Publishing
Occasionally (very rarely), I look at some of the stuff I’ve written, think it’s not so bad, and get curious about publishing.
When I’ve spoken to someone in the past about the topic, I’ve been told to find magazines and books similar to my writing, find out who publishes them, and then find out how to submit content to those publishers. Perfect advice for 98% of the writers out there. But that’s where my advance is halted.
I’ve never seen publications of similar writings or writing style. Tonight, I tried searching around on the web and found some sites that publish surrealist writing, but they’re generally very small productions (like, posted on a web site with a tiny readership) and/or the content really doesn’t look anything like mine.
You’d think it might be easier to find stuff like mine, but surrealism is not exactly a genre; it’s more a filter on top of the genre. That is, you can have surrealist dramas or surrealist comedies. It makes it tricky to figure out where to even start.
And this is the part where I ask myself what the appeal of publication is.
Money? No. I mean, sure. Money is nice. But how much does an amateur writer make for a short story? $20? Is it having a physical copy? No, that’s never interested me. I prefer electronic copies. What’s left? I guess it’s the idea of coming across like-minded people — reading their writings, critiquing mine, learning and growing, and getting introduced to related items. Maybe I need to start digging around for surrealist book clubs or something, instead of looking for surrealist publishers. Maybe I need to start my own club. Haha.
Anyone out there have any ideas?
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Hmm…I’m not sure this is the place for these comments. But…
In general you look for publications similar to your writing. In this case you’re going to look for markets in the sub genre (surrealist “dramas” or surrealist “comedies”). Look at publications with a span across genres. G. Q. Playboy…New Yorker. These markets also offer decent payment. But may require you have previous pub credits. Look at literary magazines. You may want to invest in a copy of the Writers Market or Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market. Search Amazon for “Writer’s Market” to see all the various offerings.
Payment? By the word or by the story. It depends on the publication and if they consider themselves a professional, semi-pro or “hobby” market. Right now, you might want to focus on pro and semi-pro markets. You need creditability and to built a professional reputation. Electronic Publications are a viable market. They shouldn’t be your only markets. Are you interested in maybe writing articles too?
That club you want to find or start should be a writer’s group. Find a good group. Audition groups. Don’t limit yourself to people that write surrealist material. There is a lot to learn from other writings. Heck…don’t limit yourself to surrealist material.
Writing is a business. At some point you’re going to need to approach it as a business. As always…ignore any typos cause I’m not going to fix them.
1All that and… get off your butt and write a complete novel
, even if it is composed of surrealist vignettes. :pirate:
2What Tsul said!
3Hey gang, thanks for the advice. I appreciate the effort to provide me with some tools. But let me clarify a couple things to make it easier.
What I was trying to get across in my post is that I can’t find publications with writing similar to mine. That’s my primary problem.
Maybe my style/subject matter/etc is way too niche. Maybe there is no group out there who writes similar stories. I’ve shared my writing with a lot of people and no one has ever been able to tell me “Oh hey, I know a magazine that takes submissions for this style.” It’s 100% the contrary. The best I’ve gotten is “Hey, you’re stuff makes me feel how I feel after seeing a David Lynch movie.”
I’ve tried, a few times, submitting stuff to lit sites that purport to be open minded to darker themes, but they usually say my stuff doesn’t mesh up with theirs. :/
Recently, I’ve found a decent site for scouring for publishers:
http://www.duotrope.com/index.aspx
I’ve been going through there but still not having any luck. Actually, that’s where my comment on “surrealism as a genre” comes from — because they list surrealism as a genre. And when I sort by surrealism or magic realism and get a list in return, none of the stuff really looks like what I write. Not so far, anyway.
I agree whole-heartedly about the value of a book club made up of members with diverse writing styles and diverse reading interests. There is tremendous value there and I have taken that road before and would gladly do so again. But, I really want something more specific for once, as well. I have never met or come across or heard of anyone who has a finished project similar to mine on almost any level. Surely I can’t be the only guy out there doing this.
The complete novel is a good but intimidating idea. I could probably put together a complete collection of short stories, but a complete novel is something else entirely. One story, the way I write, that spanned 200-300 pages? Ugh. I’d end up killing myself in the process.
Sorry if I sound overly negative. I just feel like I’m hitting road blocks and not seeing any potential roads to drive down.
4Hm. Maybe I’ve found a road after all. I came across a few potential leads.
Three publishers:
Also, been reading up on various sub-sub-genres:
Bizarro looks especially hopeful. Maybe this will lead somewhere.
5Well, I’m not going to debate how you should market your work. You don’t sound overly negative. You sound naive and self important. If you have a good surrealist comedy or fantasy or crime drama or , then any market that prints comedy, fantasy or what ever is a viable market for you. Of course, you need gatekeepers, editors and subscribers that don’t mind reading a mind fuck.
