She Unlimited: A Sad Tale Part II
If you are coming upon the second half of this post and haven’t read the first, please go here to understand this saga from the beginning.
Also, please note that Veronica has always been very friendly with me and I never took her to be directly deceptive. It was only upon receiving responses to my concerns from the Executive Editor, Robin LoRe’, that were originally emailed to Veronia, that I began to understand that things were sugarcoated and I was sweet talked. Up until this point, Veronica was the only person I had contact with at She Unlimited, so to have my concerns that were directly addressed to Veronica simpled passed on to Robin to respond to, was quite the slap in the face.
Oh wait. The slap in the face were actually Robin’s response’s to me.
Without going into long winded detail she basically felt I should be writing out of the goodness of my heart without any form of compensation, that Veronica never specified that my free ad space was for Country Bunny, that because I am a mere “contributor” I would not get an “about” page, that they in no way wanted to be affiliated with b5media or Pierce Mattie so they did not want the links to those blogs in my tagline, that my spa blog was affiliated with them and that is the only reason they will link to it and of course the infamous..”Limiting links and affiliations to other sites and blogs is not personal, it is policy. I simply am too swamped with work at the current moment to continue these discussions further then I have already.”
Mind you…that was only her second email, so she made it clear that they didn’t want to be called on the carpet for what they did. I have to wonder how writing for them would’ve worked in my favor? I provide them content and get nothing in return. If Veronica didn’t “specify” that the free advertising was for my blog and not my business, then why would she allow me to send her the code and continue to let me believe it to be so? How did things I was offered and promised getting retracted go from not being personal to suddenly being policy? How did I go from being a columnist to just a contributor? How did they assume that my spa blog was affiliated with them? The name for the column was used for branding purposes, but certainly didn’t mean they were somehow affiliated with my blog. How was it that Veronica could discuss it with Robin, but not with me? Why Robin was put in the middle to respond to things Veronica promised me is beyond me, but her attitude came across in both of her emails to me loud and clear, which I felt didn’t even warrant a response.
I had submitted 3 posts, which would’ve been 3 weeks worth of columns for them. Yet after two posts, they merely took my column off the site entirely without a word.
I certainly don’t want to sound Diva-ish, but since the summer I have learned that I am valuable. I don’t mean that in a snobbish way, I mean that I have talent and that it has been recognized and people have offered me opportunities to shine. I had hoped She Unlimited would’ve been one of those opportunities, but unfortunately when promises are retracted from the get go without an explanation prior to me questioning them, then I felt it necessary to cut ties.
It’s a hard lesson to learn and I was hurt for a long while after this happened. However, I have found much success in being a part of b5media and Pierce Mattie and I can’t quite understand why no one would want to be “affiliated” with them in any way…whatever that means. I have found friendship and family in both and always feel like a valued team player.
Tags: About Me, deception, robin-lore, she-unlimited, veronica-marieRelated Stories
POSTED IN: About Me
15 opinions for She Unlimited: A Sad Tale Part II
Christina
Jan 12, 2007 at 9:48 am
Gosh, if they don’t want to be affiliated with us “in any way,” you better take that link to them out of your sidebar. ;) I know its a woman’s prerogative to change their mind, and that’s fine, but they made a mistake by not treating you with respect and just telling you upfront that their plans had changed. How unbelievably rude.
Shannon
Jan 12, 2007 at 9:53 am
The thing is a verbal agreement is still an agreement. Everything was in email, so technically I have it all in writing. Also, if they intended to have me live up to my end of the deal, they should have lived up to thiers.
The way I see it, is they lured me in with promises only to then change their minds once they launched…and without telling me until I confronted them.
Oops Christina, I forgot about that link. I’ll be deleting that. I guess they also don’t understand viral marketing and how linking to their site eventually up’s their Page rank in google. Not too bright.
Christina
Jan 12, 2007 at 9:57 am
Yep, you’re right. Not a great way to do business, but you know I wasn’t a fan of the “deal” they were giving you to begin with. I think you are mucho better off, my friend. ;)
Dawn
Jan 18, 2007 at 2:28 pm
As they say, there are three sides to every story, yours, mine and the truth.
