PRINT PUBLISHING vs. WEB PUBLISHING
For many decades, publishing has meant print publishing. In order for you to be a published author, you must have an article or story in a book, magazine, newspaper or some other printed venue and until you did, you were not published.
Times have changed. I have only seen my work in print once and yet I've made over a dozen sales to different online sources and my work has appeared in any number of "amateur" online magazines. Here the word amateur means nonpaying, rather than being indicative of quality.
Some would claim that I am not a professional author. My work has never appeared in a print magazine (other than Stress which is not a SF/Fantasy magazine) and you can't buy my books in a Barnes and Noble. Does that make me less of a writer?
I have been studying and comparing online magazines with print magazines for some time now and I have come to a number of conclusions, all of which are debatable and some of which, as far as I can tell, are unique.
Before I go into detail, let me state my qualifications. I subscribe to and am a regular reader of the following print magazines: The Magazine of Fantasy and SF, Adventures of Sword and Sorcery, Amazing Stories, SF Age, Absolute Magnitude, Weird Tales and Pirate Writings. In addition, I buy several copies a year of Analog, Isaac Asimov's SF Magazine, Realms of Fantasy and Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine. I have also upon occasion purchased copies of Space and Time, Odyssey and Aboriginal SF. I don't always read every word of every issue, but I do read a good portion of each.
Of the online magazines, I read Titan, Exodus, Jackhammer, A Little Read Writing Hood (at least the Fantasy, SF and General Fiction sections), Twilight Times, Aphelion, Eternity and Dream Forge. There are others that I look at from time to time, but these are the ones that I read through each and every time they appear.
That said, I think most would agree that the amount of reading I do, qualifies me as an expert witness. Of course, there will always be a small percentage that disagree. In fact, the publishing world is riddled with so-called industry professionals that have become so impressed by their own credentials that they have become unbearable snobs. I would say they know who they are, but they probably don't.
It's just that some people feel you need to be at a certain level, before you can pass judgment on the quality of a piece of fiction. The question is this. Which opinion is more important, that of the industry professionals or that of the fans? On one hand, the editors and writers that have a proven track record, are probably more qualified to judge the quality of a piece of writing. They can not only tell you whether a piece is good, but also what works and what doesn't. On the other, if the fans don't buy it, the opinions of the professionals is largely worthless. Would you rather have a bestseller that is panned in the reviews, or a masterful tale that wins critical acclaim, but will be read by only a handful of people? These two extremes are not always mutually exclusive, but the question remains a valid one. Are you writing to impress editors, or are you writing to entertain the public? How much of each do you consider when you write?
I, for one, write to entertain. I'm not trying to win a Hugo, though someday I might. I'm not trying to impress. In fact, when I write, all I'm really doing is trying to tell a story. Sometimes I'm sitting at home and a scene will just pop into my head. I will, at that point, have to follow the scene to wherever it leads, which more often than not is a short story. I write the story, because it demands to be written and will not release me until I do. I try to write so that my work is accessible to everyone, because a story that doesn't get read, is worth nothing. And I write or do something writing related, each and every day of my life. Am I a real writer if I'm only published on the web? If I had never submitted a single piece, but instead simply left them in the top drawer of my filing cabinet, would I then be any less of a writer?
I would venture to say that some of the greatest writers of all time have never been published, for submitting your work takes a completely different set of skills than writing. I'm better at writing than submitting, but I'm working on it, because I want my stories to be read.
That said, here are some of the differences that I've found between print publishing and web publishing.
Print publishing is more refined. Certainly there is a reason for this. It costs a lot of money to publish and distribute a print magazine. Everything must be just so. You have a certain number of pages and everything must fit within those boundaries. Expanding your magazine means more needed capital. One must get as many subscriptions as they can and that would attract their many advertisers. Advertisers pay to have their products prominently displayed in these magazines and that money goes toward paying the editors, authors and what have you. Less is made off subscriptions than is made off of advertising.
