Editor At University Literary Magazine Left

novicewriter

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Hello. Last year, I submitted a short story to a reputable University's literary magazine that had published selected work from writers from around the world for at least a decade, as a hardcover on Amazon. The top three would receive monetary payment, while the rest would be honorable mentions.

Several months later, the editor of the university's literary magazine informed me that my piece, along with around 50 others' short pieces, had been chosen by judges to be included in the University's future journal, as one of the honorable mentions. He gave a date of when it would be announced on their journal's Facebook page. I saw on their Facebook page, comments from previous writers who'd been chosen (some twice), where they'd thanked the editor for the two, free complementary copies that he'd sent them. So, I was excited and expecting I'd receive a couple of copies of the journal my work would be in, too.

The date passed. Then, a few months after the date I'd been told, at the beginning of this year, the editor finally made the announcement on their Facebook page and apologized for the delay. He listed everyone's names, along with the titles of their work, and congratulated everyone.

That was the journal's last post. Now, several months after that, I found out through an internet article (that was written and published from last fall, by one of the previous writer's whose work was chosen and published in the journal's spring edition), that the journal's editor was planning on leaving the University, and that they mentioned that might be the last journal. There wasn't any mention of this made on their webpage (It just says the same thing that's been there for the past several months, "We're currently working on updating the site.") There wasn't any mention of the journal's editor leaving the university and discontinuing the journal on their Facebook page.

I found his LinkedIn page, where it confirms that he now lives in a different state and no longer works at the university. Duotrope has a recent update that writers shouldn't submit any work there and that the journal is in "indefinite hiatus."

Unlike the previous journal's works, which were released every year, this one, which was supposed to be sold to the public on Amazon, hasn't been put up there at all, and I haven't received any complementary copies. I was really excited at the thought of being able to read others' work that was also selected, from around the world.

I'm a little bummed that this journal had specifically asked for submissions last year, and made it seem like writers' work would be published, again, just like all of their previous years' journals.

So, I'm wondering, "Does this mean I can't include this on my bio, anymore, when querying agents, since my piece turned out not to be published, yet was named, along with my name, as being selected for their journal's publication?" and "Does this mean I can't submit it to another publication?" It was very short (the journal asked for a short story no longer than 150 words), and I don't think it'll be accepted by most journals, who normally publish longer short stories.
 
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mrsmig

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First off, I am so sorry this happened to you.

I think the more urgent of your questions is whether or not you can submit the piece to another publication. (There are, indeed, places that publish flash fiction.) Did you sign a contract for publication? If so, is there any language in the contract that addresses reversion of the rights? If you didn't sign a contract, I expect you're home free, but you may wish to contact the university's administration (or the department which handled the journal, if it was, indeed, connected with a specific department) for verification.

Re: your bio - since the piece wasn't published, you could use nebulous language such as "my short story, (NAME OF SHORT STORY), was selected for inclusion in (NAME OF UNIVERSITY)'s literary journal (NAME OF JOURNAL)," and leave it at that.
 
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novicewriter

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Thanks.

No. I wasn't given any contract to sign at all. I was kind of worried that, if I tried sending it to other journals, they might come across the Facebook page and think it'd already been published because it was written as though it would be. I was also worried that, if an agent decided to look it up on Duotrope, they'd see that notice, about writer's not being advised to submit there, and assume that my work wasn't chosen by a reputable journal, that it was a scam.

I can't believe it. It would've been nice if I'd been contacted and told about this, instead of having to search, myself. The editor did have my email.

I kept waiting and waiting, all this time, giving them the benefit of the doubt because I didn't want to pester them, thinking that, perhaps they were just a little busy and behind, with their teaching duties also at the university. I'd told my relatives that my work was going to be published in it, when I was told last year. And I also make sure to send work to long-term, reputable journals, who've published for years, to make sure they're not a scam.
 
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Gillhoughly

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What mrsmig said.

I'm adding that while it's a shot of prestige on the resume, most editors will be interested only if another editor paid real money for your words. Leave it in, using that wording, and move on toward making sales in commercial markets with new works. Even university presses go belly up if the person championing them lets it go.
 

novicewriter

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I understand that paid work looks better (I usually try and go for that, and that journal was offering payment to the top 3 writers), but I still thought, since my piece was one of around 50 chosen out of around 1,100 submissions from around 19 countries around the world, along with older, middle-aged writers who've been published for years, that, as a relatively newbie who doesn't have a degree to add to my bio, it'd still look good to an agent and/or literary editors as a replacement because it at least lets them know that my work has been on par with more educated writers'.
 
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Thedrellum

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There's no need to include it. Most literary magazines (speaking from experience both on the editing and the writing side) only use your credits for the bios in the journal itself. As for an agent, if they've heard of the magazine they also probably know that it closed down, so I don't think it would give you much cred that way. In both cases, it's the work your sending them at that moment that matters.

