Rent-a-byline

by Michelle Chihara

In a strange twist on vanity publishing, a new Web site is now making it possible -- legally -- to self-publish articles written by someone else.

The site, http://www.e-zinez.com, offers a panacea for the time-strapped guerrilla publisher: "Get your E-Zine done in minutes," it boasts. "WE write the articles, YOU take the credit.

"For the super low price of $9.95 per month, you get FOUR fresh articles each month. Put your name down as the writer. Your readers see YOU as the prolific expert they appreciate in each issue of your newsletter."

If this sounds a bit like putting up a personal home page and then renting a picture of someone else's cat, it doesn't bother Kate Schultz, a former programmer who runs the site from her home in Coronado, California. She sees her target audience as small-business owners looking for ways to beef up what many see as a useful marketing tool -- and she points out that "ghost writing" is already rampant online.

"I at least take the time to do research," she says. "I have professional editors read the articles. And these aren't medical journals. They're newsletters."

Well, okay. But " 'zine" at least used to mean a scrappy indie venture fueled by a passion for the subject matter. The irony is that the Web, once heralded as a haven for independent publishers, is now giving us the exact opposite of the 'zine: instead of editorial content free from commercial obligations, we have commercial content free from editorial obligations.

Next up: Rent-a-Life entries for your personal online journal. You heard it here first.