Sunday, November 24, 2013

At least they're online now

Magazines mostly take online submissions...correct that...some of them do.  Each magazine's site has different rules.  Gotta upload it as a rtf file, a doc file, a pdf file, or as a text file.  No standards.  In the old days, there were simple rules for producing a manuscript that everyone respected.  Editors online will even require one font over another, or ask the writer to convert the work into an e-reader format.

Gotta put up with it.  I make it sound like a great burden when it's only a mild annoyance.  After the first few times, it becomes easy to do.

One thing I miss from the old days - I say old days, I mean fifteen years ago - they always told you if they rejected your story.  Now, silence.  A few will send a canned email response.

But a few things stay the same.  The short story is still a dying art form.  You'll be paid by the magazines at the same rate Harlan Ellison was paid in the 1960s.  So it's a joke.  Write short stories for yourself, for fun, not for any commercial purpose.