Candice
Jan 19, 2007 at 1:14 pm
I understand why you’d be upset by this. It’s never easy to be told one thing, and then get another. However, I must say that by making such a detailed, public display over it makes you seem very vindictive. Unfortunately, much can be lost in translation when two or three people trade ideas and negotiate, and you’ve only presented one side of the story. I don’t know if you’re interested in being fair and balanced, but you should think about giving your readers the opportunity to hear the other website’s side of things.
It would make you look a lot more classy and less like a whiney little girl that didn’t get your way - no offense.
Shannon
Jan 19, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Hi Dawn, lol I know that statement well. There’s not much to say beyond that I am an honest person and was really hurt by what was done and posted their emails without editing.
Hi Candice, they can certainly post their own rendition of what they believed happened. No one is stopping that. I hadn’t wanted to publicly post what happened until I found they deleted my column entirely without a word. That’s when I got upset enough to hash it all out. Believe me, I am not a person who enjoys bashing anyone. I don’t even like writing bad reviews. The one big mistake I made, was negotiating entirely by email. The next time I do anything, it will be over the phone so that I am crystal clear on everything from the beginning.
Thanks for your comments!
Christina
Jan 19, 2007 at 4:47 pm
I think telling your side of the story makes you a card carrying member of the blogosphere, Shannon. Thats what we do here. ;)
I would love to read SU’s side of the story - do they have it somewhere?
Hsien Lei
Jan 19, 2007 at 4:52 pm
Yeah, let SU bring it on! I’d sure love to see them handle it in as classy a way as you did, Shannon. I agree with Christina that blogging means we get to tell the truth the way we see it. We have comments open on our blogs exactly because we believe in letting the other side have their turn. So where are they?
Shannon
Jan 19, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Hi Christina, I don’t think they do, but I’m honestly done about it. I vented and now I am moving forward. :)
Hi Miss Hsien–nice to see you here. ;)
Jenny
Jan 20, 2007 at 12:17 am
For a site that should be reviewing makeup, you sure have spent a lot of time NOT talking about it! Maybe you can change the name of your site to SheUnlimited Minute or SheUnlimited Hour, given the amount of megabytes posted. The truth is, what separates people is their ability to let go when faced with situations of adversity. Those who can’t wind up blaming others for their shortcomings. Move on and stop berating these people if you believe in kharma.
Shannon
Jan 20, 2007 at 12:11 pm
Hi Jenny,
You must’ve only come upon my blog because there are only 2 posts about She Unlimited and that was from January 11th. If you’ve gone back into my archives and read this blog from its beginning…this blog is about makeup reviews, cosmetics with a little bit of my life thrown in between. I could probably count on two hands the non-makeup related posts.
Also–as I mentioned earlier in these comments, it has been let go off, yet comments still continue to come in telling me to let go.
I have let go people–move on.
Hsien Lei
Jan 20, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Awww, do we have to move on? The fun’s just begun. So interesting to see how the comments in support of SU have only been to attack you personally. Nothing the refute the bare facts of what they did has been presented. Let’s try this on: There are three sides to every story - right, wrong, and ridiculous.
Shannon
Jan 20, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Hsein, you just made my morning. You know I read these comments coming in and know where they are coming from. Considering this is the only time I have ever gotten negative comments…also considering that normal readers don’t know about “megabytes” posted and what not.
It’s funny to make a comment about kharma because that is something they should be worried about I suppose.
Anyway, like I said, I’ve moved on. I have lots of great things happening in the next few weeks…and the next few months with my son arriving in 3 months (thank goodness because he is on my lungs).
Julie
Feb 24, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Honesty will always shine way more than attacks. Glad to see you’ve moved on to bigger and better things.
yoyosushi3 (thu)
Feb 26, 2008 at 2:40 am
I am glad this contest has given me an excuse to go back and read all these past blogs. As I’ve said before, being a writer it’s hard enough trying make money out of it but to have people just disregard your work after you have produced it for them?? Ridic.
Makeup minute has gone through a lot! I’m glad that you have moved on and have gotten even more successful!
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