wondering

[julian_griffith]

 Do I want to consider writing anything for the Riptide Anniversary Open Submissions Call or the Torquere Monthly Sips?

So far, I've only ever written for Storm Moon. That is, I did the novel and was prepared to submit it everywhere, and Storm Moon accepted it, and since then I've answered a Storm Moon holiday open line call ("Therefore Be Merry,

Comments

[malkingrey]

My thought would be that branching out is a good idea, because it's always a bad idea to have all your eggs in one publisher's basket -- especially with small presses, which are vulnerable to upheavals that might only cause larger publishers to wobble a bit. (And God knows, even a wobble can make life temporarily miserable for the authors.)

But the inability to take your toys over to another publisher' playground should be a big negative when it comes to evaluating potential new markets. I know of at least one series -- Miller and Lee's Liaden novels -- that's on its third publisher so far. The first three books came out from Del Rey, who dropped them because their enthusiastic and dedicated following wasn't large enough; the series was resurrected by Meisha Merlin, only to be nearly wiped out for good (along with the authors) when the company abruptly closed its doors in 2007; and is now at Baen Books. You want to be able to do something like that if the worst should someday happen.

[julian_griffith]

Oh, yeah, I remember the Liaden struggles, especially since they were among my Star Wars GM's favorite books and a HUGE influence on her game... and latecomers to her game couldn't find them ANYWHERE because of the Del Rey situation. No, I definitely don't want that happening. At least if Storm Moon folds (I don't think it's folding, but I've seen my friends screwed over by the volatility of the small press world) I still have the right to take my toys other places and write new stories for them, and even with the existing stories, the rights-reversion period isn't onerous.

So yeah. No submitting anything from my Regency continuity to anybody who wants to bogart them. Short stories that I feel are one-offs (that vampire one is a total one-off), less concerned.

I appreciate the advice!

[valarltd]

Riptide is good people. I've never subbed to them, but I know most of them by reputation as well as in person.

Torquere is an old and established house. I started there. When I left in 2009, they were good about the contracts, books came out when they said they would and they paid on time. The divorce was a personal problem.

[jestana]

I agree with the branching out idea. I had to branch out more out of necessity because the company that published my first story didn't have any anthology calls that I felt I could write for. SMP, on the other hand, did and I'll be looking at these two companies as well. And somewhere in there I'll finish my novel. ;)

[julian_griffith]

So far the only anthology calls I've really wanted to write for have been at SMP! Barring one at Carina where the story WOULD NOT COME despite thorough outlining, and the vampire one at Total E-Bound where the amount I had to concentrate on Cherish the Ladies meant I blew the deadline.

But yeah. I suspect I can get 3K out of my WWII boys by 7/1 (cutting it down to that size really drops the amount of research I need) and we'll just see what's around by October, since Riptide's call is for all lengths.

[jestana]

I haven't been looking outside SMP, but I probably should. Not a good idea to keep all my eggs in one basket and all that.

I'll be cheering you on even as I'm working on mine. Good luck!

[julian_griffith]

Check out the Torquere Sips calls! The short length makes them really attractive to me, since I know how quickly I can w rite fanfic at the bottom of the range - generally two days. :)

[naamah_darling]

I write, but my publishing experience is slim. Still, I say branch out. Build contacts, a list of credits, keep yourself circulating and moving. Start small, with shorter stories and such, obviously, but get your foot in the door and make nice with more editors. If you ever HAVE to pack your bags and go elsewhere, it'll be really cool to have friends in all sorts of places.

And honestly, if you don't have some sort of exclusivity thing with a publisher and you haven't promised them first look at everything you do, and they get jerky about it, that's not professional at all. The authors I see doing really well get around. They may have most of their NOVELS in one place, but short stories are everywhere.

[julian_griffith]

I'm not expecting Storm Moon to get jerky (crosses fingers). I *am* wondering if I'll accidentally screw myself up with other places' contract terms though. I don't want to have my dear babies get stuck somewhere. And they're the easiest ones to write about.

[seajules]

I have several friends who publish with Torquere and have been very pleased with the experience. So I agree on the idea of trying other publishers and building up options just in case, but also I have it on good authority that this is a good publisher to try out.