
Fascinating (and scary) stuff. I’d be able to provide my ID if I ever pitched, though I’m sure that AI can generate pretty realistic images of those these days.
Wow, fascinating to see how sophisticated the AI pitches are getting.
Also, not jokes there at the end! For an article I wrote recently, my editor had me get on a Zoom call and hold up my passport to prove I was real first.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this email/post - and that's saying a lot (crowded inbox issue is real).
As a writer slowly making my way, I know this will be super challenging to navigate, and I'm glad I've created relationships before the AI time. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this matter!
Fully agree that asking for face to face (or online with video) meetings and IDs might be the way to go!
Ooph. I saw that call for pitches, and as someone who's been freelancing for 20+ years, was impressed (and grateful!) that you had been so transparent, clear, and detailed with what you were looking for. Depressing to think that you won't be doing that again. One more thing to blame our tech overlords for.
I appreciate the honesty and transparency in this piece. I’ve assumed freelancer newsletters invite a deluge that could be counter-productive.
It's frightening to be sure. Reading Chris's story when it came out a few weeks gave me the chills. My daughter is a Junior in high school and her English teacher has all of the students hand write the essays in class without computers. That's her fix, at least for now. Anyway. Zoom calls seem like a good idea. I don't envy this new landscape you've got to sift through.
What a crazy world we live in! In my college's writing and photography classes, teachers are responding with a resurgence of in-class work. I was curious about what editors can do to preserve originality in this mostly remote field, and hearing how much extra effort you put in is both terrifying and inspiring. Preserving art is so important, so thank you for all you do.
Well I appreciate being in the 30% - here’s hoping next time I pitch I make it into the 10%, lol.
Wonderfully written. I myself am considering having our contributors sign contracts that they didn’t use AI for my magazine I run called Revelry Collection. It’s a wild world we live in. Just wish it wasn’t this complicated to publish real stories by real humans.
My initial thought here is that an AI robot or someone from Kenya using AI will have absolutely no qualms signing that contract regardless…
Thats very true. Honestly drivers license and FaceTime might be the way to go.
I am (or was) a writer and would probably be pitching stories if I could figure out how to get through the barriers. In the old days publications had a masthead with contact info and it was pretty simple to make a pitch. Now it’s impossible to contact editors because they are hiding from the robots. The other day I was looking up a piece of my own writing and found that AI had plagiarized it and rewritten it into slop. It seems existential. What is the point of living in a world a world where robots write our stories?
This is something we try to balance. Our emails are publicly available on our website. But we probably won’t be posting calls for pitches to the big newsletters anymore.
Honestly, I don't blame you for hiding from robots. I'm scared of them too. I'm currently reading "Against the Machine" by Paul Kingsnorth who overthinks everything, but he's right about the horrors of AI. one great thing about hiking is, it only takes about 3 days on the trail to reset your brain and get your powers of attention back.
This whole AI nightmare almost makes me want to purposely include typos in my pitches. But seriously, thanks for your commitment to human-powered writing, and for the transparency you bring to the pitch process.
I would MUCH rather you spell a word wrong than know you’re using ChatGPT, so honestly maybe not the worst idea…
Fascinating read. I really appreciate your commitment to keeping things made by humans, even when it requires so much effort!!
As someone who works in content marketing with a lot of new writers, asking for writers to “show their work” via a Google Doc with editing history, notes, trip pics, or whatnot is another good way to confirm “yeah this looks like they actually wrote this themselves, not just copied huge chunks from who knows where”
Ahhhh Ryan this is such a good post. And so horrifying. I feel like every time I turn around there's some new eldritch horror unveiled in the form of AI scams. I feel so worried for new (real) writers while feeling selfishly relieved that I already have a name and Real Person reputation with editors. None of these AI advancements are beneficial in media, and it seems like there's no stopping it
Thanks Maggie! Agreed, it’s the new, up-and-coming writers I’m most worried about.