Two weeks ago, I was contacted by a husband and wife team, Chris and Hattie, about contributing to a book called ‘Canary In a covid World’.
Their message read:
‘I absolutely loved your stakeholder capitalism documentary. I’m the co-editor of an Amazon #1 Best Seller Book called Canary In a Covid World; How Propaganda and Censorship Changed Our (My) World. It’s a collection of essays from 34 contemporary thought leaders. We are producing a sequel and I’m thinking that a chapter based on your documentary would be relevant and educational to people.’
This was quite an honour to receive. Other Canaries for this edition are:
Dr. Byram Bridle, Dr. Julie Ponesse, Dr. Angus Dalgleish, Dr. Scott Atlas, Brook Jackson, CJ Hopkins, Dr. David Bell, Dr. Meryl Nass, Catherine Austin Fitz, Dr. Ian Brighthope, Dr. Kat Lindley, Jeffrey Tucker, Paul Thacker, Joshua Walkos, Dr. Mike Yeadon, James Allan, Robin Minotti and some Canaries from the original book - Dr. Peter McCullough, Dr. Harvey Risch & John Leake, Dr. Michael Nevradakis, Dr. James Thorp, Margaret Anna Alice, Dr. Robert Malone and Dr. Sam Dube.
Chris explained:
‘You are a Canary. Few people know about it and fewer still see the link. I’d like to help magnify the message and I’m very grateful that you can participate as I think it will fit nicely and educate people.’
For the past two years, I’ve worked endlessly to create the Stakeholder Communism film and supporting projects. Without an income, I’ve found it very difficult financially. Being asked to contribute an essay to a best-selling book would also help me finance my ongoing work. I was excited.
During the call, Chris explained that he is a successful tech entrepreneur that’s sold more than one of his businesses.
I enquired about the remuneration for us contributors, and I was informed that we receive no payment. I enquired about what other Canaries thought of this? To my surprise, I was told “they either like it or leave it”. I then asked whether they would be happy to donate to Yellow.Forum (non-profit) or sponsor the pilot of our weekly debate show. They declined this.
I was very disheartened but agreed to it, as I knew it is good for our cause. We ended the call on good terms.
Over the next few days, I began feeling a bit exploited. I’ve worked incredibly hard to research and develop this story, and more time is going to have to be spent writing the essay. I would then be giving it to some wealthy people, who would be profiting from it.
Their message also explained:
Contributors will also be expected to share the book through their social channels and with this collective effort it will reach hundreds of thousands / millions of interested readers around the globe.
We would also be expected to market it to our followers. I felt very uncomfortable about all of this.
To help me make a more informed decision, I emailed Chris and Hattie to understand precisely where the profits are going. I remembered they mentioned there are charities who receive money, and I wanted to explore whether my feelings were justified.
This isn’t just about me. There are many contributors who have put considerably more time and money towards our cause, and they’ve suffered harmful attacks on their credibility from the media. This is as much of a protest for them. Surely we can do better?
Please see the email exchange below. Were my actions reasonable or were they unreasonable and a bit petty? What would you have done? I’d love to hear what you think.
On Sun, 7 Jul 2024 Richard Jeffs wrote:
Hi Chris and Hattie.
Apologies for the delay in getting back to you. I’ve been a swamped while managing the response from my last short film.
Before I make a final decision, can you please confirm precisely where the revenue share, from the book, goes to?
Thanks and kind regards,
Richard
On Tue, 9 Jul 2024 Chris wrote:
Hi Richard,
Thanks for your message.
No worries if this is not for you, we have a roster full of canaries and are having to turn away authors now.
As mentioned, we have already publicly stated to all the Canaries that we will support the same three organizations as the first book, CHD, ICAN and React19. We would love to support your organisation as well, along with the hundreds of others that are doing important work but unfortunately, book revenue is very small and at this stage and there is simply not enough revenue to support other organizations.
Our effort in creating this book is to simply help to inform the world. We are grateful to the sixty plus contributing Canaries who are using the book as a platform to do so.
We would very much like to include a chapter on stakeholder capitalism but understand if this is not for you at this time.
Our very best wishes to you and best of luck with your documentary and yellow.forum.
