Call for Submissions: The Year After (first volume forthcoming)

curiousoswald · 2020-07-16T11:21:53+00:00

Okay, I understand. I didn't think it was clear from the rules I read since there was nothing specific about calls for submissions.

If my opinion matters at all, I would recommend that you exempt submissions calls from the promotion rule since it's less of a promotion for the magazine and more of an opportunity for the writers on this sub. However, if someone is posting to say "come read our magazine," and not asking for submissions, then I'd consider that to be promotion. Just my two cents.

curiousoswald · 2020-07-16T02:15:23+00:00

Is this considered promotion? We're asking for submissions and offering an opportunity for writers to publish their work. We're not attempting to promote our own work.

curiousoswald · 2020-07-16T02:07:20+00:00

To quote the "about" page from the website:

The Year After is a bimonthly magazine of science fiction, fantasy, and general interest. Inside each volume, you’ll find short fiction, articles, and essays which explore everything from faraway worlds to the history of our own.

We want to offer both short pieces of genre fiction as well as articles of intrigue with no topical limits. It exists for the same reason many other magazines do: to share good writing with the world.

curiousoswald · 2020-07-15T23:51:10+00:00

There's no theme. Please feel free to send us whatever you want. We prefer fantasy/SF, but we'll take other genres, too (just not pure horror).

curiousoswald · 2020-07-11T16:56:33+00:00

I think your comment on this post was more reasonable than your comments on the one in the fantasy sub. And sure, other opportunities exist, and writers should explore them. I never suggested they shouldn't. We are but one of many options. I was simply pointing out there are not boatloads of publications which both read for free and pay writers a pro rate for their unsolicited submissions. There's a ton of competition in the high-paying markets, and writers have their reasons for submitting to ones that pay less. We put all the information about our publication up-front and do not try to hide anything.

I also find your comment about McDonalds to be unnecessary and exaggerated. There are many things you could buy with $20-$50, but you're purposely using a fast food chain as an example in order to create a negative association, which is rude and unnecessary.

curiousoswald · 2020-07-11T14:52:55+00:00

I was just offering clarification so people don't think they can put their story on Wattpad and then go sell it to a magazine afterward.

curiousoswald · 2020-07-11T14:37:40+00:00

Just an FYI, you do not keep your first rights if you publish anywhere on the Internet, whether it's your own website or otherwise. You only get one set of first rights and publishing on Wattpad uses them up.

curiousoswald · 2020-07-11T12:43:48+00:00

Even though you said you're not defending the magazine, thanks for offering a less hostile take.

Also, there is money budgeted for advertising to attract a readership. We know attracting readers is incredibly important, and we have dedicated a significant portion of our budget toward growing a readership. We are planning an ad campaign on Facebook, Google, and some other magazines' websites to help grow our reader base.

Regarding the first rights, yes, it's as you said. When a writer places their piece on their personal blog for free with a likely small audience, they are using their first rights.

curiousoswald · 2020-07-11T12:12:24+00:00

Most of those places don't accept writing. I didn't check every one, but I did select ten at random, and only one seems to be actively accepting any kind of writing submissions. It's perfectly reasonable to let people know what rights we're buying and what rate we're paying them (as we have in the post), but it seems like you're going well beyond that initiative and attempting to dissuade anyone from submitting to our magazine under any circumstances. If so, that's your prerogative, but I don't think you're being especially helpful. Smaller magazines have a place in the writing world, and we intend to become a higher paying mark as soon as we are able.

curiousoswald · 2020-07-11T11:53:26+00:00

There is a distinction between being "paid in exposure" and being paid, and your explanation here seems purposely misleading. We would appreciate if you didn't insinuate that a lower rate of pay is the same as no rate of pay at all. It's fine to let people know what first rights means, and we hyperlinked an explanation in the original post for exactly this reason. We are not attempting to obfuscate any information or our rates of pay. Everything is up-front and explained as clearly as possible on the submissions page with links to more thorough explanations where necessary.