Electronic zines are less refined. Comparatively, they cost almost nothing to produce. Many don't pay anything at all and those that do, don't usually pay all that much. The exception is Tomorrow SF, which used to be a print 'zine, but is now only available on the Internet. Tomorrow pays professional rates, has advertisers and subscriptions. In order to access their site, you must have a password, which is given to you when you subscribe. Exodus now works the same way. It is very difficult to pay writers, if you have no income.
That said, I have noticed another difference between the worlds of print and electronic publishing. Because print magazines are so rooted in financial matters, it is more difficult for them to take a chance. It is more difficult for them to buy from a new writer or to buy a piece that might offend some of its readers. It is more difficult to buy a cutting edge piece, or something a bit more out there, whether or not the editor likes it. Because a sure thing is better than a gamble. There's no percentage in accepting a piece that you like, if you're not sure that your readers will. If you lose readership, you lose subscriptions and eventually advertising. It makes more sense to buy from an author that you know has a following.
This means that printed work has to follow a certain basic format. A likable protagonist, a piece that begins on action and a clear resolution at the end of the story. Unless, of course, you are already a popular author, in which case the rules can be somewhat bent. But even professional authors can't really go out on a limb, if they expect to sell their work.
The web, by contrast, is not motivated by money. Therefore, there's relatively little risk for the editor who wants to take a chance. Which may be why I've been so well received on the web.
Most of my best stories are long. Print publishers don't want to take a chance on a long story from a new writer and certainly not one that starts slow and builds to an intense crescendo.
Take as an example my short story Music to My Ears. This is one of my earlier works, but it has been received with such overwhelming enthusiasm that it will work nicely to illustrate my point.
This story had been rejected by five professional magazines, that shall remain nameless. Keep in mind that at the time, there were only five pro magazines that would take a 9000 word fantasy story. It doesn't matter. The fact is, most large pro magazines would be unwilling to devote such a large amount of space to a fledgling writer like me.
Finally, last May, I submitted it to A Little Read Writing Hood. Here is an excerpt of the acceptance letter that I received from them less than a month later.
"I just read your story and my first reaction was "wow". You are quite the wordsmith. I wish I could paint such portraits with my words."..."When Francisco is detailing what he heard in the Cosmic Medley...it was beautiful. I would love to publish this in May's edition."
That was only the beginning. During the next weeks, I received a number of comments on Music to My Ears. Here are just a few of them.
"Finally got round to reading it-excellent! you've got a great rhythm for the language, something I wish I could teach some of my writers! well done! keep at it!"
Siobhan McNally, owner of Net Novels
"I read "Music for My Ears"-- really well done!! Not only a great tale, but the voice was sooo perfect for the time frame. Well done."
Nicole Burris, author and Jackhammer frequent offender
"I just read "Music to My Ears". Beautiful (understatement). It's a piece that goes beyond stimulating the mind, but at times confronts the soul-truly mythical-not in the contemporary sense, but in its true, elusive, soul-communing sense. Keep up the good work : )"
Jason Laseman, trolls eye reviews
"I read your story, "Music to my Ears" in "Little Read Writer's Hood", and I was stunned. Your prose is inspirational and incredibly deep."..."I hope that one day I myself can write something that approaches the quality and excellence of that deceptively simple short story."
Charles Sundt, general fiction editor, Little Read Writing Hood
Music to My Ears was so popular that Lida Quillen, editor of Twilight Times was so impressed with it, she asked if she could reprint it in her second issue. Nor is this an exceptional example. I have received fan mail for The Adventures of Alaric Swifthand, View from the Parapet, The Tree, Birthright, A Creative Edge, So Many Differences and As Luck Would Have It. Yet all of these stories have been rejected many times over by pro magazines and some of those rejection slips were not at all flattering. In truth most editors I have dealt with have been not only polite, but actually helpful. There's only a couple that should learn, if nothing else, manners.
