Soooo… guess what I’m doing this fall?
You thought I was gonna say I was writing a novel? Well, I’m doing that, too. But first thing’s first, folks.
September 18, 2006 @ 10:44 pm
24 Comments for The Happy Couple
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Preview:
Online Fiction
"Wendy" in Biff Bam Boo!
"Buffalo Money" in Rope and Wire
"The Kid Pool" in The Written Word #13
"The Nanny" in Nossa Morte #3
"Intervention" in Shred of Evidence
Random Writing Quote
"If you’re a newcomer submitting to top-drawer anthologies or magazines, you need to bear down, work hard, and get about as serious as a heart attack, because the simple truth is that your story doesn’t have to be as good as the submissions from the “name” writers you’re competing against, it has to be BETTER… and I’m talking better by a long shot, not by a hair. Otherwise, why should an editor take a chance on you, an unknown, rather than give the slot to an established pro with a name readers will recognize when they eyeball the table of contents page? (Simple editorial equation: name recognition = Joe Reader reaching for his wallet. It may not seem fair, but that’s the Law of the Jungle when it comes to selling short fiction. Get used to it.)"
Heartfelt and most sincere congratulations, you two. May all your days be bright, may all your nights be long and cold and snuggle-inducing, and may you have every happiness.
Congratulations you crazy kids !
Best wishes to the happy couple!
(And good luck with that novel, Ian.)
Great to hear about it. We’ll want to see lots of wedding photos!
Thanks, everyone! I appreciate all of your kind words and warm wishes. And I will be sure to post plenty of pictures after the big day.
Nice picture guys! Can you try to save me a copy from the paper? I can’t believe how close it is getting. Very exciting.
No worries, Carrie. I think everyone around here saved a copy of that paper. We picked up a couple ourselves.
Ian – have you or anyone else had any experience with Rage Machine magazine. They have accepted 2 parts of a zombie story of mine called Silence is Golden and I’m wondering whether to keep it to a trilogy or extend with them. I have no idea of who they distribute to and how many copies they sell.Can I find that info out without dealing with them directly?
Ally,
I haven’t heard of Rag Machine myself, which is kind of sad, because having just looked it up on Duotrope, I see they are Canadian.
The mag looks legit enough, but it’s hard to say how many copies they sell. There isn’t really a body or organization that tracks sales of small-press ‘zines. I think you’d have to ask them and hope they’re being honest.
Congrats on the sales, though. Are your stories going to be in the print version or the electronic version?
Hi Ian. Print version issue 7 Jan Feb 2007 and issue 8 March April.Haven’t written the 3rd part yet but the end of part 2 says to be continued – so he’ll probably want it. Share of profits deal. I’d like to put the whole story into a chapbook soon, so I’ll need to know how long they keep rights for,(I really need to learn more about contracts.)I had so much fun writing it and I know it should be much longer.
I’m a little bit excited today because I go to my first convention Sat – BFSCon. Clive Barker will be there and Neil Gaiman.I voted for Anansi Boys. Tim Lebbon and Ramsey Campbell will be there too.My mates Gary McMahon and Gary Fry will be there and I know very few writers have made it into Paging Mr Hitchcock, (including us,) because the guidelines ae a bugger.I’m nervous but happy to be going.
Sounds good, Ally. I’ll keep an eye out for it.
And a word about contracts: even if a mag says they’re buying first North American rights, or first electronic rights, or whatever, unless they give you something to sign, then there is no contract. That’s how I’ve had it explained to me, though it’s possible the law on this differs from country to country.
I got two copies of a contract (one for me, one for the editor) when "Inheritor" was accepted by Cemetery Dance. On the other hand, I didn’t receive one for "The Tattletail" from Dark Wisdom. That would say to me that the story rights were never in their possession, and I could resell it at any time, rather than the allotted 90 or 120 days (sometimes even a year) that most mags specify.
Of course, when it comes to so-called electronic rights (a bit of an oxymoron if you ask me), I suspect it’s very different. A mag might say that your story will be archived for three months, but from a guy who’s been designing websites since there was an internet, I can tell you that nothing disappears after it is posted online. If someone doesn’t actively copy and post it somewhere else, it’ll end up cached somewhere. Just look at the Way-Back Machine.
Posting on e-zines is fine, as long as you understand that your story is going to be "out there" pretty much forever, regardless of whatever the contract says about archiving. Something to keep in mind.
Having said that, let me know if you do put the whole story in a chapbook, as I would like to check that out, as well. I seem to recall a small press publisher or two that specializes in chapbooks like that. I’ll see if I can dig them up and send you the link to their website.
That con sounds like it’ll be fun. Let me know how it goes. Curious to know if Fry has accepted anything for that mag, since he doesn’t even knows what he’s looking for. Makes it easy to reject stories, I guess, not so easy to accept them. :)
Thanks for the help Ian. That link will be useful. Now that I know there is a market for my zombie, (chapbook,)I want to give it a good home.
That’s what it’s all about, finding them a good home. Sending a story to mag is like sending a kid off to college. You don’t want the story at a crappy mag, the same way you wouldn’t want your kid to live in a dump. :)
I found that link. The publisher is called Sam’s Dot Publishing (look under Submissions and Sam’s Dot Publishing Cameos). They look somewhat sketchy, but that might be only because the website is a bit amateurish.
