I ran across this anthology call for Scarlett Galleon Publications and had to chuckle about this part of their guidelines:
"It
is expected that submissions will be fully edited and proofread prior
to being sent in for consideration. Submissions with incorrect grammar,
misspellings, or formatting issues will be disqualified and therefore
excluded from the review process. ALL submissions that are accepted for
publication in DEAD HARVEST - A Collection of Dark Tales, will be
subject to minor editorial corrections. Any stories needing more than
minor edits, but meritorious for their originality and content, will be
discussed with the contributor prior to exclusion, however Scarlet
Galleon Publications maintains the right to disqualify the entry if the
overall editorial process would prove too exhaustive."
I don't know how you feel but I've always believed that if you're going to run a company and put out quality work you should expect to be tired. It's a good thing, and part of the job..
Anyhoo, if you can turn in a really, really clean submission the anthology is titled Dead Harvest and they're looking for dark stories of 4000 to 9000 words. The reading period is May 1 to May 31 and payment is $25.
12 comments:
What they describe has been standard editorial practice for generations. If you submit a sloppy manuscript it probably won't get accepted; if you submit a manuscript that's pretty good but not quite ready, you'll be asked to revise it; and if you send a perfect manuscript, it'll likely get published. That this publisher felt the need to spell out what has been publishing SOP for a bloody long time is a bit sad. Are new writers so dense that they don't understand this? Is that why this publisher feels the need to explain it?
I have no idea, Michael. I've always believed that you send the best edited story you can and I expect that's what most new writers do also. I've been seeing this spelling out of the obvious a great deal with new editors and publishers. Perhaps it's lack of experience on their part rather than the writers?
They sound pretty uppity for a $25 payment.
Well, they're certainly not going to attract many of the pro writers with $25, that's for sure.
I don't think they mean to be uppity as much as they want the work as perfect as it can be and they don't trust the writers to provide that kind of work.
I agree with Dusty. $25 for 9,000 words is a bit low.
Do they think what we do is easy?
To put this in perspective, $25 won't get you a good meal.
I understand your frustration, Christopher, but at least they're offering something which is a lot more than many of the other new presses.
And you're right, what we do isn't easy and it should pay more. The pay scales in writing world are grossly uneven.
Not frustration. It's more about recognizing the work that goes into a story and getting paid an equitable amount for the work.
And even then, I'd trade the money for wide exposure with good company.
I'm a new writer and obviously at this stage of the game, I'm balancing my professional life with my writing life. Still, I realize that when I write a good short story, there's plotting, language, and editing involved. When you do it for 4,000 words it's a matter of putting some quality into the economy of words you use. With 9,000 words, the editing and rewrites will take time.
Boiled down, it takes me at least 3 days to come up with a good story, 3 days to write it, and 3 days to edit it. Considering a work day can be eight hours: 9*8 is 72. Divide that into $25.00 and that's $0.35 an hour.
Who are these people? Nike?
If however, this publisher has a good relationship with a decent distributor and can guarantee some awesome exposure, I'd accept that kind of rate.
But with the bait this publisher is putting on his hook, I'm unsure what kind of book he's looking to produce.
True, you have to be able to trust the publisher, but even the ones you trust can let you down. I submitted a story to a very reputable publisher for an anthology he was going to produce. A year later I finally hear back that he didn't get enough stellar stories so he was canceling the anthology, and that was after I queried him on the progress of the anthology. A year of my time wasted. Now, I'm back to square one - looking for a new market.
I sent them an 8,400 word story on May 9th. It has been two months, and I haven't heard a word. Has anyone else had this problem?
According to their guidelines they won't start reading until after the May 31 deadline so it's only been six weeks. If they got swamped with submissions it could be several months before they answer all of them. Hope that helps, Wayne.
Hello everyone. I am the publisher at the helm of Scarlet Galleon Publications and am only just seeing this blog thread of comments around my inaugural publication, DEAD HARVEST - A Collection of Dark Tales, launching in September 2014
In terms of some of the comments here, I would like to express my appreciation that folks are interested.
In answer to Mr. Bracken's comment about it being "a bit sad" that I would need to explain what is standard practice in the field of publishing, the submission guidelines were outlined in the way they were because not everyone is as seasoned as perhaps you are. Our guidelines weren't only written for seasoned submittors, but were outlined in a way that would be simple for ALL interested in reading them and (hopefully) adhearing to them. I hope this clarification helps.
In terms of the "low" pay scale, this is Galleon's inaugural publication and (unlike many other small presses) this project is being solely funded out of my own pocket. That being said, I think if you follow the publication's release in September, you will be pleasantly surprised at the number of industry leaders the project has attracted. So the assertion that no professional writers would be interested is thankfully untrue. The final project will include over 50 stories which equates to close to $50.00 a head, which is close to $3,000.00 for the stories alone.
These details aren't shared out of necessity or a need to defend anything having to do with this project. I simply thought if others were going to write about a project they know very little about in terms of details, it might be helpful for them to gain some insight into the method behind the perceived "madness."
In terms of the editing expectation, it simple means, please send in as clean a submission as possible. Clearly it's expected that some line editing will be needed.
In response to Mr. Peruzzi's comment around, "Do they think what we do is easy?" (speaking to the perceived LOW payment), I am a writer myself, and fully understand the desire/need/expectation to be paid pro-rates, but if you are as in tune with industry standards as you seem to be, you will quickly see that nearly no small presses pay at the pro-rate scale of .05 cents a word. If that were the case, imagine the cost of a 50 story anthology that has the max word count per story at 9,000 words. That would be $450.00 per story, at a whopping total of $22,500.00 for the accepted stories alone. I don't know of any single individual who could foot such an exorbitant amount.
Folks, when writing these statements, could you PLEASE try to take the reality of the matter into account? It's easy to sit in judgement when it's not you who's footing the bill out of your own bank account.
To that end, I will close with a simple THANK YOU. I can only hope folks will treat the finished project with kinder, more understanding words than have been expressed in this thread of comments.
And for Wayne C. Rogers who stated he submitted a story and never received word back, Scarlet Galleon Publications never received a submission from you. I'm guessing that's why you never received a response. I'm very sorry to hear that.
Warm regards,
Mark Parker, Owner/Publisher
Scarlet Galleon Publications
For Mark Parker,
I submitted to you in August for the Fearful Fathoms Anthology, following the guidelines to the best of my ability, but have not had a response other than it was under consideration. Are you still reading, or am I to assume no response means a rejection of my story?
JP
egry88@hotmail.com
Post a Comment