I'm sorry about the cancellation of the magazine. That always sucks.
 

novicewriter

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I've just received an email from the editor; he's claiming that the university told him not to contact any of the contributors all these months, even though some tried to contact him to ask about the publication he'd said would happen (and that he was having long, frustrating conversations with the university about publishing the journal), even though it now no longer exists and won't continue.

He now says he's found a small press that will publish all contributor's work, yet he still says he can't get in touch with a few contributors. From his email, it sounds as though he's doing this on his own, not with the university's approval.

Now, I don't know what to do. I've been submitting my poem to several top lit mags because the editor's deadline of publishing in February passed, several months ago, and he'd left the university and didn't contact me to say he'd left the university for another job (I had to find that info out myself), until now. Also, those lit mags pay contributors, while, if I accept this editor's publishing deal, I won't be receiving payment for it, only in a contributor's copy (but, since he already claimed it'd be published, before, and it wasn't, I'm unsure if I'll even receive a contributor's copy).

When he notified me of my poem's acceptance a year ago, he did ask me by email if it'd be okay for them to publish it, and I'd said "yes." But that was before he'd given radio silence for several months, left his job at the university, etc. So, I'm unsure whether I'm still honor bound by that, even though I wasn't given a contract, when the editor wasn't being honest or truthful to me and others about publishing not happening when he claimed it would and didn't write to anyone for several months.

Does anyone have any idea of what I should do? A part of me would feel a bit guilty or that it'd be wrong of me to pull my own work out of this publication, trying to pursue lit mags that might pay for it, when they might reject it. However, I'd be disappointed that the first printed right for it will be gone, used up for a publication that won't be giving me any remuneration for it (and most other publications don't accept reprints) and that putting the credit in my bio (for a small press) might not do me any good.

I just feel a bit uncomfortable that the editor has finally decided to publish it without notifying anyone of what he was doing, all this time. I don't understand why the university forbade him to contact anyone in the first place, whether it was because he was no longer an employee of theirs or whether it's because of their arguing about publishing the contributors' work for one final issue; it sounds a bit concerning, especially because he said he had to hire IT guys to retrieve contributors' work on the computer. He said the institution no longer exists as a college campus.

I don't even know if he'll stay true to his word and really publish it, this time, as, last year, I'd believed him, several times and nothing happened. Yet, I don't know whether that was due to the university and, perhaps, their refusal to fund the lit mag, anymore or not.
 
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mrsmig

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Something about this situation doesn't smell right. Were I you, I'd shake off those guilty feelings and distance myself from this individual.

You're not under contract. The publication that accepted your poem no longer exists. This former editor is pitching your work to other publications without your knowledge and/or approval.

Tell him the piece is already out on submission to paying markets and is no longer available to him, and move on.
 

novicewriter

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Thank you so much for your help! My relatives don't/wouldn't know what to do in this situation because they're not writers, not familiar with the publishing industry, and wouldn't know whether or not my earlier "yes" of acceptance by email constituted as a binding contract or not.

I didn't really want to remove my poem from those other paying markets.
 
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Your acceptance was in relation to the now defunct publication. He can re-invite you for some other publication but I see little to recommend pursuing it. I would not call it a retraction as he doesn't take accepted works with him when moving publishers.
 

novicewriter

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Thank you for your help! That makes sense. I wasn't 100 percent sure because his email didn't mention that contributors had the option of removing their work; he just said we'd all move on with publication with this small press, without the people he couldn't contact.
 

novicewriter

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Now, the editor has just emailed me, again, even though I sent him an email withdrawing my work, months ago. He says that me withdrawing my work after I'd agreed to it isn't acceptable and that it can't be withdrawn now. He says that the only thing he can do is change the title.

Now what do I do? No other paying market has accepted the poem, but I don't like how he's blaming me as being "unacceptable" for wanting to withdraw my work, even though he was the one who kept making promises for over a year ago, about when the work would be published (then, never fulfilled them) and claimed that the university he worked at that was originally supposed to publish it told him not to contact anyone at all for months.

I also don't like that he hasn't been punctual in contacting and notifying the writers that were supposed to be published. I'm also concerned about the fact that, if the university fired him for something shady, I don't think it's a good idea for my name to be associated with his.

I don't understand why it took him months to send an email back, saying that he was refusing my withdrawal.

He's refusing to withdraw my work, even though he no longer works for the university who was going to publish it and is apparently going to continue to publish my work with the small press. So, apparently, he still believes that the agreement when he was working for a literary magazine at a university he no longer works at is still binding, even though I never expected him to leave the university, not contact me or any other writer for several months, then send the work to a small press, instead.

He was the one who didn't contact anyone for months, 10 months later, so no one knew what was happening, and he has the nerve to say I'm "unacceptable." And he and the small press will probably be making money off of all the writers' work. Of course I moved on and decided to send my work, elsewhere; he moved and didn't say anything, so I thought he'd abandoned the project. I already waited several months to hear from him and didn't send my work out until July.

