signal

read the fine print. It is not a good deal. From my friend Cate:

I would NOT advise applying, as it means essentially signing away the rights to the work you send them as a sample just by APPLYING:

"6. Grant of Rights: In submitting an Application, Applicant hereby grants Sponsor the absolute, worldwide, and irrevocable right to use, modify, publish, publicly display, distribute, and copy Applicant’s Application, in whole or in part, for any purpose, including, but not limited to, advertising and marketing, and to sublicense such rights to any third parties."

"Applicant grants Sponsor the absolute, worldwide, and irrevocable right to use, modify, publish, publicly display, distribute, and copy the name, image, and/or likeness of Applicant and the names of any such persons identified in the Application for any purpose, including, but not limited to, advertising and marketing. For the avoidance of doubt, one’s Application will NOT be kept confidential"

"Upon Sponsor's request and without compensation, Applicant agrees to sign any additional documentation that Sponsor may require so as to effect, perfect or record the preceding grant of rights"

Well, you don't lose your rights to the work. And it's an application, not what you produce on the train.

Doesn't every writer have some sample article for this sort of thing? Nobody uses their unpublished masterpiece as the application material.

That seems like pretty standard language for a this kind of thing. Not a lawyer, but I've read very similar things in many other contracts covering submissions for contests, etc.

Doesn't seem like that big of a problem, just don't give them anything you can't afford to lose control of. It's pretty fair that you compensate them with free advertising since they're giving you something cool for (otherwise) free. The deal might not be for everyone, but I wouldn't say it's a bad deal. If I was running a contest like this, I would have used similar language to make sure the program created a virtuous circle of coolness rather than applicants clamping down and keeping the experience private.

From what I've heard(my wife is a travel writer and lawyer/writes a law column for writers) there are a lot of other questionable clauses in the contract as well though I don't have specifics. One she mentioned was pretty harsh content limitations too. She was actually just telling me about it a few hours ago while we were having a walk so it was random to get back here and find it at the top of HN.

And with an approximate retail value of $900 or less, I'd rather pay than have to beg for the privilege of them exploiting my work.

Not only your work, but your "extensive social media connections".

>The ideal candidate will possess strong writing skills as well as extensive social media connections.

>http://blog.amtrak.com/officialterms/

It would be interesting to see if an author gets the exposure necessary for publishing solely through this program.

So it's clearly not aimed at professionals, but why should it be?

You should check out what typical remuneration, even from big publishers to well-known writers, amounts to these days.

Being able to give up your day job has always been a dicey decision for writers, and that situation has not improved.

This only applies to the sample you submit. A competent writer can submit a few paragraphs of throwaway work.