Thanks
Chris
On Tue, 9 Jul 2024 Richard wrote:
Dear Chris and Hattie,
Thank you for your message.
As I will be required to provide content for free, I was asking where the revenue goes. This is so I can make a decision on whether I’d like to contribute.
Are you declining me the opportunity to be a contributor now?
Thanks and kind regards,
Richard
On Tue, 9 Jul 2024 Chris wrote:
Hi Richard,
We would be happy to include a chapter from you. We have been transparent with the three charities we already support.
Thanks
Chris
On Tue, 9 Jul 2024 Richard wrote:
Hi Chris,
Great. I’m pleased to hear.
If I’m donating my work to the charities, I’d love to know how much they are getting?
Thanks, Richard.
On Tue, 9 Jul 2024 Chris wrote:
Richard,
Please read my original email to you. Each charity receives $1 from each book sold.
On Tue, 9 Jul 2024 Chris wrote:
Thanks Chris.
A paperback is £26.50 and a hardback is £34.50 on UK Amazon store.
If three dollars goes to the charities to support the cause, how is the remaining £23+ per book divided?
Full transparency on this will help me make a decision.
Thanks,
Richard
On Tue, 9 Jul 2024 Hattie wrote:
Hi Richard,
I think the decision has been made. We pay for design costs, editorial changes, marketing, Amazon takes a large chunk of any sales, time, effort and communications.
We’ve explained the terms clearly and they work for everybody else. It’s fair to assume that they don’t work for you.
Many thanks for your interest and no hard feelings.
Best of luck with your film.
Hattie and Chris
On Tue, 9 Jul 2024 Richard wrote:
Hi Hattie and Chris,
If I’m being asked to commit my work to an organisation for free, I think it’s very reasonable to enquire precisely where the profits from my work goes to.
For the past two years, I’ve been working endlessly on creating content to educate people about The Great Reset transition to Stakeholder Capitalism. Publishing this story in as many publications as possible will help our cause.
I haven’t earned anything from my films and other content, and I have invested everything I have into them. Without an income over that time, I’m now without a home.
When you pitched your story about you doing something great to spread the message, I felt very honoured. I later sensed your main motivation is profit, which was quite a turn off. Given your terms, I feel as though I’m being exploited, and I’m sure others will do too.
Being cancelled twice for asking you questions is also a bit ironic. Of course you need to be paid for your time and effort, but some of your comments, particularly around us contributors “either liking it or lumping it”, made me concerned about your ethics.
I can’t imagine other Canaries are going to spend a week creating an engaging essay under these conditions, which will affect the quality of the content. As it’s important to spread the message, I will also knock something out that will explain what Stakeholder Capitalism is.
I just feel a bit uncomfortable working for free and lining the pockets of a successful tech entrepreneur when I’m having such a difficult time financially and in need of funding to continue my work.
If there’s anything that you think I’m being unreasonable about, please let me know.
Please also let me know how you would like to proceed regarding the book.
Thanks and best regards,
Richard
On Tue, 9 Jul 2024 Richard wrote:
Dear Richard,
I am sorry that you feel this way. But you have got the wrong end of the stick.
We collectively spent eight months putting this together last year. There’s no money to be made in publishing. We are sorry that you find yourself in such a tight financial position, but this has no bearing on our project.
On a personal note, you may not know, but I am a writer, paid for my writing. I have been asked to contribute a chapter to a book and will spend three days working on said chapter with the editor this August. I will not be paid for this and it has never occurred to me to ask about the financials behind her book project. I have signed on because I believe in the project and the creativity behind it, the time and effort involved. And the fact that I will be proud to have been involved with this successful project.
Unfortunately, I now feel that it would be better not to start a relationship on the wrong foot.
You have yourself said that this makes you feel uncomfortable, which is a clear indication that you should not proceed.We wish you the best of luck,
Hattie and Chris
On Tue, 9 Jul 2024 Richard wrote:
Dear Hattie,
I was trying to acquire as much detail as possible so that I don’t get “the wrong end of the stick”.
Regarding your other project, I don’t know the specifics, but I assume it wasn’t sold as a humanitarian project. I’m just having a hard time believing that you won’t be making money on this.
Best,
Richard
