To be honest, I have a few problems with the mag you linked to.
First, the payment rates are very, very high for a web mag right off the ground and it makes me a bit suspicious. Orson Scott Card managed to pay pro rates from the start, but well, he's Orson Scott Card. Something in me says, "Too good to be true."
Second, what is it you want, exactly? There are no details about who you are, what your goals are, or what your vision is for this magazine.
Third, what rights are you asking for?
In short, at this point I'm very suspicious that this is some kind of scam.
[This message has been edited by Christine (edited July 30, 2006).]
Posted by Isaiah13 (Member # 2283) on :
They're also asking for a $1.50 per submission.
Posted by Ray (Member # 2415) on :
Didn't we just get through ripping at one of these things not even a month ago?
Posted by Ray (Member # 2415) on :
And once is enough! Posting this on six different forums is really pretentious.
Posted by Beth (Member # 2192) on :
Probably more "obnoxious spamming" than "pretentious," but a valid point.
Posted by Beth (Member # 2192) on :
and I am always suspicious of markets that employ such atrocious grammar on their site and their announcements. That alone is enough reason for me to stay away, even ignoring the lack of vision, lack of information about who's involved, odd link with charities, and submission fee.
"All genre's welcome."
[This message has been edited by Beth (edited July 30, 2006).]
Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :
I was done reading long before I got to the submission fee! Yikes! That must be why they think they can afford to pay so much -- but I truly hope authors are not naive enough to pay a fee to submit a story to them.
"genre's" LOL
Posted by trousercuit (Member # 3235) on :
I think this thread is a good candidate for one of Kathleen's BEWARE!!! tags.
Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :
Well, I've deleted a few of them and locked others. I'll leave this one open as another cautionary topic.
And I've sent the website to SFWA's WRITER BEWARE people.
When you consider how many submissions come in to magazines from writers desperate to be published, they could make a tidy bundle just off of the submission fee.
Posted by hoptoad (Member # 2145) on :
quote: The fee will be used for the upkeep of the site and as a donation to the foundations to the left.
Upkeep of the site... heh heh heh
I used to work, (a lifetime ago) in a telemarketing company where we told people that "50% of the profits go to the ---- Foundation." When I discovered what that really meant (one dollar out of every thirty), I could no longer peddle laser sharpened knives to pensioners.
Posted by trousercuit (Member # 3235) on :
quote:50% of the profits go to the ---- Foundation.
Those four dashes... do they represent a swear word?
Posted by hoptoad (Member # 2145) on :
No. That would be the @#$% Foundation. Not quite so charitable but a lot more fun.
Posted by Leigh (Member # 2901) on :
Crappy site, really. I've seen much better scams that didn't involve a submission fee.
Also, I'd never pay to submit my work for anyone.Unless, of course, they're a large publishing company
Stupid scam artists.
Posted by Aust Alien (Member # 3493) on :
Sadly, there must be a lot of people who do or these guys wouldn't exist.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
On charging a fee...Long, long, long ago now, a couple of magazines I used to submit to charged a twenty-five cent reading fee. I tolerated it 'cause I read and liked the magazines---and had no trouble scraping up the quarter to send, either. (I gathered, later, this was the subject of much argument within the field---I didn't know this at the time. It probably wouldn't have made any difference to me.)
Allowing for inflation and such, I might go for a dollar reading fee. But I'd have to know and like the magazines, or, in this modern day, website---which isn't the case here.
Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
I don't know...I can see a "handling" fee (maybe 50 cents in today's money) but a reading fee doesn't cut it with me.
Slush readers get to be utterly brutal. They really aren't obligated to keep reading past the first page, or even the first line. In fact, they can chuck something just because they don't like the typeface. For the vast majority of submissions, the slush reader can consign it to the reject pile in less than a minute. Sometimes they reject something because they don't want to bother figuring out how to open the package. True, you have to do something pretty odd for that to happen, but it does happen.
That isn't worth a reading fee of a dollar.
And for those submissions that break up the monotany by being readable past the first page? I don't think that you need to send in a reading fee for those either. You can if you want, though. Just put a crisp new dollar in the middle of your next manuscript, with a thank you note for the diligent slush reader
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
For awhile, I used to flip a page way inside my MS upside down when I mailed it in. I usually got it back with the page upside down---and, also, there was a mention in an editorial complaining about the practice. (Along the lines of "Sure, I can read upside down...")
I can admit it now, those stories were awful. But I'd like some evidence that they had been read, or at least noticed...
Posted by trousercuit (Member # 3235) on :
You really should have turned the first page upside-down if you wanted to know whether it got any consideration. To determine how much after that, you could have turned every other odd page upside-down as well.