In each of these cases, the stories in question have found a home on the web. I haven't been paid for any of them, but it doesn't matter. At least, I am appreciated. In fact, I'm so appreciated that I've recently been indoctrinated into the ...ellipsis... web site as one of the "Fine Writers of the Web". I would encourage you all to check out the site and the works of the other authors that are displayed there, for many of them are just like me. Working hard just to be appreciated.
I continue to submit to print magazines and I'm sure one day, I'll be considered a professional author by the powers-that-be, but until that time, I'm more than happy to see my work in Exodus, Titan, Little Read Writing Hood, Dragonsclaw, Twilight Times, Aphelion, Dream Forge, Jackhammer and in Net Novels anthologies. For all of these magazines publish stories that ARE on the cutting edge. Stories that do take a chance. Maybe it won't be as polished as a print 'zine, but I certainly have more of a chance of finding a new author to follow.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that there is anything intrinsically wrong with print magazines. Many of my favorite authors write for print 'zines. Nancy Etchemendy, Adam Troy Castro, Gregory Benford, Robert Silverberg, Ben Bova and Mike Resnick to name but a few. Consequently, I will continue to renew my subscriptions to many of them.
On the other hand, I've found a number of writers on the web that I follow with equal enthusiasm. Patrick Welsh, Jonathan Fesmire, Susan Sterling, Nicole Burris, Christine Richardson, Lida Quillen, Lisa Dummond and Kate Thorton are all authors worthy of mention. If I've forgotten anyone, I'm apologizing in advance.;)
In the future, as it becomes harder and harder to finance print magazines, more and more magazines will be turning to the web for their continued existence and only then, will the web be considered a respectable place to publish. Of course, those "pro" webzines may well keep their old editing habits and what you may end up with is a web version of a print magazine, which is hardly an improvement.
However, whether you like it or not, the web is going to be the future of professional publishing.
And I'm already here.
Webpage & Graphics by Samandi Adams
Copyright (c) 2003-2004 ~ All Rights Reserved
PRINT PUBLISHING vs. WEB PUBLISHING
For many decades, publishing has meant print publishing. In order for you to be a published author, you must have an article or story in a book, magazine, newspaper or some other printed venue and until you did, you were not published.
Times have changed. I have only seen my work in print once and yet I've made over a dozen sales to different online sources and my work has appeared in any number of "amateur" online magazines. Here the word amateur means nonpaying, rather than being indicative of quality.
Some would claim that I am not a professional author. My work has never appeared in a print magazine (other than Stress which is not a SF/Fantasy magazine) and you can't buy my books in a Barnes and Noble. Does that make me less of a writer?
I have been studying and comparing online magazines with print magazines for some time now and I have come to a number of conclusions, all of which are debatable and some of which, as far as I can tell, are unique.
Before I go into detail, let me state my qualifications. I subscribe to and am a regular reader of the following print magazines: The Magazine of Fantasy and SF, Adventures of Sword and Sorcery, Amazing Stories, SF Age, Absolute Magnitude, Weird Tales and Pirate Writings. In addition, I buy several copies a year of Analog, Isaac Asimov's SF Magazine, Realms of Fantasy and Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine. I have also upon occasion purchased copies of Space and Time, Odyssey and Aboriginal SF. I don't always read every word of every issue, but I do read a good portion of each.
Of the online magazines, I read Titan, Exodus, Jackhammer, A Little Read Writing Hood (at least the Fantasy, SF and General Fiction sections), Twilight Times, Aphelion, Eternity and Dream Forge. There are others that I look at from time to time, but these are the ones that I read through each and every time they appear.
That said, I think most would agree that the amount of reading I do, qualifies me as an expert witness. Of course, there will always be a small percentage that disagree. In fact, the publishing world is riddled with so-called industry professionals that have become so impressed by their own credentials that they have become unbearable snobs. I would say they know who they are, but they probably don't.
