scrubjayspeaks (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
scrubjayspeaks) wrote2021-04-26 05:20 pm
scrubjayspeaks) wrote2021-04-26 05:20 pm
Entry tags:
Today's Keyboard Smash
ARGGGG! I'm succeeding in tying myself up in knots. There's a submission call at a small press that a friend tipped me to. I've been dicking about with an idea for a while. Like, really a while. Submissions close the first. Uh. Yeah. I haven't written the story yet, but I definitely probably could get it done in time. It's not long, I've got an outline and some bits started.
I spent all day getting enthused about it. Thinking, yeah, okay, we're cutting it kinda close, but this is doable. And then I got home. I needed to check the guidelines again--I wasn't sure I was remembering the word count requirements correctly--and somewhere along the line...I...got weirded out. Not by anything specific exactly. It's just...it's a small press.
Again.
I've had a somewhat checkered past with small presses. Which is to say, they keep dying. Sometimes while in the midst of publishing my story. Which sucks! I've been lucky, in that I've gotten prompt rights revision and didn't have any payments in limbo. So apart from the general disappointment and wasted time, I haven't suffered any ill effects.
So I'm kind of waiting for that other shoe to drop at this point.
I feel bad for not wanting to take a chance on small presses. I mean, how will they ever get off the ground if someone doesn't send them stories? But I also feel like I've gotten burned often enough that I can give small presses a hard pass with a fairly clean conscience. One of these times, I AM going to end up in the middle of some drama. I won't get paid, or they'll pull some shit with reserving rights to the edited version, or something else to make it so the story and my pay get stuck permanently.
It's not like I can't still write the story. It's not like there aren't other places I could send it once I do, or other ways I could put it out for readers. I just don't know if the reason I'm stalling out like this is because I don't want to put in the effort to write something in crunch time. Or if I've waited until crunch time hit without writing anything because I haven't felt comfortable with the publisher from the start.
I really like writing stories, but goddamn, the last ten years and change has taught me that I really don't like working with publishers. (Admittedly, I don't love trying to do it all myself EITHER, though that's probably a separate issue.) I feel like I would sooner never see any money and just put stories out for free myself, rather than put my faith in publishers (of any size) to do things ~professionally~.
I spent all day getting enthused about it. Thinking, yeah, okay, we're cutting it kinda close, but this is doable. And then I got home. I needed to check the guidelines again--I wasn't sure I was remembering the word count requirements correctly--and somewhere along the line...I...got weirded out. Not by anything specific exactly. It's just...it's a small press.
Again.
I've had a somewhat checkered past with small presses. Which is to say, they keep dying. Sometimes while in the midst of publishing my story. Which sucks! I've been lucky, in that I've gotten prompt rights revision and didn't have any payments in limbo. So apart from the general disappointment and wasted time, I haven't suffered any ill effects.
So I'm kind of waiting for that other shoe to drop at this point.
I feel bad for not wanting to take a chance on small presses. I mean, how will they ever get off the ground if someone doesn't send them stories? But I also feel like I've gotten burned often enough that I can give small presses a hard pass with a fairly clean conscience. One of these times, I AM going to end up in the middle of some drama. I won't get paid, or they'll pull some shit with reserving rights to the edited version, or something else to make it so the story and my pay get stuck permanently.
It's not like I can't still write the story. It's not like there aren't other places I could send it once I do, or other ways I could put it out for readers. I just don't know if the reason I'm stalling out like this is because I don't want to put in the effort to write something in crunch time. Or if I've waited until crunch time hit without writing anything because I haven't felt comfortable with the publisher from the start.
I really like writing stories, but goddamn, the last ten years and change has taught me that I really don't like working with publishers. (Admittedly, I don't love trying to do it all myself EITHER, though that's probably a separate issue.) I feel like I would sooner never see any money and just put stories out for free myself, rather than put my faith in publishers (of any size) to do things ~professionally~.