CALLIHOO Newsletter Market News for Writers of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Julia West, Editor Vol. 9, No. 13 29 January 2002 Website: http://www.sff.net/people/julia.west/CALLIHOO/index.htm In This Issue Publication Notes Deadlines Market Guidelines Fictionwise eBooks (gls) Market Information Beyond the Last Star anthology Black Gate Elysian Fiction Fictionwise eBooks Maelstrom SF (dead) Romance and Beyond (hiatus) ----------------------------------------------------------------- NEWS PUBLICATION NOTES Sue Kroupa sold a story to the SFF.NET anthology =Beyond the Last Star=. Congratulations, Sue! ----------------------------------------------------------------- DEADLINES Check out the CALLIHOO website, listed above, for more information on these contests, magazine issues, and anthologies. (Where it says "GLs in Vol. X No. Y," these are volume and issue of the CALLIHOO newsletter.) Beyond the Last Star Anthology Deadline 1 February 2002 [Print anthology, SF/F/H, pays 5-10 cents/wd ($25 min, $300 max) on accept. No sim or mult subm, no reprints, E-mail subm okay but snailmail preferred. (GLs in Vol. 9 No. 8).] Why I Hate Aliens Anthology Deadline 1 February 2002 [Ebook antho, SF to 7500 wds. Pays 50% royalties, prorated based on length. Reprints okay. Mult subs encouraged. E-mail subs only. (Gls in Vol. 9 No. 9)] ByLine Short Story Contest Deadline 5 February 2002 [General fiction up to 5,000 words. Entry fee $5. Prizes: $70, $40, $25. (GLs in Vol. 9 No. 5)] Deathlings.com "Family Secrets" contest Deadline 15 March 2002 [Use contests to submit to magazines. H/DF to 4,000 wds. Pays 3 cents/wd. E-mail subs only. (GLs in Vol. 9 No. 6)] Who Killed the Easter Bunny? Anthology Deadline 16 March 2002 [Web antho, H, etc. to 5,000 wds, nothing said about pay. E-mail subs only. (GLs in Vol. 9 No. 12)] Writers of the Future, 2nd quarter 2002 Deadline 31 March 2002 [$1000 first, $750 2nd, $500 3rd place. No entry fee. L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest, P.O. Box 1630-JBW, Los Angeles, CA 90078. (GLs in Vol. 9 No. 1)] ByLine Flash Fiction Contest Deadline 5 April 2002 Flash fiction under 1000 words. Entry fee $5. Prizes: $60, $30, $20. (GLs in Vol. 9 No. 5)] ByLine New-Talent Short Story Contest Deadline 4 May 2002 [Open to any writer who never has won a cash prize in any ByLine fiction category. Maximum 5,000 words. Entry fee $5. Prizes: $50, $35, $25, $15. (GLs in Vol. 9 No. 5)] Deathlings.com "The 70s Were Hell and We Didn't Even Know It" contest Deadline 15 Jun 2002 [Use contests to submit to magazines. H/DF to 4,000 wds. Pays 3 cents/wd. E-mail subs only. (GLs in Vol. 9 No. 6)] Imaginings Deadline 15 June 2002 [Print anthology, SF/F 8,000-15,000 wds, pays $950 per story + 10% royalties. No reprints or E-mail subm. (GLs in Vol. 9 No. 4).] Downstate Story magazine Yearly Deadline 30 June 2002 [Annual literary printzine, genre fiction to 2,000 wds. Pays $50/story on accept. No reprints or E-mail subs. Buys 10 stories/year. (GLs in Vol. 9 No. 6)] Low Port Deadline July 2002 [Open antho, SF/F 3,000 to 10,000 wds, pays 5-8 cents/wd. on accept, reading between Sept 2001 and July 2002. No electronic subm. Low Port, Lee and Miller, P.O. Box 179, Unity, Maine 04988-0179. (GLs in Vol. 9, No. 1)] Mota: An Annual Anthology of Fine Fiction Deadline 1 Nov 2002 [Annual antho, fiction to 10,000 wds (to 8,000 wds preferred). Pays $100 on pub. Mult subs and reprints okay. (GLs in Vol. 9, No. 9)] ----------------------------------------------------------------- MARKET GUIDELINES FICTIONWISE EBOOKS [Electronic fiction, reprints only, short stories and novels, SF/F/H etc. Minimum 10 reprints.] http://www.fictionwise.com/ Information for Authors Fictionwise, Inc. is one of the leading independent eBook publishers and distributors today. We buy electronic rights to previously-published fiction works and sell them in eBook form, and we also distribute eBooks from other quality ePublishers. Fictionwise does not accept unsolicited original works. We do not have an editorial team to evaluate such works. See our author guidelines below, which have recently changed to allow more authors to sell their reprints through Fictionwise. What We Will Accept Fictionwise seeks reprints of short stories and novels from established professional fiction authors. We are primarily seeking works in science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, horror, mystery, romance, action/adventure, mainstream literary, and humor categories. Because of many requests we have received from established fiction authors for Fictionwise to sell their reprints, we have recently "opened up" our Author Guidelines to allow more authors to participate. Fictionwise will now sell your work if you can offer a minimum of 10 reprints that are either novels published by established print publishers (not vanity presses or similar outfits that charge the author), or short fiction works published in major professional genre magazines, "Best of" collections, or anthologies published by established, non-vanity print publishers. We require a minimum of 10 reprints because of the considerable time and expense it takes to establish an author at Fictionwise and to market his or her works effectively. You must own the electronic rights to these works and you must have them available in a electronic format (preferably HTML, Microsoft Word, or RTF). If you are interested in learning more and submitting works to Fictionwise, first you need to register (for free), then [go to a different web page]. Why Fictionwise Fictionwise has tens of thousands of registered members and