Pam Casto sends out a newletter once a month. In it she posts publications that ask for submissions. Most have a reading fee, others pay nothing but will graciously publish your work for exposure (very generous of them). So I was sure this was a misprint when I read it...
quote:Every other month, we select five stories for publication. Each writer receives $1,000. This is a payment, not a prize. We value writing, we know how hard it is, and we believe writers are entitled to fair compensation.
The publication is called Electric Literature. They appear to be an open genre market (I say appear because they only asked for fiction. Their only other criterea is word length, 1500 to 10000 words. Even at the maximum, that's 10 cents a word. Not only is this shocking, but they ask for no reading fee, allow simutaneous submissions, and accept electronic submissions. They don't want cover letters (not interested in resumes), which makes it an even playing field for everyone.
So what's the catch? They do ask for you to purchase a copy to familiarize yourself with the publication. Not anything a countless other publications ask for. Other than that, they do have this standard.
quote:Grab Us We are looking for work with a strong voice which hooks us in the first paragraph and doesn't let go until the final sentence.
I've submitted to them. Never had them ask for money... They generally have taken 4-6 months to respond. Judging by the authors they publish, I'm betting I'll have to hit a best-seller list or five before I have a shot (they seem to favor known novelists in the more literary genres). But for 1k payday, they'll keep seeing submissions from me Posted by izanobu (Member # 9314) on :
Also, I don't see how that money is shocking... Tor.com pays 25 cents a word, which means if they bought the story I have on sub to them at the moment, I'd make about 1500 bucks... My Daily SF story is making about half what Electric Story would pay, for example (8 cents a word adds up when your stories are longer). Getting paid hundreds if not over a thousand for a single story is what should happen when you're selling to top markets
I think it is sort of funny/sad that anything that pays a decent amount instantly gets our suspicions going.
Posted by WouldBe (Member # 5682) on :
They have a free iPhone app (and maybe other apps). With that app, you can get one story for free that you may use to judge their publication. The one I got was long and quite extraordinary. The plot was rather simple, but the detail of the setting (skiing in the Alps) was great. I don't know if the free story changes.
I don't question their legitimacy. I hope they make it with their business model.
Posted by Osiris (Member # 9196) on :
I submitted a story to "The Sun" which would have earned around $1000, it got a 3 paragraph personal rejection so I might try them again sometime in the future.
Big payers are out there, just that there will be a lot of competition.
Posted by rich (Member # 8140) on :
Couple of interviews with the founders, Andy Hunter & Scott Lindenbaum.
I'm not seeing any red flags here, although in their about page they do specify literary fiction. I like their business plan, using P.O.D. and charging a normal amount for e-pubs to save money that they then pass on to their writers, which makes them attract the best writers. I might have to come up with something that would suit them. They also seems to have an app building side business going that looks promising.
Posted by LDWriter2 (Member # 9148) on :
There are high paying markets no doubt about it. Some pay $2,000 and more for a story. But with this one it seems like most of us here never heard of it. I think that was part of the problem.
And I also wonder how many of us feel ready, if we can't sell to a pro market or even semi-pro how can we sell to a high paying market with even more stringent rules. Not saying that is logical but I wouldn't be surprised that is also part of some people' reaction.
Posted by rich (Member # 8140) on :
I'm a big, big fan of The New Yorker, but their literary fiction leaves a lot to be desired. Every once in awhile, you'll get a T.C. Boyle or a Woody Allen, but, for the most part, it's all crap.
Literary fiction does pay well; I think part of it is the snobbery. Even in literary markets that don't pay well, they're still one of the first markets to be looked at when it comes to year-end reviews and anthologies.