On the other hand, it’s up-to-date and I haven’t heard anything bad about them. Unlike, say, DNA Publications, who still haven’t updated their website (which still says they own Weird Tales, which they do not) and there are many writers out there who have nothing nice to say about them. I don’t even know if they still publish. But if they do, I’d be wary of them. I don’t usually mention the bad mags or the bad publishers, at least not in public on this site, but there are enough negative comments about DNA posted on message boards and blogs by disgruntled writers that I don’t think I’m saying anything that hasn’t already been said.
Thanks Ian. I have been working with Sam’s – they published my first pro piece, a romano-vampire tale, Blood in Madness Ran in Hungur. Indeed they are considering publishing my children’s book, The Cauchy Horizon, (35,000 words and only $50 payment) but again I’m not sure what the circulation figures are for this mag, (one format they are considering is a mag and another book form) and I don’t know if they will go for the European setting – some of it is in Sarajevo. I think I need to push this sci – fi time travel one harder somewhere.
Sounds like a good idea, Ally.
The sale figures of the smaller mags is a fairly big unknown. It’s hard to know just how popular a mag really is. Even if they sell a lot of copies, it doesn’t necessarily mean the word is getting out. It’s like the anthologies where the contributors are paid only royalties, but they get a discount on copies for themselves. So they buy 20, 50, 100 copies, and then the royalty check comes in the mail, and wow! look at all the money I made! Welllll, not really. Some of it is your money, and the rest is mostly from the other writers in the antho who have done the same thing. In essence, they’re paying each other.
One of the things that irk me about this are the reviews that invariably come afterwards by the contributors or friends of the contributors. The reviews aren’t really reviews as much as they are advertisements for the book, talking about how great it is, how every story is fantastic, and how so-and-so is going to be the Next Big Thing. The only criticism is usually that the book/mag ever had to end! Part of the reason for this is the writers become so friendly with each other that they leave all of their critical, unbiased opinions at the door. No one wants to say anything bad about anyone, so every story ends up being "wonderful" and "strikingly original" and "ground-breaking", etc.
It’s so sickeningly sweet and rather unprofessional, and it certainly doesn’t make me want to buy a copy of the book/mag. And it somewhat skews the sales figures because you don’t really know if ordinary readers are buying the mag or if it’s just the contributors.
Very true Ian. Especially about “sickeningly sweet,” comments. I know how you feel about boards but I quite like the Ramsey Campbell board.It does get heated in there but I wouldn’t expect anything else from a horror board. I feel it should reflect a little of the fact that the world is not a perfect place and we don’t have to be nice all the time. I know it can go too far but it souldn’t be Disneyworld.com
I just got a rejection that had rejection stamped all over it – I’m developing a thick skin.
There are some good boards out there — I just don’t have time for them all. I saw one once where a guy was talking about how he had a crappy night job that kept him from writing because he does his best writing at night. This fella also had over a 1,000 message posts to his name, and I couldn’t help but think that maybe that had something to do with it, too. :) But we all have to decide where our priorities lie. And I still post occasionally on the ESP board and the 1018 Press board.
I got a rejection yesterday, as well, from Clarkesworld Magazine. Some nice feedback, though, which is always useful.
Speaking of mags, it looks like Apex Science Fiction and Horror may be on its way to small-press heaven. The editor says he needs 200 new subscribers in order to pay off a debt to the printer, and I had to admit I just don’t see that happening. It’s not that Apex is a bad mag (I once subscribed to it, and although I didn’t care for the stories, the production values were top-notch), but 200 is a big number in the small-press world, and he needs it in two weeks!
Fortunately, I don’t have any stories sitting with them, so I don’t have to worry about getting something accepted only to have the mag go belly-up. It happens, folks, quite often, and it’s never a pretty picture. It is, in fact, the ultimate tease. We love your story and we’d love to publish it… buuuut, we’re going out of business.
Apex does seem to be inching toward its goal, at least according to the editor’s blog. The part I don’t understand, though, are the visitors who are buying subscriptions although they have never seen the magazine before. I have never believed in the whole Support the small press! battle-cry. I prefer to support the good small press and let the bad stuff die its own death. This isn’t the United Way, and mags shouldn’t be blinded supported just because they need the support. If it’s a quality publication with a strong following, the rally should come without fanfare (of course, one could say that if it’s a quality mag with a strong following, it shouldn’t need the rally in the first place, but hey, shit happens).
Apex is a decent mag, even though I didn’t happen to dig the content, so if anyone here likes science fiction, or sf-horror, they might want to check out their website and buy a subscription.
(I figured I’d mention this in the comments section rather than devote a whole journal entry to it.)
My rejection was from Clarkesworld but I didn’t agree with the comments – sometimes I do though and act on them.
I have a subscription with Apex and I hope they pick up the 200 but that is a lot in the small press world.
Going to FSCon tomorrow and I am more nervous than yesterday. I don’t have a good memory for some things and I’m thinking I might get lost in a conversation.
I checked out the editor’s blog this morning, and he’s almost reached the 50% mark. So it looks like Apex might end up squeezing by after all. Good for them.
Have fun at that con and tell me how it was when you get back!
Oh, and by the way, Kat is gorgeous.
And congratulations to you both.
Thanks, Sam! And I’ll be sure to pass on the compliment. I’m sure you meant to say I’m gorgeous, too.
Actually, as stated I got it right the first time. ;)
However, since what’s yours is hers and so forth, you can be gorgeous, too. If you like.
[...] Seems everyone is getting married lately. [...]
Fair is fair. :) Thanks, Sam!
And yes, it does seem like everyone is getting married lately. We were just at a wedding last weekend.