This whole notion that you can’t find anything like what you write is a yawner. Okay….so lets say you’re 100% correct. Nothing like what you write is getting published. That means your material isn’t marketable. What are you prepared to do about that?
While I’m mouthing off, I wish you’d get over your comfort with public masturbation. You may not mind posting work you may plan to sell. Do you realize in most cases you’ve killed electronic rights by posting it to your blog? Rights are what you sell.
6I wasn’t trying to debate.
It just seemed like there were some points I made that didn’t come across, so I tried to clarify them to make sure we’re all on the same page.
As for the story classification, your comments are good but I’m still confused.
How do I classify a story where a rabbit stands on top of a tidal wave that isn’t moving? It doesn’t make me laugh. It’s not a caper story. There’s nothing rags-to-riches about it. It’s not exactly experimental since I’m not doing something new, structurally. It’s not surreal in a classical definition. And I haven’t read any other similar stories so I can’t figure out where to go for guidance. I’m at the start of a process that I know very little about. Maybe there are very well-read people out there who could glance at my story and tell me which way to start walking, but since my writing classes at Tennessee and NJ that hasn’t happened.
That’s a good question. I guess the answer is nothing. I’m happy writing what I write. It entertains me. And, sometimes, others. That’s all I can expect and hope for.
Interesting about the digital rights. I know absolutely nothing about that. Maybe less. One day, if I find a publisher interested in publishing me, I’ll let him know I have my writings posted on my site. If they tell me that I can take them down and make some money and gain some readers in the process, I probably will do just that.
If they say that it was posted already and taking them down doesn’t matter because it’s already too late, then I won’t mind all that much. It’s my stuff. I should be able to share it if I want. 
Again, I appreciate the comments.
7Reign is right about the first electronic publication rights. How that affects your ability to sell at a later point depends on the publisher, but once you’ve published something online, you can’t honestly offer that right to a publisher. That doesn’t mean you can’t offer reprint rights or first print publication rights.
I’m all for starting your own community. I’ll even take it a step further and suggest starting your own market. I would like to launch a fantasy fiction or e-zine in the near future, using Wordpress as the platform. You could the same for whatever you want to call your brand/genre of writing.
8Speaking of public masturbation – do you feel better, Reign? Your entire comment was pointless and insulting. Oh, and SELF IMPORTANT. Grow up.
9Interesting, Kam. Thanks.
I really don’t know anything at all about any of the rights-related/publication issues (and haven’t been very motivated to learn). Maybe if I was a more prolific writer and intent to make an income from writing, I’d pull everything and start sharing only over e-mail. But really, the goal was to open up and discuss and find others who are willing to do the same; your comment about making an e-zine or pushing a community/market is much more appealing, though if this bizarro discovery meshes up, it may make more sense to dedicate my efforts there. I want to read up on everything, take some time and figure it out first.
I know your time is limited so I can’t imagine you’re racing to push a new writing project but post at your site or otherwise let me know when you get something going. I’d love to check out that effort.
10No Candice. My comment wasn’t pointless or insulting. Nor do I tend to lean towards self important. You don’t know me. As a matter of fact, my comments were on point. And…they were the reflections and contributions of someone that is all grown up.
11Let me try to cut off a fight before it kicks in. I’d rather not have one of those pop up in response to a post where I’m enjoying the afterglow of having written up a story.
Reign, you said yourself that you were “mouthing off” when you called me “naive” and “self-important”. I tend to ignore negative comments like those (even if they were intended to be delivered as humor, which does not seem to be the case — it’s apparent you took my frustration as whining and cocky bravado), but Candice is my girlfriend and she cares about me and doesn’t like it when people mouth off to me. And she has no issue with speaking with her mind. That’s all there is to it. I love all the comments and always enjoy them, but let’s keep it respectful. Right? Right! Moving on…
12I’m not just some bitchy, over-protective girlfriend here.
I don’t mind criticism as long as it’s contructive. Calling you naive and self important, saying your explanation was “a yawner” and referring to your posting of your stories on here as “public masturbation” is NOT constructive. It served no purpose whatsoever.
I agree that comments should stay respectful – that’s why it pissed me off. The whole comment was disrespectful. :down:
13Heh, well, now that I’ve aborted the game project and dissolved the company, I have a little more time. However, the point of doing the above was to be able to focus on writing.
That said, I really want to see more paying (pro or near-pro rates) markets for epic/heroic and sword-and-sorcery fiction. Starting my own e-zine, and expanding from there to print, is one way to do that. I need to rebuild my financial resources (and my wife’s good will for my entrepreneurial dreams) before that happens.
At this point, my goal is to finish the first Chronicles of Jord novel, get it published, and use the advance to launch the e-zine. So, we’re looking at a 1-2 year timeline based on that.
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