sells over 10,000 eBooks a month, making it one of the top eBook distribution companies in the world. We have established audiences for both short fiction and novels. Fictionwise helps readers find you. Our ground-breaking Promotheus(TM) technology can actually steer readers to your stories. Using artificial intelligence techniques, the Fictionwise web site finds patterns of reader likes and dislikes, in effect creating a neural map of each user. We then send suggested stories to the reader via email or as a notice when they log into the site. After reading a story, a customer has the ability to rate the story to tell us if they liked it. By matching together groups of people who like and dislike similar things, we can predict with a high degree of accuracy how a given customer will react to a story they have not yet read. This allows readers to broaden the authors they read with some level of confidence that they won't waste time reading a story that they won't like. This gives you a chance to build a following that could be crucial for your career. What We Do Not Accept... Currently, Fictionwise accepts only previously-published works from established professional fiction authors. We do not currently accept stories from new or unpublished writers, or writers with a limited publication history or writers who have published only on non-paying or vanity presses. We do not have the staff necessary to evaluate the work of such authors. Fictionwise does not accept pornography. We will be the judge of what pornography is (we know it when we see it). Sexual content that is integral to the story is not pornography. [http://www.fictionwise.com/authorinfo.htm] ----------------------------------------------------------------- MARKET INFORMATION BEYOND THE LAST STAR ANTHOLOGY The website for the sff.net anthology, =Beyond the Last Star=, has this note: "The anthology is closing for unsolicited submissions on February 1, 2002. If you're sitting on something, put it in the mail now. Unsolicited submissions received after February 1 will be returned unread." [http://www.sff.net/books/guidelines.html BLACK GATE When a writer on sff.net asked if he had considered closing e- mail submissions to people inside the US and reserving e-submissions for people outside the US, =Black Gate= editor John O'Neill answered, "Actually, yes. I look at this as a weapon-of- last-resort, though. I actually prefer electronic subs, so forcing authors to submit on paper seems like a criminal waste of postage and paper. And deliberately putting barriers in place to make it just that much more difficult for authors to submit rankles me a little. "I do believe that electronic submissions are clearly the way of the future, and I remember being annoyed that no major genre magazine would accept them when I was living in Belgium in 1993. We're still the only major magazine that accepts e-subs, and the trailblazers always have it rough for a while." [sff.publishing.black-gate-magazine, 22 Jan 02] When a writer on sff.net expressed surprise that editor John O'Neill read every submission in its entirety, he replied, "I don't actually read every submission--what usually gets to my desk are just those stories which our fiction readers (Alice Dechene and Kelly Searsmith) think deserve my attention. (These days I'm also acting as a first reader on some subs while Alice makes preparations to return to grad school, but it's still far from every submission.) And I'm of the opinion that if it deserves to be considered, it deserves to be given a fair response." The writer went on to say, "From my standpoint, response times . . . are as much of a concern as detailed rejections. If you get to paragraph three of my story and begin thinking about lunch, then my story deserves a "didn't grab" form. If I lose you the editor, then I will lose the reader, so it isn't really necessary to read further." Editor O'Neill responded, "Your point is very well taken. But if a story gets to me, generally it's not something that can be dismissed so cavalierly. The perfect story has yet to land on my desk, and until it does, every story I read will need to be judged against others. I wish I could publish three times as much as I do, but at the moment a big part of my job is choosing the best mix of material for each issue from an extremely broad range of horror, parody, urban fantasy, and etc. That means appraising a lot of stories fairly. "Even when I can determine within the first page that the story isn't right for =Black Gate= (and this isn't nearly as often as you might think), it usually only costs a few extra minutes to read enough to formulate a critique that will have real meaning. As an author, is 'doesn't grab' sufficient feedback for you to confidently re-work a story into something the magazine will buy? I'd be surprised if so. "Don't forget that a big part of my job is encouraging those authors who exhibit obvious promise. If I can spend 20 minutes on an author and prevent 2-3 major flaws next time, there's a much bigger chance her next submission won't be a waste of my time. Even from a purely selfish perspective, it's a good investment. "And finally, of course, there are those stories that seem flawed but are salvageable. Less than half of the stories I buy, I buy on first reading. Most sales to =Black Gate= are the result of writers digesting feedback and re-submitting, often several times. I've purchased more than a few stories whose first drafts were underwhelming . . . if we rejected with form letters, that avenue would be lost completely." The writer said, "Writers are asking you to buy a