Written by Wrachelle Calderon-Cablog
About a month ago, Jef received an unexpected email from
someone who works for a
major French magazine for art enthusiasts and informed us of their editor's interest to
feature Jef’s work and even have one of his works in the cover of their next
issue in January 2013. We were completely blown away with this news. Aside from a feature, to be on the cover of
the magazine seemed too good to be true. We read the e-mail all over again and
noticed that aside from not including any contact details, neither phone/fax
nor a link to their website, they asked us to immediately send high resolution
photos of Jef’s work as their deadline for the next issue is fast approaching. At the back our minds was, “Is this really
true or just one of the Spams/Scams we often receive in our inbox?” What if
this is a SCAM and these high resolution photos get to the wrong hands and
maybe reproduce them for profit? We suddenly felt the urge to verify the authenticity of the said e-mail. In this case, we had to be
vigilant so I started to Google and search for some clues and information which
would give us more light to this French art magazine. When I visited their site,
aside from the pictures of artworks, the articles and tabs were all in French
so it was really difficult to make sense of its contents. Good thing google
translate came in handy so I was able to make sense of some of the contents of
the site. I found that it was indeed an art magazine. Second, I started to verify if the person who
contacted us really worked for the magazine. I thought, “Where else can you
find professionals?” Again, the internet came in handy . So having seen his profile at Linkedin, I was
able to atleast verify that he is indeed
working for the said magazine. I also searched for some reviews and even
searched if there are scams related to the said magazine. I haven’t found any
negative articles so that was a good sign.
Having been featured in a
US-based art magazine back in 2010, Jef and I already have an idea of the
requirements normally requested for a feature/publication. We then asked the
person who contacted us how their editor came
across Jef’s work, asked if he can tell us more of what their
magazine is about and the theme of the issue wherein Jef will be featured
on, asked for a Release form/ Royalty Waiver Form,-basically allowing the magazine to publish Jef’s work, a
checklist of the requirements and interview questions. A day or two have passed and no reply. On the
fifth day, we received another message from the same person along with file
attachments we requested. We then immediately sent the requirements along with
a scanned copy of the Royalty Waiver Form after a day or two. We then received
a confirmation that they have already received all the requirements and are working
on the article to be submitted to their editor before their deadline of
publication at the beginning of January 2013.
On the 25th of
January, we checked their website and , as scheduled, the magazine was formally
out on circulation. Jef and I realized that sometimes you also need to have
faith in people and to take some risks to be able to take advantage of the
opportunities the internet has to offer. But of course, always be skeptic and
when in doubt, always take extra effort to research and know more about the
person/organization/company who contacted you.
Jef and I would like to extend
our deepest gratitude to the Editor and staff of Practique des Arts Magazine
for the 6-page feature and for all the opportunities that may come after this feature. We
hope that one day we can visit France and thank you all personally. Merci
beaucoup!
