Slightly annoying behaviour

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More inquiries from people wanting to submit stories. I don't think one, so far this year, has bought a sample copy of ST. They don't want to read the magazine. They just want to send me stories that are (in general) unsuitable for it. Should I make it obligatory for writers who have not yet done so to buy a copy of ST if they want to submit stories? Would this be unfair to impoverished authors, scribbling away in garrets, coughing consumptively? After all, they couldn't afford to buy every magazine on the market. Any moral philosophers reading this, please advise. Unless you're mad and/or French.

Comments

Adam Golaski said…
This is tough. As a fellow editor, I feel your pain. The conundrum goes one beyond "how can we expect poor authors--such as ourselves--to buy magazines?" The conundrum extends to, "if authors like this venue and want it to continue existing, they should support it." Of course, an author supports a journal by writing good fiction for said journal, and promoting that journal as much as they can.

In the end, Vlad, the people who need to be buying Supernatural Tales and New Genre are readers. Authors, of course, are readers, but we need to reach the readers who aren't finding us on market lists--who have no other agenda than to read excellent fiction.

Writers should be telling people about the journals they're in, and not just when their issue comes out, but all the time.

And folks who care about things like horror journals of high calibre should get subscriptions as wedding gifts, for their children, for their aged grandmas, etc., etc. Yeah, that's right, you don't need that copy of Gear this week, you can see Jessica Alba in her underwear standing beneath a waterfall for free online. But you can't read the latest by Adam Golaski and Peter Bell and Christopher Harman and that lot unless you buy the journals where they publish.

I think my comment just went horribly awry.

Adam Golaski (of New Genre fame)
22 May 2007 at 19:04:00 GMT
valdemar said…
To be fair, some writers make a point of mentioning ST and encouraging people to buy it.

I wondered what Jessica Alba was up to. Pity Dark Angel went so badly awry in its second season.
23 May 2007 at 18:58:00 GMT
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