I'm so brilliant it's scary.
Posted by Beth (Member # 2192) on :
Turn all the pages upside down! Then you'll know exactly where the editor stopped reading.
Or! I know. Dust the returned manuscript for fingerprints.
Posted by Verdant (Member # 3498) on :
So if all the pages are upside down, how do I know the reader didn't just turn the manuscript around?
Posted by Beth (Member # 2192) on :
That was kind of my point.
Once a story's out, you have zero control over it, so it is not worth obsessing over whether someone read to page 3 or page 4. Focus on what you can control: writing the next story well.
Posted by hoptoad (Member # 2145) on :
A: Send it to the right publisher, too.
B: I think it's been mentioned before, but slush readers tend to look for any excuse not to read the manuscript.
Approximation of how I would approach the task of slush reading:
1: Read the cover letter and asses whether length, genre, audience etc of the story fits with my company's publishing and marketing goals. 2: I would read the first page if no probs then go to pp 2. 3: If I still want to keep reading after a couple of pages, I would stop (time) and 4: Look for the synopsis then 5: Try to find anything that whiffs of a flaw 6: Flick to random pages in the manuscript to see if the writing was consistent.
Summary: I would try EARLY to find ANY reason to NOT read it. Otherwise I would risk getting half-way through and discovering I've wasted my time.
Point: I think its a bit simplistic to imagine that the whole manuscript will be read in the early stages. A couple of inverted pages would persuade me to bin the whole thing mainly because it would lead me question the motives of the author. Any submission that flags the writer as a prize twit is fundamentally flawed.
[This message has been edited by hoptoad (edited July 31, 2006).]
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
Well, a coffee cup stain on page six is a dead giveaway that somebody got that far...
Posted by Beth (Member # 2192) on :
So?
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
Of course you guys who grew up submitting via e-mail never knew the joys of getting your manuscript back through the regular mail...the folded and torn and battered pages...the stained and drenched pages...the occasional scribbling on the pages...all on the one-and-only decent copy, requiring hours-if-not-days of retyping to make your work presentable and send out again...to say nothing of manuscripts that completely disappear on you, with no idea whether they got as far as the publisher or not...
Of course also, we at least knew somebody had handled the manuscript, if only to shove it in the return envelope. Maybe your e-submissions were just deleted, and they only told you they read and rejected it...
Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
The thing is...I'm pretty sure the dollar trick would work and wouldn't piss off the reader. It isn't professional, and I don't actually recommend that you do it. I'm just saying, if you get the urge to pull some kind of "how far did you really read" stunt, do something that shows appreciation for the reader.
Posted by authorsjourney (Member # 3569) on :
quote:Of course you guys who grew up submitting via e-mail never knew the joys of getting your manuscript back through the regular mail
Do a lot of people here only submit by email? There are still an awful lot of publications that don't take email submissions, including the best ones. I can't imagine ignoring Asimovs, Analog, FSF and so many others when sending out a story.
Posted by sholar (Member # 3280) on :
I still liked when I flipped a page on my progress review and showed that the prof giving me a grade had not read my paper. When she ranted about how she saw no proof of X in my paper, I just sat there thinking well, since you didn't read it...Though she was right, X was not included in my paper because my paper was on a whole different subject.
Posted by Lord Darkstorm (Member # 1610) on :
"The First Five Pages", is a book for anyone who wants some cold reality on the things an editor/slush reader is looking for to send your submission on its merry way back to you. This all done with reading the smallest amount of the manuscript possible.
It also give quite a bit of good advice on how to avoid falling into the 80% form letter rejection pile.
Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :
Um, yeah, I submit on paper, but I can print out a manuscript a wee bit faster than I can type one. all my paper manuscripts are disposable. Saves on postage.
Posted by authorsjourney (Member # 3569) on :
I wouldn't think that disposables save very much money. Less postage, more paper and ink.
Posted by spcpthook (Member # 3246) on :
Getting back the manuscript I sent out would just cost me postage on top of paper and ink because I've usually looked at it and found errors or added or deleted something by the time I get rejected. I save a copy of the one sent out but once it's rejected that file becomes history so I reprint before it goes out again anyway.
Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
Yeah, that's what I think. Even if the manuscript comes back in a condition that you'd really resubmit to someone else. Though I think that it might be good to use the submission time to just clear the story out of your head and work on something else. That way you can come back for a revision with a clear mind.
Posted by Pyre Dynasty (Member # 1947) on :
Heres some proof that they were a scam and not some well intending idiots. The site has been cleaned out.
Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
Let's reward them by loading their page millions of times
