Each submitter will read and choose between two other stories. This choice will be used to select the winning story. The first story to be published in the Magazine will be selected in this way out of the first 8 qualifying stories.

The chance of your story being published is therefore 1/8 if you are one of the first 8 people to submit.

For more details see thereandthenmagazine.com.

Doug

I've put the main details on the website: http://www.thereandthenmagazine.com.

The second problem is solved by the mechanics: reviewers aren't privy to the author's name.

The system has 3 goals. One is to weight things to favor good stories instead of known authors. One is to decentralize editing power. One is to make it possible to have a journal that will cost little (in time and money) to run so that it can go on for years.

So, if:

quote:

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...reviewers aren't privy to the author's name.

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To make things clearer, I added a second, better example. Now an author can compare the two examples and see what changes and what remains constant. I want the description of the submission process to be very simple and completely unambiguous. Thanks for the feedback so far. Here's the new version (same address as the old version, but for convenience . . . ):

We still need 7 more for this first round.

After this coming Wednesday I hope to open up submissions to a more general audience.

One of the purposes of this publication is to provide a venue where feedback is fast. The problem is that right now at the beginning, when Hatrack readers of this "Markets" thread are the only possible entrants, feedback is as slow as the trickle of stories.

With that in mind, and feeling safe because of the quality of the stories already submitted, I am lowering the bar for the first published story. The first story will be selected out of the first four stories submitted.

So that means 3 down and 1 to go.

Anyway, I've been thinking a bit about things trying to figure out why there hasn't been a better author response to my request for submissions. Here are some ideas:

1) It's too hard to write realistic historical fiction because you have to do research,
2) Hatrack is the wrong venue to look in to find historical fiction writers,
3) Writing something for a new, untried publication isn't exciting,
4) Writing something for a non-paying venue isn't exciting,
5) The chance of publication seems too low,
6) The website doesn't look that sharp.

Anyway, if you read this post and if you haven't submitted a story would you be willing to write to let me know why? The primary goal of the magazine is to provide a great venue for authors so what you think matters and can help change the direction of and strategies of the magazine.

And, if you are interested in having a 1/4 shot at being the author of the first story of the first issue of the magazine, go here and follow the instructions to submit.

1) It's too hard to write realistic historical fiction because you have to do research,

Some truth to this. A more in depth reason is because the premise and setting is too restricting. Nothing was hitting me for an idea. Any idea I would have had would probably be to sarcastic to be taken seriuosly.

2) Hatrack is the wrong venue to look in to find historical fiction writers,

Not sure about that. Historical fiction would be tough to entice most writers anyway.

3) Writing something for a new, untried publication isn't exciting,

Quite the opposite. Getting in on the ground floor is a great reason to try.

4) Writing something for a non-paying venue isn't exciting,

That has a lot of truth to it. I know of writers that have yet to make there first sale that don't submit to anything that isn't pro-paying

5) The chance of publication seems too low,

One in four chance is a lot better odds than anywhere else that I know of.

6) The website doesn't look that sharp.

Not sure how much of a factor that is.

Here are some other reason why you are not having much luck.

1) Not getting out the word

As far as I know, posting a call out to submissions has existed in this solitary forum. I am guessing only a dozen people read it. You would have done several times better if you have post a thread with a link in Writing Discussions to here.
A far better idea would have been to post a call on Ralan.com. You would have had filled your submission call, I bet.

2) Premise is not exciting

Verdun in 1916? Let's see. Trench warfare, depressing, not much english spoken (most would ignore that, I bet). Yep, sounds boring to me. A lot better places to open a call. Titanic, Stalingrad, Little Big Horn, Gettysburg, Victorian England, are a few that come off the top of my head.

3) No pay?

Come on. A dollar to the winner, paid by paypal only. Most writers would probably turn it down. The credit for a paid sale means more than a buck anyway. Even if they want the buck I'm sure it won't break you.

One reason why I didn't participate is because I am elbows deep in other stuff. Trying to finish a submission for an anthology whose deadline is the end of this month, critiques for writers that I am committed to doing, I need to think about my WotF entry, On The Premises, Baens, ASIM, and so many others that I plan on getting thing to.
Not to mention work and family. See? I'm late for bed now.

Good luck. Consider Ralan. It will get you writers and readers.

2) I got rid of the bit about Verdun. It was only meant to be an example of a time and place that someone might choose, not a requirement or really even a suggestion.

3) I'm still thinking about the dollar. It's not just the dollar but the extra work of paying the money and the change of relationships that money brings along. Also, if I start paying then should I start figuring out how to get paid? It seemed like things would be a lot simpler if I didn't have to worry about any of that at first. But I have to admit that I didn't understand that being paid for a story could matter to an author even if it was only symbolic. Does anyone else want to chime in on this? I might be persuaded.

1)As for getting the word out, you're right--I haven't done much of that yet at all. To me it makes sense to start with a small group and improve it with feedback from the small group and only then go to more people. But I'm probably taking that to too much of an extreme. Thanks for suggesting some extra venues.

I'd decided that Verdun was an example, but only after quite a bit of chin-scratching. (I know you've fixed this, but it was an element of the past lack of responses.)

For that reason, I want to give my time to something that could make a genuine contribution.

I got the idea for this magazine while I was studying the lives of a lot of authors and noticed how many got their start in the short fiction market. I read a NYT article by Stephen King about the weakness of the short fiction market and I saw the way the magazine market is changing and I saw magazines dying because their editors ran out of money or time.

With all of this input I thought "I can do something here. I can make a magazine that doesn't depend on one editor and that takes almost no money to run. I can provide a venue where authors could write and then get feedback on what they write within days. I can provide a venue that is completely democratic and rewards stories completely on their merit." And, dreaming into the future, "I can provide a venue that is one of the highest paying markets for short stories in the business."

As I type that out I still get a little excited. But just because I'm excited doesn't mean it's a good idea or worth pursuing. It has to be a real service for authors and eventually for readers as well.

Anyway, I may have been wrong about a lot of things. Maybe I was wrong when I thought that judging between two stories as part of the process would be a plus rather than a cost. Maybe I was wrong about there being a weakness in the short fiction market.

Or maybe I was absolutely right and I just need to tweak some things and, more importantly, really start to get the word out and the magazine can have a large impact and be well worth my time.

I don't know how anyone else will answer, but I'd like to read some decent Historical Fiction--as well as see more Flash markets for historical.

Have faith in yourself, you do have an idea worthy of a shot here. And short fiction is having a little trouble at the moment so we need idea people working on it.