[Publisher] Earthbound Fiction

[Nexus]

Original Post:

Hey guys,

I am curious for what you think about this new magazine?

Do you have any information or opinions?

http://duotrope.com/market_6502.aspx

Edit: It is actually Earthbound Fiction, with two imprints; Dark Stars for science fiction and Sparks for fantasy.

Updates:
They are quickly getting things together in a succinct and professional manner.

About Us: http://www.earthboundfiction.com/contact-us

Pros:
- Very friendly and professional in communications
- Very collaborative when it comes to editing the author's story; edits recommended appear (at least to me) to be highly professional. Of a quality that I'd expect when paying for editing. Except they are going to be paid for it, from selling my story in the anthology - so I expect good editing.)
- Open to reader, author, and "peruser" suggestions about everything from website design to how they handle their business

Cons:
-No mainstream experience credited to any of the staff

 

[CaoPaux]

Adding link (Flash-based site):http://www.earthboundfiction.com/

 

[Nexus]

Thank you for posting that. Should have done it myself.

A lack of negative responses bodes well, at the least. I take silence as a "don't know, can't be too bad" kind of message.

 

[Polenth]

Thank you for posting that. Should have done it myself.

A lack of negative responses bodes well, at the least. I take silence as a "don't know, can't be too bad" kind of message.

Silence does not mean, "can't be too bad."

All silence means is people haven't heard of them, which isn't a good thing. It means the company isn't advertising their work effectively. People will not be silent if they have something good to say.

I couldn't see who ran it on the website, which also isn't a good sign. If they had publishing experience, they'd be shouting it from the rooftops.

Take silence to mean you ought to be cautious. Duotrope thinks they're under six months old. Most publishers of that age fall apart before the first year is up. After a year, they'll either be gone or this thread will have posts of people's experiences with them. Until then, the sensible route is to wait and see.

 

[Nexus]

Cool. Thanks for the advice.

Not to take your advice out of context or anything... but would you also advise against submitting to them and publishing if the offer was made?

In a situation like this, I certainly would want to make sure. But would a short story - magazine worthy - be too much of a gamble.

Of course, everyone starts somewhere; but, as you mention, previous publishing history is almost a must to become a legitimate fledgling company.

What are your thoughts on that?

 

[Katrina S. Forest]

Nexus, do you mean they contacted you and asked to publish your story? In that case, I would exercise even more caution. Magazines that have any kind of audience get submissions on their own just fine -- they don't need to solicit them.

Don't use the phrase, "everybody starts somewhere" to convince yourself to start at the bottom when it comes to publishing. Always send to the best first.

 

[Nexus]

I have submitted to the best. Asimov's. Daily. All of them.

No I was not solicited.

 

[Polenth]

Not to take your advice out of context or anything... but would you also advise against submitting to them and publishing if the offer was made?

Personally, I wouldn't submit to them yet. If a company has no experience listed, I want to see the quality of the product before I associate my name with it. The greater my doubts, the longer I'll wait. This isn't what everyone does though... some people throw out stories like confetti and don't really care where they end up. Only you know what you're aiming for.

 

[Nexus]

Personally, I wouldn't submit to them yet. If a company has no experience listed, I want to see the quality of the product before I associate my name with it. The greater my doubts, the longer I'll wait. This isn't what everyone does though... some people throw out stories like confetti and don't really care where they end up. Only you know what you're aiming for.

Sure. I get the sense that you are previously published though, or quite experienced in the industry in some way.

It wouldn't be necessarily bad, even if it doesn't become something overwhelmingly positive, to have a story published by a new zine?

I've submitted to all of the mainstream zines through duotrope. And for a story rejected by them all, it can't hurt to submit and publish with fledgling magazines right? I guess that is the question I am most pondering.

 

[Little Ming]

While I tend to agree with Polenth about the new markets, someones got to try them out.

Nexus, read through the submission guidelines first. Make sure there's nothing suspicious like a reading fee, a submission fee, or that you lose all your rights just by submitting to them. If you get accepted, read through the contract they send you. Make sure the terms are satisfactory to you. For example, if you want to publish this story again elsewhere, you need those rights to revert back to you. Or if the publisher sinks in a few months, you get all your rights back. If there are clauses you don't understand you can ask the good people here, most of them are more knowledgeable than me about the short story markets.

Even if everything checks out, you have to be realistic about what to expect with this publication. This magazine might sink in a few months and take your first publishing rights with it. Or even if it survives, you have no idea right now what the quality of their other stories will be like. Your story might be sitting next to anyone who has access to a computer and a word processor. Be prepared for that too.

Good luck.

 

[Katrina S. Forest]

It wouldn't be necessarily bad, even if it doesn't become something overwhelmingly positive, to have a story published by a new zine?

I can think of two kinda bad things that might happen:

1) A better market shows up with a much bigger readership. But they only take unpublished stories, not reprints, so this story of yours doesn't qualify.

2) Several years down the road, you decide this story isn't as good as you thought it was. In fact, you wish it had never seen the light of day, but there's not much you can do about it now.

#1 is probably more of a concern, but the fear of #2 does have an effect on me.

Again, it's your decision. Best of luck.

 

[defcon6000]

My only experience with this zine is that I've been rejected -- twice! It was for their monthly contest.

They're quick on replying, which I consider a plus. Not too sure about their taste in writing, if you take a look at the story they picked for the Nov. flash fic contest (it's posted on their site).

