Stuck?

BlueDimity · Jan 1, 2010

I wrote a short YA story and sent it SG that once an MS was sent to them, the story became property of the magazine. It has been a few months and still no feed back. Since I am already in the hole and can't get this story published by anyone else, should I send it off to them again?

alleycat · Jan 1, 2010

What is SG magazine?

I'm pretty sure they mean the actual physical manuscript becomes their property (that way they are under no obligation to return it), not the story itself.

BlueDimity · Jan 1, 2010

SG is short for Submission Guidelines. Anyways, I sent it to them by email and then later read that anything sent to them automatically makes it their property. Thank you for posting in this thread.

alleycat · Jan 1, 2010

What magazine?

BlueDimity · Jan 1, 2010

Teenink. I hope I don't get sued for saying their name. LOL

alleycat · Jan 1, 2010

I looked at their guidelines. By submitted to them, they retain non-exclusive rights.

If you want to submit it elsewhere you might look for similar sites that also don't require exclusive rights.

BlueDimity · Jan 1, 2010

Thanks for looking. So did I misunderstand them then?

alleycat · Jan 1, 2010

You were partially right, and partially not. Yes, you did give them the rights to your work just by submitting, but they are non-exclusive, which means you can also do whatever you want with the story. The only trouble is most publishers (at least most traditional publishers) want exclusive rights. You could probably find an online site that would accept your work without exclusive rights.

MumblingSage · Jan 1, 2010

Oh, gods. Teen Ink's policies disgust me. No experianced writer would be willing to give up their rights like that, but because the writers who deal with Teen Ink generally aren't experianced and/or don't understand what they're asking and/or don't value their own work that much, they submit to them. It's been a source of personal irritation to me for a while but I've never got a chance to rant about them until now.

BlueDimity · Jan 1, 2010

Haha. Thank you.

Robert E. Keller · Jan 1, 2010

So Teen Ink expects a writer to submit and give up the non-exclusive rights to the manuscript with no apparent real contract offered? Teen Ink can then take as long as they want to publish it? And Teen Ink reserves the right to edit it as they see fit, with no input from the writer whatsoever? Oh, and Teen Ink can also put the story in any format they want, with no compensation to the writer? That's what their guidelines page/contract says, in other words.

Interesting. New writers, take note. When you see something like that, it's your cue to click the X in the little red box at the top of the web page.

Jamesaritchie · Jan 2, 2010

If that isn't illegal, it's definitely unethical. I hope that magazine folds very, very fast.

MumblingSage · Jan 2, 2010

Sadly, it probably won't fold anytime soon. For one thing, it's been around a while. For another, the people who get the short end of this particular stick probably won't fight it. It preys on the unexperienced. I don't say this as any insult to teenage writers (I am one myself), but generally they don't know much about how publishing works and they really just want to get a story in print, they don't care about rights or even payment.

Also, since Teen Ink is dealing mainly with minors, it might want to avoid contracts because it's a potentially sticky legal issue. Although many magazines, like the new Survival by Storytelling, have worked their way around that.

BlueDimity · Jan 2, 2010

Robert E. Keller said:
So Teen Ink expects a writer to submit and give up the non-exclusive rights to the manuscript with no apparent real contract offered? Teen Ink can then take as long as they want to publish it? And Teen Ink reserves the right to edit it as they see fit, with no input from the writer whatsoever? Oh, and Teen Ink can also put the story in any format they want, with no compensation to the writer? That's what their guidelines page/contract says, in other words.

Interesting. New writers, take note. When you see something like that, it's your cue to click the X in the little red box at the top of the web page.

I've learned my lesson. I think Teenink should be tickled until they pee themselves. Grrr. I'm mad now.

Stuck?

BlueDimity

alleycat

Still around

BlueDimity

alleycat

Still around

BlueDimity

alleycat

Still around

BlueDimity

alleycat

Still around

MumblingSage

Inarticulate Herb

BlueDimity

Robert E. Keller

Likes heroic fantasy and hot coffee

Jamesaritchie

MumblingSage

Inarticulate Herb

BlueDimity