Just got an e-mail yesterday saying that I would be sent a contract for a story that I submitted in 2000. Meanwhile 4 years have passed with no communication. That may not be a record, but I bet it is close.
- Status
wait
That is a looonnnggg wait, but big congrats. I once had a magazine hold a story so long I forgot I'd written it. When the contract arrived in the mail one day, I had to check my records to be sure there wasn't some mistake.
But if you're writing and submitting enough, it doesn't really matter how long an editor takes. Get enough stories in the mail and you'll hear from one editor or another every week.
Patience really is a virtue.
That is a looonnnggg wait, but big congrats. I once had a magazine hold a story so long I forgot I'd written it. When the contract arrived in the mail one day, I had to check my records to be sure there wasn't some mistake.
But if you're writing and submitting enough, it doesn't really matter how long an editor takes. Get enough stories in the mail and you'll hear from one editor or another every week.
Patience really is a virtue.
Re: wait
Four years ago? That was just before the last presidential election. Clinton was still in and just starting to build plaque, Conrad was the only Hilton we knew, and a metrosexual was somebody who groped women in crowded subway trains.
www.marinosward.com/
Four years ago? That was just before the last presidential election. Clinton was still in and just starting to build plaque, Conrad was the only Hilton we knew, and a metrosexual was somebody who groped women in crowded subway trains.
www.marinosward.com/
four years
"And Dubya was a term we used to call idiots..."
Funny, around here the term we used for idiot has always been "democrat."
"And Dubya was a term we used to call idiots..."
Funny, around here the term we used for idiot has always been "democrat."
Re: Whu?
You probably submitted to a "paid on publication" magazine. I always avoided those. I want to be "paid on acceptance," then if the story is never run I still have my money if not my story.
If they "pay on publication" they can accept it, and it isn't exactly yours any more, you can't just submit it around, yet you have not been paid for it, and if it is never published is has just sort of faded into the wall paper.
I don't like that.
You probably submitted to a "paid on publication" magazine. I always avoided those. I want to be "paid on acceptance," then if the story is never run I still have my money if not my story.
If they "pay on publication" they can accept it, and it isn't exactly yours any more, you can't just submit it around, yet you have not been paid for it, and if it is never published is has just sort of faded into the wall paper.
I don't like that.
Re: Whu?
Actually, the story is going into an anthology in book form, not a magazine. Got the contract yesterday. I suppose we all would prefer paid on acceptance magazine gigs, but life doesn't always play out that way.
Actually, the story is going into an anthology in book form, not a magazine. Got the contract yesterday. I suppose we all would prefer paid on acceptance magazine gigs, but life doesn't always play out that way.
acceptance
Actually a pay of accentance magazine can hold a story just as long or longer than a pay on pub mag. Sometimes forever. You can't resell a story until a pay on accentance mag has actually published it, and most of the money for a story comes from reprint rights.
Pay on accenptance is usually much the better of the two, but not always, and while you have to weed out a few bad eggs, there are some very good pay on pub magazines and anthologies out there. Most are good, honest, and will publish a piece just as fast, or faster, than a pay on acceptance magazine.
It can also be very handy to have money coming in down the road, and it's truly rare for a pay on pub mag to hold a piece of writing indefinitely.
A writer shouldn't automatically snub pay on pub magazines. They can be a very valuable asset.
Actually a pay of accentance magazine can hold a story just as long or longer than a pay on pub mag. Sometimes forever. You can't resell a story until a pay on accentance mag has actually published it, and most of the money for a story comes from reprint rights.
Pay on accenptance is usually much the better of the two, but not always, and while you have to weed out a few bad eggs, there are some very good pay on pub magazines and anthologies out there. Most are good, honest, and will publish a piece just as fast, or faster, than a pay on acceptance magazine.
It can also be very handy to have money coming in down the road, and it's truly rare for a pay on pub mag to hold a piece of writing indefinitely.
A writer shouldn't automatically snub pay on pub magazines. They can be a very valuable asset.
acceptance
When I first started writing fiction I had an immediate acceptance and publication from America West, who pays on publication.
Soon after, the editor, Mike Derr, accepted 4 more, even when he wasn't accepting unsolicited work. He published one soon after, but held on to the other three for close to a year. Impatient me withdrew the three, causing a rift between us. Knowing the writing market as I do now, I've always regretted doing that.
When I first started writing fiction I had an immediate acceptance and publication from America West, who pays on publication.
Soon after, the editor, Mike Derr, accepted 4 more, even when he wasn't accepting unsolicited work. He published one soon after, but held on to the other three for close to a year. Impatient me withdrew the three, causing a rift between us. Knowing the writing market as I do now, I've always regretted doing that.
Re: acceptance
I sold a pay-on-acceptance piece in April 2002. Happily cashed the cheque a week or two later. It appeared in the mag's June 2004 issue. For a little over two years I was hamstrung from trying to sell reprints.
So while a POA pub is still better overall than a POP, it can still present problems.
I sold a pay-on-acceptance piece in April 2002. Happily cashed the cheque a week or two later. It appeared in the mag's June 2004 issue. For a little over two years I was hamstrung from trying to sell reprints.
So while a POA pub is still better overall than a POP, it can still present problems.
- Status