Talk about your flash in the pan! Astra Publications and all their paying zines are listed on Duotrope as permanently closed. I checked through the links I've posted over the past two weeks and, puff, gone in the ether. Some days there just seems to be neither rhyme nor rhythm to this marketing game. Sorry about that, folks!
I just thought I'd add a list of the zines under Astra's umbrella that I provided links for here. If you've sent out a story to one of them, or one listed on Astra's page you might want to send a letter of withdrawal.
Futura
Readshift SF
The Written Word
PulpFic Press
nth Dimension
Desert Rose, which was one of the ten that disappeared
Atomic Chipmunk
3 comments:
I had a bad feeling about this one from the beginning, David. There was no page for Astra Publications but for new zines/anthologies they were offering some very high payment and I thought with only one issue a year they might prove a viable market.
In the end, we're all just trying to find good markets for our work and having things like this happen really makes it tough for the next market that comes along.
This is one of the reason I try to remind people to check things out for themselves and always proceed with caution.
Sandra: Thanks for the heads up. They did seem pretty iffy, and I never ended up pitching them because they just seemed unprofessional and suspicious. Very mysterious though.
I agree, Margaret. I just wonder what their game really was. Seems odd to set up a publishing site then just disappear.
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