It's just that some people feel you need to be at a certain level, before you can pass judgment on the quality of a piece of fiction. The question is this. Which opinion is more important, that of the industry professionals or that of the fans? On one hand, the editors and writers that have a proven track record, are probably more qualified to judge the quality of a piece of writing. They can not only tell you whether a piece is good, but also what works and what doesn't. On the other, if the fans don't buy it, the opinions of the professionals is largely worthless. Would you rather have a bestseller that is panned in the reviews, or a masterful tale that wins critical acclaim, but will be read by only a handful of people? These two extremes are not always mutually exclusive, but the question remains a valid one. Are you writing to impress editors, or are you writing to entertain the public? How much of each do you consider when you write?
I, for one, write to entertain. I'm not trying to win a Hugo, though someday I might. I'm not trying to impress. In fact, when I write, all I'm really doing is trying to tell a story. Sometimes I'm sitting at home and a scene will just pop into my head. I will, at that point, have to follow the scene to wherever it leads, which more often than not is a short story. I write the story, because it demands to be written and will not release me until I do. I try to write so that my work is accessible to everyone, because a story that doesn't get read, is worth nothing. And I write or do something writing related, each and every day of my life. Am I a real writer if I'm only published on the web? If I had never submitted a single piece, but instead simply left them in the top drawer of my filing cabinet, would I then be any less of a writer?
I would venture to say that some of the greatest writers of all time have never been published, for submitting your work takes a completely different set of skills than writing. I'm better at writing than submitting, but I'm working on it, because I want my stories to be read.
That said, here are some of the differences that I've found between print publishing and web publishing.
Print publishing is more refined. Certainly there is a reason for this. It costs a lot of money to publish and distribute a print magazine. Everything must be just so. You have a certain number of pages and everything must fit within those boundaries. Expanding your magazine means more needed capital. One must get as many subscriptions as they can and that would attract their many advertisers. Advertisers pay to have their products prominently displayed in these magazines and that money goes toward paying the editors, authors and what have you. Less is made off subscriptions than is made off of advertising.
Electronic zines are less refined. Comparatively, they cost almost nothing to produce. Many don't pay anything at all and those that do, don't usually pay all that much. The exception is Tomorrow SF, which used to be a print 'zine, but is now only available on the Internet. Tomorrow pays professional rates, has advertisers and subscriptions. In order to access their site, you must have a password, which is given to you when you subscribe. Exodus now works the same way. It is very difficult to pay writers, if you have no income.
That said, I have noticed another difference between the worlds of print and electronic publishing. Because print magazines are so rooted in financial matters, it is more difficult for them to take a chance. It is more difficult for them to buy from a new writer or to buy a piece that might offend some of its readers. It is more difficult to buy a cutting edge piece, or something a bit more out there, whether or not the editor likes it. Because a sure thing is better than a gamble. There's no percentage in accepting a piece that you like, if you're not sure that your readers will. If you lose readership, you lose subscriptions and eventually advertising. It makes more sense to buy from an author that you know has a following.
This means that printed work has to follow a certain basic format. A likable protagonist, a piece that begins on action and a clear resolution at the end of the story. Unless, of course, you are already a popular author, in which case the rules can be somewhat bent. But even professional authors can't really go out on a limb, if they expect to sell their work.
The web, by contrast, is not motivated by money. Therefore, there's relatively little risk for the editor who wants to take a chance. Which may be why I've been so well received on the web.
Most of my best stories are long. Print publishers don't want to take a chance on a long story from a new writer and certainly not one that starts slow and builds to an intense crescendo.
Take as an example my short story Music to My Ears. This is one of my earlier works, but it has been received with such overwhelming enthusiasm that it will work nicely to illustrate my point.
This story had been rejected by five professional magazines, that shall remain nameless. Keep in mind that at the time, there were only five pro magazines that would take a 9000 word fantasy story. It doesn't matter. The fact is, most large pro magazines would be unwilling to devote such a large amount of space to a fledgling writer like me.