It's a gamble to submit to any new zine, it just depends if you want to roll the dice or not.

btw, this is what they say about pay/rights and all that shiz:

We pay 1 cent per word for short stories from 1,000 to 3,000 words for publication in our upcoming sci-fi and fantasy anthologies. The winner of our November Earthbounder of the Month flash fiction contest receives pro pay of 5 cents per word or $25 for a 500 word piece. Runners-up in the contest will also be considered for our upcoming flash fiction anthology at 2.5 cents per word. Payment is via PayPal ONLY, if you don't have or don't want PayPal then we can't pay you. We purchase first electronic and internet rights, the right to archive your story, and anthology rights.

They don't mention anything about exclusivity, but perhaps that's in the contract -- assuming they have one.

 

[Nexus]

Awesome. Thanks for all the advice ladies and gentlemen!

 

[Silver King]

The winner of our November Earthbounder of the Month flash fiction contest receives pro pay of 5 cents per word or $25 for a 500 word piece.

Pro pay? A nickel per word is not considered professional pay by most standards.

 

[Unimportant]

My understanding is that both SFWA and HWA cite 5 cents/word as being pro rates.

 

[amergina]

My understanding is that both SFWA and HWA cite 5 cents/word as being pro rates.

For SFWA, It's 5 cents a word, with the minimum for the piece being $50.

So selling a 500-word flash piece for $25 won't qualify you for SFWA. You'd have to sell it for $50

Don't know about HWA's rates.

 

[Silver King]

My understanding is that both SFWA and HWA cite 5 cents/word as being pro rates.

Thanks for citing that, which I wasn't aware of until now.

Still seems pretty low, to me anyway, and has convinced me not to switch genres any time soon!

 

[Nexus]

Pro pay? A nickel per word is not considered professional pay by most standards.

Duotrope lists that as pro pay as well. It doesn't appear to be genre related, btw.

 

[Silver King]

Duotrope lists that as pro pay as well. It doesn't appear to be genre related, btw.

I've been paid as much as twenty times that amount per word by high end magazines. That, to me, qualifies as true professional rates. Or maybe I'm just spoiled.

(I'm not arguing that a nickel per word isn't considered pro rates, but man, no wonder it's almost impossible to make a living as a writer these days...)

 

[Katrina S. Forest]

I've been paid as much as twenty times that amount per word by high end magazines. That, to me, qualifies as true professional rates. Or maybe I'm just spoiled.

(I'm not arguing that a nickel per word isn't considered pro rates, but man, no wonder it's almost impossible to make a living as a writer these days...)

Um, yeah, I'm gonna go with spoiled on that one. ^_^ Highly talented, but also spoiled.

 

[Unimportant]

It's sad, yes, but I'm not aware of any spec fic magazine or anthology that pays more than about 25c/word for fiction, and most of the big pro payers pay more like 10c/word. The short story ain't what it used to be.

 

[Silver King]

...The short story ain't what it used to be.

It wasn't unusual for pubs to pay a dollar or more per word as far back as fifty or sixty years ago, when a dollar had much greater value than it does today. The better short story writers could make a decent living as recently as twenty years ago.

But the market for shorts has dwindled to the point that the dollar value for stories, even the best ones, is almost non-existent.

Think about this: How many other industries can you think of that has lost as much value, in dollars, market share, general interest and demand, than the short story during the past twenty years or so?

At the current rate of decline, a penny per word in the near future will be considered pro rates.

 

[Little Ming]

It's sad, yes, but I'm not aware of any spec fic magazine or anthology that pays more than about 25c/word for fiction, and most of the big pro payers pay more like 10c/word. The short story ain't what it used to be.

I think one of the big publishers (Tor?) pay $.25/word. But that's an extremely hard market.

$1/word?! I've never even heard of that in my lifetime!

 

[evieeveking]

Earth Bound Fiction accepted 2 of my stories, but I will not publish with them:
They only pay 1 cent a word, and want not only 1st internet rights, they want Kindle and Nook with NO ROYALTIES!
They want editing rights.I'm ok with editing for mistakes only. Otherwise I want approval. They agreed to change my contract about that, so that is fine.
However, to not pay any royalty for Kindle and Nook is NOT!

 

[Izz]

Earth Bound Fiction accepted 2 of my stories, but I will not publish with them:
They only pay 1 cent a word, and want not only 1st internet rights, they want Kindle and Nook with NO ROYALTIES!
They want editing rights.I'm ok with editing for mistakes only. Otherwise I want approval. They agreed to change my contract about that, so that is fine.
However, to not pay any royalty for Kindle and Nook is NOT!

evieeveking, very few short story markets that publish ebooks and that pay a lump sum payment up front offer royalties on ebook sales as well, just as very few markets that publish print and pay a lump sum payment up front offer royalties on the print books. Most semi-pro short fiction venues never recoup what they pay for the stories anyway, so even if they do pay royalties, you're very unlikely to see any.

The only market i can think of that guarantees royalties for every sale is GUD (Greatest Uncommon Denominator).

Anyhoo, i've also sold Earthbound Fiction a story. I've just reviewed their contract and have asked them to change/clarify a couple of things. One is around the editing clause, like evieeveking, the other a clarification of what rights they're buying, and how long for. I'll let you know what they come back with.