Professionalism isnt all about the pay rates, but--with a handful of outlier exceptions--smaller and lower-paying markets are also much less likely to treat writers well, respond promptly, or offer reasonable contract terms. I quit submitting original fiction to semi-pro and token markets a while back (again, with a couple of worthy exceptions). My self-instituted policy is to target markets that pay pro rates and respond (at least initially) within 90 days. I broke my own policy and submitted to a semi-pro magazine that doesnt fit either criteria this February. Six months and numerous communications fails later, I have now marked the story as withdrawn in my spreadsheet and will move on. Lifes too short to deal with nonsense like that. I wont name the magazine out of respect for several of my friends associated with it. But Im posting this to remind my fellow writers that being treated with respect by the editors you submit to is not optional, and that you should never send your work to places that fail to do so. Then let the free market determine the quality of the material theyre left with.
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 01:30:55 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015