[Ezine] Wayfarers Journal

[SFAnn]

5/5/07 my story was rejected.
10/07 I found it had been published!
Wrote to editor on 10/24.
It was meanwhile sitting in the slushpile at another magazine. Now it's a reprint whether I like it or not.

I decided to let her have it since she was a paying market and had already rendered it a reprint. I sent an email to the other magazine, stating what happened and that, in the event that like it, it is still available as a reprint.

I still haven't been paid. I asked her to take the story down for repairs. The font size was tiny and she left the underlining instead of switching to italics.

She pulled the blurb off the stories page, along with the link and name of story. Also pulled down the mention and link on the home page. She fixed most of the formatting issues eventually but didn't put the proper story name on the home page and no blurb or anything went back on the stories page. I feel as though my story has been stood in a corner.

No response three emails and more weeks later. Still no payment, either.

I just found out today that the same thing happened to an author of another story in that same issue. She wasn't paid and her story had been rejected, then published as well.

Writer beware! And her magazine is supposed to be part of a blog tour. Yikes! They say that there's no such thing as bad publicity. Will this work for me somehow?

Ann

 

[DaveKuzminski]

Presuming this is an online publication, what is the URL?

 

[David I]

That is weird and verges on incomprehensible.

As the honorable Mr Kuzminski suggests, can you give some details such as web addresses? I'm having a hard time sorting this out.

 

[eqb]

If the url is [SIZE=-1]www.wayfarersjournal.com, then it looks as though the site's been suspended.
[/SIZE]

 

[AnneMarble]

If the url is [SIZE=-1]www.wayfarersjournal.com, then it looks as though the site's been suspended.[/SIZE]

That must be the one. I checked the Google cache for the home page and found the OP's story listed in that issue's contents.

I wonder if their provider got a takedown notice?... But what do the writers who weren't paid do now?

 

[SFAnn]

Wayfarer Journal Update

Yes, the site was taken down. I just heard back from Ralan and he said that's one of the things he suggests writers who are victims of piracy or non-payment can do. If there's two of us who were stiffed, we all probably were. Whatever the case, at least the next unsuspecting writer is safe from this mag for the time being.

With regard to payment, it wasn't so much the money as the credit for a sale. The payment was $10-$20. She didn't even answer me where my story would fall in that range. I worked for probably a year on that story.

Of course, this is a double-edged sword. I was hoping I'd get more readers. But perhaps I will get increased blog traffic. Then my readers will know where to find the story when I'm able to place it as a reprint.

Back to the market research. I can start finding it a new home right away.

Thanks for all the support, and sorry for not including the URL. This WAS it: http://www.wayfarersjournal.com.

 

[Doodlebug]

Condolences to you!! That was truly a rotten thing to have happen. Thanks for the heads up.

BTW...besides the obvious channels of P&E and AW, are there any good rules of thumb for deciding whether a short story market is reputable or not? (I've had a couple of bad experiences this way as well. Just not this rotten!)

 

[Berry]

... are there any good rules of thumb for deciding whether a short story market is reputable or not?

One good rule is that if you are familiar with current trends in your genre, the market will have published stories by writers you're heard of.

And if you are not familiar with your genre, why are you writing in it?

 

[CaoPaux]

Site's back up, minus a few titles.

 

[AnneMarble]

Site's back up, minus a few titles.

Oy. As if removing the titles means the site has learned their lesson and will always behave. There are certain things a site should never do. Printing stories without permission and without paying the author is on the top of that list. Sure, they took the stories down this time. But will they do it again? Do they know why it was wrong?

 

[CaoPaux]

Went down for good in '09.