In Today’s Journal
* Quote of the Day
* Revisiting Alibi Syndicate Press
* Other Recommended TradPub Sites
* Now I’m Done
* A Note on Heinlein’s Rules
* The Numbers
Quote of the Day
“The soil of a man’s heart is stonier, Louis. A man grows what he can, and he tends it.” Gravedigger to Louis Creed in Stephen King’s Pet Sematary, one of my favorite Stephen King lines
Revisiting Alibi Syndicate Press
First, Troy Lambert commented with an exciting new link to Alibi Syndicate Press. Try it first. It opened fine for me.
If you had trouble with the links in yesterday’s post (or if you’re still having trouble), read on.
A few folks pointed out some problems with reaching Alibi Syndicate Press via the links I provided yesterday. Here’s some additional information:
- Try copy/pasting or keying in https://alibisyndicatepress.com. Or Google “Alibi Syndicate Press” and click the link they provide. (Some browsers recognize Google-provided links but not mine even though they are exactly the same links.)
- Every browser is different. In Firefox, I had no problem reaching the site (even when clicking the links I provided in TNDJ). In Chrome, Safari, or something else, your results might vary.
Understand, folks, I’m only the middleman here, performing a public service by passing along information re what I think will be a good thing for those of you seeking publication through a traditional publishing venue. Alibi is not my baby to bottle feed.
If you get a message from your browser re an “invalid site certificate,” sometimes your browser will block a URL for which your browser believes the security certificate in invalid.
In that case, if you have the opportunity in the message you received from your browser to “Continue” or “Continue Anyway,” you should click that. I trust the Alibi site, but they’re still putting things together.
One person also wrote to say using the site contact form gets an error message. That has not been my experience. With Troy’s recent updates, you might want to try again.
Finally, some links on the website created circular references yesterday (they might be fixed now), meaning they take you back to the same page. Either way, the folks at Alibi are still building the site, so bear with them.
I was going to include the links I included yesterday, but Troy rendered that repetition unnecessary with the URL in the first paragraph above.
Other Recommended TradPub Sites
These are not my personal recommendations. The following came from Tiffanie Grey in a comment on yesterday’s post:
Alibi Syndicate Press looks like a good opportunity! I tried to sign up, but their web site is having issues, so will try again later. (Probably fixed now.)
Ark Press is another new press with decent care for the writer, at least so far. They are accepting Novels. (The link is to their submissions page.)
Raconteur Press has lots of open calls for short stories with lots of different genre and a good royalty share for those who get into their anthologies. They have a pretty fast turn-around from opening of submission to close to contract to publishing. (The link is to their submissions page.)
Later, Tiffanie also sent this link to Raconteur Press’ “Open Calls 2026”.
Finally, Selene Press is an offshoot of Cannon Press that is new and are having a contest for novelette length stories with prizes plus publishing. (The link is to their submissions page.)
Now I’m Done
Okay, I’ve done what I can. And oof, that was far too much like work for me to enjoy it. (grin) So with this post, I’m officially out of the Support Your Local Trad Publisher business for at least a while. I mean, I’m not even a tradpub guy.
Of course, that’s all on me. I freely admit I’m not easy to get along with.
- I didn’t inherit a famous literary name that would ensure acceptance of just any old mangy dog I let out of the pen, and
- I don’t allow even my own critical mind, much less any others’ critical minds, to change what my characters themselves gave me as those characters actually lived the story.
- And even if I were to allow critical-mind input, I’m not big on twiddling my thumbs while waiting for someone who wasn’t in the story to ‘decide’ what happened on my or my characters’ behalf.
On the other hand, I’m totally good with all of that.
I’ve lived a great, exciting life. By the time I was 40, I could already say I’d accomplished more than most men twice my age had accomplished. Just how I’m wired. And today, of course, there are no men twice my age. (grin)
That said, I need to escape back into my fiction for awhile. My characters’ worlds and stories are incredibly more interesting than my own life is these days. That’s why I spend so much time with them.
Oh. Just so there’s no misunderstanding, TNDJ will continue. I’m not done with that. I’ll be back soon with more on writing. I’m just not gonna push tradpubs for awhile. It causes too many questions for which I don’t have the answers. Again, that isn’t my field to plow or my baby to tend.
I never give out specific email addresses without permission, but if you have any other questions or comments about Alibi, I urge you to do a Google search for Troy Lambert or Vincent Zandri and email them.
There’s also a lady involved (Stacey Something) but I didn’t catch her last name. You can probably Google “Edits by Stacey” to get in contact with her.
And if you have any specific questions about the other tradpubs I mentioned above, contact them directly.
Good luck.
A Note on Heinlein’s Rules
If you want to be a good writer/storyteller, it’s a great idea to follow Heinlein’s Rules. Here they are if you want them. (A PDF document will download.) I most strongly recommend following Rules 1 through 3.
I haven’t fallen off the rules for awhile, but back when I was falling off them regularly, I always fell off Rule 4: You must submit (or publish).
But again, that’s on me. Frankly, I don’t really care either way about publishing even independently. If publishing indie was even one-fourth more trouble than it is, I’d skip Rule 4 altogether.
I’m a journeyman storyteller and writer.
I’m very good at what I do, and I learn more about the nuances of storytelling every time I write a new story. What could be better than that? Plus I get to teach other writers what I know.
I flat love racing through the stories with the characters as the stories unfold around us. It tickles me to no end that I get to experience the stories for the first time ever right along with the characters. When I do publish, I publish only so others can experience those sensations too.
I guess in that way, I’m kind of a pure storyteller. I guess everybody should be ‘pure’ at something, n’est-ce pas? (grin)
The Numbers
The Journal………………….. 1170
Mentorship Words…………….. 0
Total Nonfiction…………………. 1170
Writing of
Day 1…… XXXX words. To date………… XXXXX
Fiction for January………………………… XXXX
Fiction for 2026…………………………… XXXX
Nonfiction for January.…………………… 5540
Nonfiction for 2026………………..……… 5540
2026 consumable words………………… 5540
2026 Novels to Date……………………… 0
2026 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2026 Short Stories to Date……………… 0
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 123
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 310
Short story collections……………………. 29