Finally, last May, I submitted it to A Little Read Writing Hood. Here is an excerpt of the acceptance letter that I received from them less than a month later.
"I just read your story and my first reaction was "wow". You are quite the wordsmith. I wish I could paint such portraits with my words."..."When Francisco is detailing what he heard in the Cosmic Medley...it was beautiful. I would love to publish this in May's edition."
That was only the beginning. During the next weeks, I received a number of comments on Music to My Ears. Here are just a few of them.
Siobhan McNally, owner of Net Novels
"I read "Music for My Ears"-- really well done!! Not only a great tale, but the voice was sooo perfect for the time frame. Well done."
Nicole Burris, author and Jackhammer frequent offender
"I just read "Music to My Ears". Beautiful (understatement). It's a piece that goes beyond stimulating the mind, but at times confronts the soul-truly mythical-not in the contemporary sense, but in its true, elusive, soul-communing sense. Keep up the good work : )"
Jason Laseman, trolls eye reviews
"I read your story, "Music to my Ears" in "Little Read Writer's Hood", and I was stunned. Your prose is inspirational and incredibly deep."..."I hope that one day I myself can write something that approaches the quality and excellence of that deceptively simple short story."
Charles Sundt, general fiction editor, Little Read Writing Hood
Music to My Ears was so popular that Lida Quillen, editor of Twilight Times was so impressed with it, she asked if she could reprint it in her second issue. Nor is this an exceptional example. I have received fan mail for The Adventures of Alaric Swifthand, View from the Parapet, The Tree, Birthright, A Creative Edge, So Many Differences and As Luck Would Have It. Yet all of these stories have been rejected many times over by pro magazines and some of those rejection slips were not at all flattering. In truth most editors I have dealt with have been not only polite, but actually helpful. There's only a couple that should learn, if nothing else, manners.
In each of these cases, the stories in question have found a home on the web. I haven't been paid for any of them, but it doesn't matter. At least, I am appreciated. In fact, I'm so appreciated that I've recently been indoctrinated into the ...ellipsis... web site as one of the "Fine Writers of the Web". I would encourage you all to check out the site and the works of the other authors that are displayed there, for many of them are just like me. Working hard just to be appreciated.
I continue to submit to print magazines and I'm sure one day, I'll be considered a professional author by the powers-that-be, but until that time, I'm more than happy to see my work in Exodus, Titan, Little Read Writing Hood, Dragonsclaw, Twilight Times, Aphelion, Dream Forge, Jackhammer and in Net Novels anthologies. For all of these magazines publish stories that ARE on the cutting edge. Stories that do take a chance. Maybe it won't be as polished as a print 'zine, but I certainly have more of a chance of finding a new author to follow.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that there is anything intrinsically wrong with print magazines. Many of my favorite authors write for print 'zines. Nancy Etchemendy, Adam Troy Castro, Gregory Benford, Robert Silverberg, Ben Bova and Mike Resnick to name but a few. Consequently, I will continue to renew my subscriptions to many of them.
On the other hand, I've found a number of writers on the web that I follow with equal enthusiasm. Patrick Welsh, Jonathan Fesmire, Susan Sterling, Nicole Burris, Christine Richardson, Lida Quillen, Lisa Dummond and Kate Thorton are all authors worthy of mention. If I've forgotten anyone, I'm apologizing in advance.;)
In the future, as it becomes harder and harder to finance print magazines, more and more magazines will be turning to the web for their continued existence and only then, will the web be considered a respectable place to publish. Of course, those "pro" webzines may well keep their old editing habits and what you may end up with is a web version of a print magazine, which is hardly an improvement.
However, whether you like it or not, the web is going to be the future of professional publishing.
And I'm already here.
Webpage & Graphics by Samandi Adams
Copyright (c) 2003-2004 ~ All Rights Reserved