Story in Publishing Purgatory - Need advice

Status
Not open for further replies.

pinkbowvintage

♔
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 22, 2015
Messages
964
Reaction score
112
Location
Brooklyn
Hi all. I sent out a short story over a year ago to various magazines, and over a year ago it was accepted at an online magazine that pays. Since the acceptance, I have only heard from them once letting me know the publishing schedule, which they did not stick to. They said, as of December, that they are very far behind, and if I would like my story released I should let them know.

Now it's May and I've recently sent them a follow-up email just checking in on the status of my publication. I've had five stories published in the last two years, both in print and online, and this has never happened before, so I'm not quite sure what to do.

I want to sent it to other magazines, but I also don't want to send out a story that's been accepted elsewhere. Should I keep waiting, or get my story released?
 

Filigree

Mildly Disturbing
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 16, 2010
Messages
16,441
Reaction score
1,529
Location
between rising apes and falling angels
Website
www.cranehanabooks.com
How well do they pay? If they pay crap, are they a good enough 'Name' to be on your CV? If you are willing to wait for them, do so. But if they're a second string outfit, wait another month to see if they respond to your follow-up with a good excuse. Then give them a polite, professional withdrawal notice, and send that story right back out to the best available market.
 

dragonfliet

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 13, 2016
Messages
124
Reaction score
15
Location
Salt Lake City, UT
Filigree is right. I'm of the mind to give people the benefit of the doubt, and it probably just fell through the cracks with their difficult schedule, but if it doesn't pay well, doesn't make you feel proud and they brush you off, go ahead and withdraw.
 

pinkbowvintage

♔
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 22, 2015
Messages
964
Reaction score
112
Location
Brooklyn
Thanks guys, that was really helpful. I've been trying to give them the benefit of the doubt because they accepted my story after all, but the pay there is pretty minimal and I'd rather be published widely on this than paid anyway.
 

TillysMom

Registered
Joined
Mar 30, 2016
Messages
17
Reaction score
0
I am in a different type of Publishing Purgatory. Four of my stories have been published in a romance magazine, the magazine was printed, but the pay is slower than molasses and contradicts the payment date on my contract.
I was paid a month late for one, and now the payment for the second story is almost two months late. I am beginning to think I will have to write off payments for this one and the two next ones.
There is a group message board for those who write for this mag. They act like it's no big deal. It seems taboo to even mention payment, and my e-mails to the person in charge of payment have not been answered.
It wouldn't make me so nervous but this new company took over from a previous company who did a "runner", going bankrupt and left authors hanging. Upon further research, some of the same personnel work for this new company.
I published with this mag, over ten years and two owners ago, and thought it was safe to do so again. Their writer's message board on yahoo is eerily quiet, and any post about payment is treated as an odd comment. They all seem so grateful when they do get their late payments.
It's not a ton of cash, but I worked for it. I see red when I notice the mags in the local Walmart, and know they haven't paid their writers. Perhaps they are doing a runner too. This magazine has been in print since 1922 and it's painful to see myself and other writers being treated this way, although some don't seem to mind. I am not independently wealthy so I do mind, but I don't know if I have any recourse if they do stiff me.
 
Last edited:

pinkbowvintage

♔
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 22, 2015
Messages
964
Reaction score
112
Location
Brooklyn
Oh sure, I just know a lot of well-respected journals don't pay necessarily. The North American Review didn't pay me, but being in that magazine looks really good on my CV. I definitely want to be paid if possible.
 

Filigree

Mildly Disturbing
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 16, 2010
Messages
16,441
Reaction score
1,529
Location
between rising apes and falling angels
Website
www.cranehanabooks.com
You may want to stop writing for them, TillysMom, and name them over in AW's 'Bewares' forum. Other writers need to know this before they sub there.

Writers get paid, or they get useful publishing credits. Promptly, and preferably all three. When writers excuse and enable publishers' bad behavior, nothing changes except that more authors get taken for chumps.
 

TillysMom

Registered
Joined
Mar 30, 2016
Messages
17
Reaction score
0
I haven't sent them anything since. Yep it's getting to be time to name names on the message board. I've had enough good experience with small, but honest paying magazines like Saturday Night Reader (no longer online but great when it was). Aurora Wolf Magazine, Devolution Z-The Zombie mag and others to realize this romance magazine is giving the run around. I will warn others as I get info.
 

MatthewWuertz

shadow magic, FTW
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 26, 2010
Messages
161
Reaction score
12
Website
www.matthewwuertz.com
For both concerns - when a story will be published after a sale and payment after publication - I'm curious what's in the contract. In the first instance, I typically see something like: Work will be published within X months of acceptance or all rights revert back to Author. That gives everyone a time frame that's easily understood. The same is true of payment. Something like - payment will be made upon publication. Or payment will be made within X amount of time after publication. Some markets pay upon acceptance.

These are business transactions. Always check the contract... for everything. Rights you're selling, payment schedule, publication schedule, etc. I think sometimes as writers we get so excited that someone's willing to buy or stories that we don't stop, take a breath, and read the fine print. Ask questions if you're uncertain about something. Ask for changes if you don't like the terms (and be willing to walk away if something is really important to you). And hold the buyer accountable to the contract when necessary (which can be done without acting like a jerk).
 

Motley

New kid, be gentle!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 6, 2010
Messages
345
Reaction score
14
Location
Hiding in this box I made.
So many potential problems!

I have a story that was accepted in 2014, paid for promptly and then never published (the entire anthology, not just my story).
 

TillysMom

Registered
Joined
Mar 30, 2016
Messages
17
Reaction score
0
Update on my situation with payment. I finally just got a very nice reply from the editor herself, whom I cc'd on my last e-mail, asking me if I had yet been paid.
I advised that I had not, and would like to be paid. Very gracious exchange. I will report when the cash is actually paid.
 

TillysMom

Registered
Joined
Mar 30, 2016
Messages
17
Reaction score
0
Re: My situation: I got paid:)
Motley, I feel for you. Better to be published and not paid than wait for something you worked hard on to come out, and it doesn't. Keep going! I had a short fiction mag shut down the month after my story appeared.
In my limited experience, things that go wrong can be fuel for your fire.
 

Fruitbat

.
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 15, 2010
Messages
11,833
Reaction score
1,310
Oh sure, I just know a lot of well-respected journals don't pay necessarily. The North American Review didn't pay me, but being in that magazine looks really good on my CV. I definitely want to be paid if possible.

You're so right. Being published somewhere like The North American Review is so much better than whatever likely small amount of money you'd get for a short story at a paying but less prestigious and/or lower circulation magazine. If you're writing for the literary magazines, that is true that plenty of the top ones don't pay but anyone would love the honor and credit of being published by them.

So, what to do about your current problem also depends hugely on what publication it is. If it's prestigious and/or has a high circulation rate, those things will help you far more than the small amount of cash usually paid for a short story. You would certainly not want to lightly toss aside a win like that over a few bucks or a delay, even though it is annoying. I'm sure you already know this so just a reminder to keep the long term in mind when you're getting frustrated.
 
Last edited:

TillysMom

Registered
Joined
Mar 30, 2016
Messages
17
Reaction score
0
Having exposure and your name out there with quality publications seems to me preferable than getting a small payment for something few folks will read. I wish I could get into some of the elite mags.
 

Melody

Writer of MG, YA and Adult
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 25, 2016
Messages
278
Reaction score
15
What Filligree said. Maybe give yourself a deadline. If you don't hear a definite date by X or if it isn't published by X, then you politely pull it and try to sell it somewhere else.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.