story, not necessarily for a detailed critique." O'Neill responded, "Maybe. But many of the stories I reject deserve a detailed critique. They're a terrific tale with a single flaw, or a total train wreck with one dazzling character. . . . Or even more common, a wonderful tale that just isn't right for =Black Gate=. A big part of my job is just articulating what kind of fiction we're in the market for, and this has paid of more than once in authors' follow-up submissions. ". . . Getting a story rejected is tough. Getting five stories in a row rejected is even harder. What makes it bearable is the feeling of progress, the feeling that every story is getting a little bit closer. The only thing that can communicate this is quality feedback from editors. "By the way, =Black Gate= is by no means alone in giving quality feedback. We're not on a crusade. I don't know about other editors, but I'm just trying to emulate the terrific hand-written responses George Scithers (current editor of =Weird Tales=, past editor of =IASFM=) used to send me in the 70s. I was 12 years old and penciling in dialog in the margins of my manuscripts, blithely using Canadian postage on my SASE, and George never failed to give me encouragement and advice. With his own postage." [sff.publishing.black-gate-magazine, 22 Jan 2002] O'Neill goes on, "Seriously, I've devoted the last 2 months to production and business issues (and a nice 2-week break), but my slate is now (almost) completely clear for a 30-day reading session, which I've been looking forward to for a long time. Though I hesitate to make predictions, I expect to make very significant strides on the e-mail slush pile in the next month. "And for all those who have good-naturedly waited for a response these 5+ months, my genuine gratitude. We hope to do much better this year." [sff.publishing.black-gate-magazine, 27 Jan 2002] O'Neill also wrote (during a discussion of posting a complete story from one of =Black Gate='s back issues), "We purchase e-publication rights to the complete text for a limited period as part of =Black Gate='s contract, but I've never posted a complete story before and I wouldn't do it without discussing it with the author first. There are plenty of those with reservations about posting stories (there's nothing to stop someone from downloading and/or plagiarizing it, for example), but for a newer writer the rewards seem to far outweigh the risks." [sff.publishing.black-gate-magazine, 27 Jan 2002] ELYSIAN FICTION Jim Bailey, editor of =Elysian Fiction=, says, "The good news is that when the logjam *does* break here, I'll be putting out 3-4 issues in very short order, so I think it will all be worth the wait." [sff.publishing.elysian-fiction, 22 Jan 2002] FICTIONWISE Scott Pendergrast of Fictionwise says, "We recently opened up our author submission guidelines. We still accept reprints only (we don't have an editorial staff to review original works), but the new guidelines will let many more authors sell their short fiction and novels at Fictionwise. Please feel free to pass the word around. http://www.fictionwise.com/authorinfo.htm "Our current authors can submit more works to Fictionwise via a link in their online royalty report." See information on Fictionwise above in Market Guidelines. [sff.publishing.news, 24 Jan 02] MAELSTROM SF Dave Felts, editor of =Maelstrom SF=, says, "Alas, the time has come. The doors to =Maelstrom SF= are shut. The reasons are many, but they mainly boil down to time and money. Back issues (5, 6, 7, and 8) will be available for a little while, but I'll release no new issues Anyone who's owed a refund for a subscription will be getting it soon. "But don't despair! One end is another beginning. I'm going digital with my new site, =SFReader.com= (www.sfreader.com). It's mainly a speculative fiction book review site, but I'll be adding short fiction, author interviews, author biographies, and articles to round out the content. "The stories I publish on =SFReader= will be the same stories I would have published in future issues of =Maelstrom SF=: character-driven SF, F, or H, or any combination thereof. Length limit is 8,000 words, so you've got a little more room to roam than in MSF. Pay rates for first rights remain the same, though I've lowered the rate to $10 for reprints. Full guidelines are available on the site. "This was a tough decision, because to me being published on the Internet lacks the same level of legitimacy as being in print, as being on a page in a magazine you can hold in your hand, that has cover art, that has a page in it with your name right there in black and white. But the Internet is gaining ground. Some e-zines out there are setting fine standards for fiction; =SciFi.com=, =Speculon=, =Strange Horizons=, =Neverworlds=, just to mention a few. I hope I can make =SFReader= as respectable as these." [http://www.speculations.com/rumormill/topic291.htm, 28 Jan 02] ROMANCE AND BEYOND A writer on the Speculations Rumor Mill says, "[I got an] E-mail from the editor of =Romance & Beyond= saying she is putting the magazine on hiatus until her health improves." [http://www.speculations.com/rumormill/topic291.htm, 24 Jan 02] ***************************************************************** * "The first thing an unpublished author should remember is * * that no one asked him to write in the first place. With this * * firmly in mind, he has no right to become discouraged just * * because other people are being published." * * --John Farrar * ***************************************************************** ==End of CALLIHOO Newsletter for 29 January 2002==