AND DAMN PROUD OF IT. There I said it. I love writing short stories. I love searching for markets that my stories will fit into. Not all of them pay. So, does that make me any less of a writer than the guy who gets twenty-five dollars for every story he writes?
There's been a lot of discussion in recent weeks about the amount of pay being offered up (or not) by the current crop of zines and magazines. In the mystery genre the pay is either token or non-existent with very few exceptions. And those exceptions are over-run with submissions and being a bottom line company they'll go with the name brands before the newbies. Do I blame them? No, how could I? They're running a company and need to make a profit.
What bothers me is organizations that claims to support writers, but point their fingers at short story writers and say, "We don't want your kind." What kind is that? The kind that makes the $200 limit required to buy into their organization but not in the required $25 increments. Hello! If the mystery genre markets are only paying $10 - $15 per story, what are we supposed to do? Stuff our stories in a drawer?
Then of course you have the flip side of that. Getting paid pro-rates for your mystery stories in other genres, which, while being well-paid, doesn't count because they're not on an approved market list.
It seems to me that short story writers are caught between a rock and hard place. We're damned if we do publish for less than pro-rates and damned if we don't publish in the "approved" genre markets. While I never have been nor will I ever be a member of such an organization, I still believe that that organization has a responsibility to all their members, not just a select few.
If you're going to give awards for short stories, pay attention to the short story markets that are available to your members. Keep your listings updated. Realize that quality stories are appearing in markets that don't fit the genre image, but also in markets that don't meet the pay scale. If the average pay for the genre is lower than the required rate maybe it's time to reconsider your rules instead of shunning writers.
Isn't it about time short story writers got the respect they deserve?
11 comments:
The main thing for me is the writing; the second thing is getting it in print or online. Money is way down the list for me, but I never expected to make money from writing because I started so late.
To rephrase a line from Stealer's Wheel: "Rocks to the left of me, hard places to the right. Stuck in the middle again."
Perhaps it's time to found the SSWA--Short Story Writers of America--and set our own, realistic requirements for membership.
But we have to have standards. We don't want to hang out with any of those flash fiction writers. You KNOW what they're like...always trying to lower the length requirements for short fiction.
Pretty soon we won't be quibbling over number of words, we'll be quibbling over number of letters. We'll have to define the minimum number of letters it takes to tell an entire story.*
Sigh. The discussion will never end. There will always be an "us" (the members of the organization) and a "them" (people who want to be members).
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*It's one. There's a moderately well-known science fiction story that's only one letter long.
I know what you mean, Patti. I doubt I'll make a living with my fiction writing and the way I choose markets would probably drive a sane man crazy. I enjoy getting the work out there and the token payments don't bother me too much. What really thrills me is hearing back from a reader who says they like the story.
How right you are, Michael. Back a few years ago I was invited to join a group of writers and editors who were trying to set up a flash fiction organization. They discussed dues, went on adnauseam about word length and awards but never about setting up the organization. When they started discussing literary vs genre flash, I was out of there. I don't believe they ever did get the organization off the ground.
Being in the dairy industry most of my adult life, I had my fill of organizations. Like the government, they never actually work for the people they represent. But it's nice to rant on about it now and again, hoping that someone will listen.
I remember reading that sci-fi story a long time ago. If I remember correctly the story itself was in the title with the one letter being the punchline.
And you didn't have to rephase the song. "Clowns to the left of me, jokers to right" works quite well.
I've been following this discussion because of my Sandra's participation in it. I'm pretty sure that was the last place that Lee Bulldog expected to open up as a front on the various debates that have been erupting lately.
He can say what he wants about Spinetingler but the truth of the matter is that we went out and actively searched for stories when it came to the short fiction category for the Spinetingler Award and we don't have any paid employees.
The interesting thing about that approved periodicals list is that it is, by his own admission, a beta list. They haven't yet parsed out the periodicals from the publishers. So Cemetery Dance and all of the periodicals with Dorchester as a parent company will be added. The list will grow in the immediate future.
My point is that since they knew that the list was essentially in beta they should have either made a notation of that fact on the site (they did for publishers) or waited until the list was complete.
I for one will be checking back in from time to time to make sure that list DOES grow.
I was rather surprised that Lee was even on the SMFS list. I noticed that the MWA have been very much on the defensive about a number of things this past year or two.
I'm glad that they'll be adding more markets to the list as it's only fair to the members who are short story writers. If I'm understanding it right though, it's too late to be included on this year's list of nominees.
Interesting post, if frustrating for the short story writer! It's always seemed to me that people are amazed when there's a short story writer who's successful, JUST from writing shorts. It's like, novels are the standard, poetry is golden, but the short story is the silly stepsister. Sheesh.
It's very strange how little respect the short gets, Conda. When people remember something they read, better than half the time its a short story that they remember. Not to mention all the movies that have been made based on short stories. Short stories tend to stick with you. Maybe because the best of them start at the heart and work their way to a conclusion.
Oh, I'd hate to be respectable.If you want to be respectable be a dentist.
True, Paul. There's always more fun to found in the backroom at the poolhall than sitting in a dentist's chair. ;-)
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