WE NEED A $EA CHANGE

FIGHTING FOR RIGHTFUL PAY

AWARD-WINNING science magazine Nautilus is under water on some freelancer bills, according to the National Writers Union.

It launched a campaign Wednesday on behalf of 20 freelancers who say they have been collectively stiffed for $50,000.

In an open letter to the magazine and its founder, John Steele, the writers said 10 of them joined the NWU to “pursue a group nonpayment grievance with legal action if necessary.”

The remaining 10 were unable for different reasons to join the NWU but were signing the letter in solidarity, the group said.

The 20 writers are owed amounts that average $2,500 each — but one individual is owed more than $11,000.

“Some of us have won prestigious awards under the Nautilus banner. For this we are grateful. But good journalism does not come free — and this is our livelihood,” said the letter, signed by writers from around the country and one in the U.K.

Reached by phone by the Daily News, Steele said he and his staff were aware of the backlog of writers’ invoices and working hard to catch up.

The six-issue-a-year print magazine — which publishes every Thursday online — was working on a deal to merge with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Steele said.

Those talks, which began in April, fell through in September, he added, leaving Nautilus on rocky financial shores.

“We’ve been paying writers we owe money to as soon as funds come in . . . . It’s been real slow and it’s been tough and I feel terrible that it’s taken so long, but we are exploring other potential buyers for the magazine and that would help us pay off all debts,” he said.

The magazine hasn’t been commissioning new work since April, when it first began negotiations with the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

“We’ve gotten some volunteer contributions and we’re running some book excerpts . . . . We’re doing everything we can to keep publishing so money comes in and we can pay the writers,” Steele said. “We are still out there, still publishing and still talking to buyers.”

Freelance science writer and editor Alla Katsnelson, 43, from Massachusetts, wrote a piece for Nautilus that was published in its April/May print issue and online April 13.

Commissioned for $3,000, it was in the works for more than a year. She got paid half of what she was owed in July — but not the remaining $1,500.

“I emailed (John) regularly to ask for the status of the remaining $1,500 and got lots of promises . . . . It became clear pretty quickly that these promises were just smoke being blown in my face,” said Katsnelson.

“The financial decisions he made were made literally at our expense,” she added.

Manhattan-based freelance science writer Matthew Hutson, 39, wrote for Nautilus for several years. He’s currently owed close to $12,000 — and has spent the past 18 months trying to collect on his own.

Steele finally answered his queries about payment last December, Hutson said.

“He reached out and started promising payments by certain dates, and they would just come and go. I would email and say, ‘Can you give me an update?’ and not hear back,” said Hutson.

The $12,000 he’s owed is for three articles, a kill fee on one that wasn’t published — and 10% interest that Steele in one of his emails had promised Hutson, he said.

“I love the publication,” the writer said. “I don’t know what’s in John’s head. I don’t know what’s in his balance sheet, but I can’t help feeling that he has been dishonest with us and/or dishonest to himself.”

Since the National Writers Union reached out, Steele has paid three writers in full and promised partial payments to others. He also agreed to meet Tuesday with the union and concerned writers.

The NWU heard from four more Nautilus writers after the campaign went public.

“Some of these writers have been waiting more than a year to be paid. Their rent, groceries and utility bills have not waited,” said Larry Goldbetter, president of the NWU, which is part of United Auto Workers Local 1981.