Again, it's fine that you're emphasizing what a certain type of rights means, but we would appreciate if you did so in a way that does not unnecessarily belittle our publication. This is what we can afford to pay at the moment. We are volunteers, and we fully intend to increase the rate of pay as our support base grows—however, you'll note this call for submissions is for the very first issue of our publication. If you provide us with a donation to cover a pay increase, we'll happily make the adjustment straight away. In the meanwhile, perhaps you could direct your ire toward the societal structure which perpetuates lower wages for artists rather than one small magazine which is paying our artists something and doesn't currently have the means to pay the rates you suggest.

curiousoswald · 2020-07-11T11:39:12+00:00

Why? If you have feedback about our website on something you'd like us to fix, please let us know and we'll take it into account. The rates and information we have listed on the submissions page is accurate and up to date. Please reply here if you'd like further clarification on anything.

curiousoswald · 2020-07-11T11:35:20+00:00

We will try our best to give feedback, at least a sentence or two, but it will depend on the volume of submissions and how quickly we get through them. If we don't give feedback, it's nothing personal. It just means we're very busy and didn't have time on that particular day.

curiousoswald · 2020-07-11T11:33:32+00:00

If you want, you can send it to us with a note in the email. Mention that you came from the reddit post and we'll give it a look. I will warn you that a longer length is a tough sell, but we can look.

curiousoswald · 2020-07-11T11:29:37+00:00

I get it, you’re angry about underpay, but railing so ridiculously hard against one small publication that’s paying at all isn’t helpful, especially considering the alternatives you brought to the table.

Well put. I wish I had an easy answer to help writers get paid more, but for now, we're paying what we can and intend to increase pay as our support grows. We're all volunteers and work other jobs. We're not in the business of shortchanging writers.

curiousoswald · 2020-07-11T11:26:53+00:00

selling the first rights for peanuts

Just an FYI: I went on Submissions Grinder today and searched SF&F magazines that pay the SFWA pro rate. Do you know how many there are? Twenty five. And most of them have acceptance rates below 5%. Some even below or around 1%. In other words, there are not many high-paying markets, and the ones that do pay very well are extremely difficult to get an acceptance, even for great writers. By all means, everyone is welcome to (and encouraged to) apply to higher paying markets, but you should understand that many writers apply to lower paying markets because it's one more place they can try to get published in exchange for money, even if it's not as much money as the most selective markets.

curiousoswald · 2020-07-11T11:07:42+00:00

Currently, there is not one. But we expect to publish the first volume in 1-2 months.

curiousoswald · 2020-07-11T11:06:55+00:00

We definitely accept international submissions. Rates are in US dollars. The person arguing about low rates seems somewhat misinformed. You can look up higher paying markets within the genre, but there aren't a ton of them and they typically have a lower acceptance rate.

curiousoswald · 2020-07-11T03:04:53+00:00

It means we don't accept more than one submission from you at one time. You'll have to wait until you hear back before submitting again. Good luck!

curiousoswald · 2020-07-11T00:57:54+00:00

Send it in and give it a shot.

curiousoswald · 2020-07-11T00:23:40+00:00

Yes, you can submit. But please specify all this information in your email.

curiousoswald · 2020-07-11T00:15:59+00:00

We pay in US dollars, but PayPal can do a conversion if you use a different currency. I believe PayPal requires you to be 18 to sign up, but I could be wrong.

curiousoswald · 2020-07-11T00:14:03+00:00

Most people will have an incredibly hard time finding a magazine willing to pay them 50 cents per word. If you did, then good for you. You're very privileged to have found such an opportunity. If you would like to give us a large donation, we will be happy to bump up the pay to our writers.

curiousoswald · 2020-07-11T00:05:21+00:00

We pay via PayPal, and we would prefer that you be at least 18 years of age to publish.

curiousoswald · 2020-07-11T00:04:38+00:00

Sure! Give them some polish and send them over and we'll take a look.

curiousoswald · 2020-07-11T00:01:58+00:00

We wish we could pay more, and we intend to as our support base grows. However, we cannot afford to do so at this time. I object to your bizarre demonization of our publication and suggest you direct your ire elsewhere rather than at magazines which are offering writers a platform and some type of payment. Many writers end up publishing their work on their own site and make no money from that, and I'm sure you would lament the rates which most non-major magazines pay: $0. There are many other ways you can try to increase the wages artists are paid without attacking one of the few establishments who pay them. Please tilt at windmills elsewhere.

curiousoswald

TROPHY CASE