Do I have to write another email to him, explaining all these specific reasons? It seems as though he doesn't/wouldn't care. He just seems to blame everyone else and make excuses: he already blamed the university as the reason why he couldn't/wasn't allowed to contact anyone; he's blaming me for being tired of waiting several months past his original publishing date and for not agreeing to this new small press that I don't know much about at all, even though I was led to believe it'd be published by the university on a certain month that passed a long time ago.
 
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novicewriter

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He doesn't have a signed contract so he cannot legally publish your work. I would suggest getting some one on one advice from someone like Victoria Strauss to work out how to get this dude to pull his head in and stop trying to bully you. http://www.victoriastrauss.com/writer-beware/

Thank you for your response. How will she be able to help? It looks to me like she's just an author, not a lawyer. It sounds as though he'll be publishing it very soon (perhaps, for Christmas holidays) as he already notified me he was planning on publishing it with the small press two months ago and told me all I'll be able to contact him for is to either change the title or the wording in my work.

I don't know how quickly anyone would be able to help to stop him before he publishes it; he's very unpredictable of when he'll do things he says he'll do.
 
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AW Admin

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Victoria Strauss runs Writer Beware for the SFWA. It's the primary author advocate site. She's seen hundreds if not thousands of contracts.

Contact her via Writer Beware.

I'd suggest also that you ask her about registering your copyright now.
 

mrsmig

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IANAL, but might it be worth your time to see if there's a local Legal Aid Society near you? Maybe they could draft a Cease and Desist letter for you.
 

mrsmig

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I woke up thinking about your situation this morning, and am wondering if you know the small publisher through which this character plans to publish your poem. If so, you could contact them directly and let them know that you have not given permission for your material to be used.

Again, I'm really sorry this is happening to you. The individual you're dealing with has no clue about how publishing works and indeed, sounds like he's got more than a few screws loose.
 

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Possibly the university they were originally with could also assist. Just politely inquiring what they think about the editors claims might shake a few things loose.
 

mrsmig

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Veinglory, I'd thought of that, too. I mean, the OP submitted to the journal when it was still under the auspices of the university. This editor clearly made off with the intellectual properties submitted to the journal. To me, that might make the university liable, and therefore interested in getting this guy to back off.
 

novicewriter

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Yes. Thank you, both. I also thought about contacting the university and the small press, today, too, but I wasn't sure whether it would be the right thing to do, as I wasn't given the full information about the university's dispute between them and the editor about publishing it and don't know if they'll be allowed to give me any information on a former employee of theirs, as I'm thinking they might just claim it's confidential information (since they told him not to contact any of the writers.) But, I guess I could try. I really hope this can stop. I'm worried because he has a more powerful position, now (at another university; I don't know if they'll be able to help or not, whether I should contact, them, too. But, I'm worried the editor might try to sue me or something like that, for libel or whatever else excuse and blame he might try to come up with, next, etc. if I try to contact his new workplace and mention what he's said to me, what he's trying to do, etc.)
 
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mrsmig

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novicewriter, you wouldn't be asking for particulars about their relationship with the editor. You'd be letting them know that this guy is planning on publishing material that was submitted to the university's journal without the permission of some of the authors - meaning you. And then ask them what they plan to do about it.
 

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There is absolutely no reason for you not to tell the university what is happening. That is your information to share. It was their press that solicited the work in the first place so they are a party to any improper claim on the rights to it.
 

novicewriter

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There is absolutely no reason for you not to tell the university what is happening. That is your information to share. It was their press that solicited the work in the first place so they are a party to any improper claim on the rights to it.

Okay. I wasn't sure. In addition to saying that the university's lit mag no longer exists, he also made an odd, confusing claim that the university and that campus no longer exists, but I found out they still do.
 
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Yes. Thank you, both. I also thought about contacting the university and the small press, today, too, but I wasn't sure whether it would be the right thing to do, as I wasn't given the full information about the university's dispute between them and the editor about publishing it and don't know if they'll be allowed to give me any information on a former employee of theirs, as I'm thinking they might just claim it's confidential information (since they told him not to contact any of the writers.) But, I guess I could try. I really hope this can stop. I'm worried because he has a more powerful position, now (at another university; I don't know if they'll be able to help or not, whether I should contact, them, too. But, I'm worried the editor might try to sue me or something like that, for libel or whatever else excuse and blame he might try to come up with, next, etc. if I try to contact his new workplace and mention what he's said to me, what he's trying to do, etc.)

I suggest you contact the University ASAP. There are very few lit mags run out of universities that are not student run periodicals. Is this a magazine/publication that you've actually seen?

Does it have it's own Website?

The more you post, the more odd it sounds. Please contact Victoria Strauss and Writer Beware; they are absolutely trustworthy and understand the necessity of keeping things confidential.