In Today’s Journal
* Quote of the Day
* Inviting Manuscripts
* Of Interest
Quote of the Day
“Writing at speed, into the dark, without an outline, or any rewriting … needs training and a slow build up…. They are skills you work up to, practice and train for, and then just let go and do it.” Dean Wesley Smith
Inviting Manuscripts
or Becoming a Traditional Venue
If you’re among the rare few who want to take-on editing and publishing a fiction or other online or paper magazine, remember to respect your potential authors. I have a lot of street cred in that regard.
As I wrote in my flash autobiography, for a few years in a row back in the mid-to-late 1990s, I literally
- kept track of subscribers and contributors,
- rejected or accepted submissions,
- edited, typed-in, and printed, then
- saddle-stapled, folded and trimmed, then
- slapped on postage and mailed
three quarterly “little literary” paper magazines simultaneously, each in an attractive chapbook format.
So I was mailing out copies of one magazine or another every month of the year.
I did all of that while holding down a job and attending classes and addressing writers’ groups and traveling and writing. (I’m not complaining. This stuff figures in later when considering response times.)
Now, full disclosure, I didn’t pay for submissions to my magazines except in copies. In retrospect, that’s a little like ‘paying’ your plumber by taking photos of your newly fixed pipes and sending them to him.
As anyone who’s successfully entered my contests knows, today I pay what I can.
But back then I (and most everybody else) still labored under the goofy misconception that simply flashing your published pieces (we called them “clips”) could help a writer’s career. Clips might help if you’re trying to land a job writing articles for a local newspaper, but otherwise, no.
But my publications were also difficult to get into. I demanded excellence, and the writers appreciated that because they knew if I accepted their submission, their excellent work would be showcased alongside others’ excellent work.
Also, bear in mind that my publications were not “e-zines.” At the time, there were no e-magazines. Everything was on 24-pound (great quality) typing paper with a heavy card-stock cover that I also designed myself.
Response Times
Recently, I looked up a current online fiction magazine that pays successful contributors just over one-half cent per word (.006). (I extrapolated that rate from the fact that they paid only $25 for a story of 3750 to 4000 words.) That’s ten times less than professional rates (.06 per word).
Their submission guidelines read,
“We aim to respond to all submissions within twelve months of receipt. However, due to the high volume of submissions, the lead time may extend up to two years.”
My eyes nearly bugged out of my head. They might get back to writers within twelve MONTHS? And the “lead time may extend” up to two YEARS?
Most paying PAPER markets back in the day responded within a month or maybe two, and three at the most. And that response time included the time it took your snail-mailed submission to get to them and the acceptance letter or rejection note to come back.
Of course, you also had to be sure to enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) with your submission. (Don’t inconvenience people when they have the potential to do something good for you, like publish your work.)
So again, if you want to start and publish a magazine, I recommend you respect the writers you’re trying to attract:
- Publish specific writer guidelines, including any genre and length restrictions, manuscript format, pay rates, and response times.
- Make the actual submission as easy on the potential contributor as you can.
- Use a contract. You can even put a sample contract online so potential contributors can check it out in advance.
- Offer only a copyedit, or no edit at all. Assure prospective contributors you won’t change the content of their submission.
- Set and maintain respectful response times.
By the way, setting and maintaining shorter response times isn’t that difficult.
For one thing, you don’t have to read a full story to know whether it’s acceptable for publication (and will draw readers):
- For fiction or an article or essay, read the opening. If the opening sucks, the writing isn’t going to get any better. Put it in the Reject pile (or folder) and read the opening of the next one.
- Even if an opening grabs you, don’t finish reading the story or essay right now. Put it in the Maybe folder and move on to the next one. Lather, rinse, repeat.
- For poetry, read down the right side of the poem. If it doesn’t “feel” powerful, it isn’t. Again make use of your Reject and Maybe folders.
- Send out your rejection notes.
- Then start reading through the Maybe folder. If a story, essay, or poem grabs you and carries you all the way through, buy it. If it doesn’t, don’t.
This will vastly speed up your response process.
Whatever you do, always respect your potential contributors. As a writer who respects and defends your own work, that should be easy-peasy.
Talk with you again tomorrow with the Bradbury Challenge results and a bit on Dysphoria.
Of Interest
Dr. Mardy’s Quotes of the Week: Hugs & Hugging
On the Genius of Frances Burney…