RealTALK Can't Walk the Walk

After proudly (or loudly?) announcing its presence this spring -- claiming to be Los Angeles's newest, hippest and 'real-ist' publication -- it seems as if RealTALK LA has failed to live up to the hype.

The print edition was late, the site is still in beta (it often has loading errors), I haven't seen this month's magazine on stands (come to think of it, I never saw the first one), they only have ONE editor working on the site (have gone through 2 editorial assistants since I've collaborated with them) and I have not seen or heard anything about my article...nor have I gotten paid (but that's probably asking too much).

I remember back in the day (this was in April) when I saw the postings asking for contributors. I quickly jumped on the chance to write for this new and what seemed very exciting publication. I submitted my resume and cover letter, crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.

I hadn't heard back from them when I started seeing the billboards up all over town. I figured they'd passed my resume off and decided against asking for pitches but one fateful day I received and email from an editorial assistant over at RealTALK saying that their web editor wanted me to come in for an interview and pitch.

I was over the moon with excitement. I emailed her back immediately saying I'd love to come in and how excited I was for the opportunity. The emails I received back from the editor were very curt and unprofessional which, you would think, would have had me worrying about the publication, but I brushed my worries aside to focus on the opportunity I was being awarded instead.

It was only after the editor had canceled on me and rescheduled multiple times that I started to doubt. I eventually called her to find out when we would be meeting (she seemed surprised over the phone), we ended up chatting for a bit and I sent over writing samples for her to study and get back to me.

Ten days later she did and we agreed upon a topic and word count and I sent it over. No edits were sent back (though requested) no feedback...nothing.

They also lost my writer contract and w-9 twice (they attributed it to the turn-over).

Now, I'm not the only other person to notice this. Kate Coe over at mediabistro's FishBowlLA brought up the fact that several freelancers have yet to get paid (making me think...HEY wait a minute...) and LA Observed has been tracking the problems over there for a while even hinting at the demise of the publication, much to the chagrin of the Jay Levin, who had his assistant send over an email to refute any rumors.

Levin addressed these concerns in an interview with the Christian Science Monitor (which, obviously I read everyday) saying that they were "restructuring."

Well Mr. Levin I'm ready to get real, and there's nothing more real than a by-line and a paycheck. If three months isn't enough, how much longer do I have to wait?