Monday, June 09, 2008

Internet Buffet

John McFetridge's article from Quill and Quire gets picked up and plugged online via the Utne reader. I knew John had mentioned me in the original article (thanks John!) and that's been picked up in Utne's condensed version.

Steve Mosby recently had his fourth book come out in the UK, but it's his third book, The 50/50 Killer that's the subject of a "post mortem" article written by Brian Lindenmuth, which you can find here. If you've read 50/50 Killer, you should read Brian's article. He may just change your mind about what really happened in the book... And if you follow the article to the comments section, Steve Mosby responds.

Ruth Jordan has a round-up of new books to read, in case any of you are in danger of a dwindling tbr pile.

Spinetingler gets spanked for the indignity of offering $25 payment for short stories. Thankfully, someone else on there wasn't only interested in jumping to the negative and firing away with criticism, by aptly pointing out that most crime fiction ezine markets don't pay at all - not Plots With Guns, not Demolition, not Pulp Pusher... I think The Thrilling Detective pays $10. And for the record, some print markets don't pay either. In fact, to date, the only short story I've been paid for is the one that ran in Spinetingler's anthology and you don't hear me whining about it, do you? I'm not knocking any other ezine for not paying, because I know what it is to take money out of my pocket to pay the writers in Spinetingler - there isn't anywhere near enough advertising revenue. The moral of the story is, if you don't pay at all, you don't get on their radar to criticize you, and if you try to offer a little something you've put yourself in the line of fire, but that's okay. I really just shouldn't read this stuff, 'cos it makes me feel like being selfish with my time and money and avoiding the headaches and not doing an ezine at all anymore.

Thankfully, that feeling passes. The head guru at MBS tells me Spinetingler will probably be out later this week. I saw the pdf a couple days ago and it looks phenomenal.

6 comments:

pattinase (abbott) said...

Of the 20 some stories I had in lit print journals, I got paid for about five. And never more than a token amount. Most of us are just glad to see a story appear.

Sandra Ruttan said...

That's how I feel, Patti. Short stories are a chance to stretch as a writer, and also to expose your work to a larger audience. For me, it's all about the readers.

Richard Cooper said...

Hardly anyone gets paid in the so-called literary journals, either. They pay them by sending 1-3 copies, in many cases. Now a novel, or a collection of stories, should be the goal of most writers these days. The glorious, golden age of the paying pulps has long passed into the sunset.

Patrick Shawn Bagley said...

When is the spring Spinetingler coming out/going up? I haven't been paying attention lately.

Patrick Shawn Bagley said...

See? I'm really not paying attenion, elsewise I'd have read that final paragraph.

I'm tired.

Sandra Ruttan said...

RAC, I agree. The motives are definitely not the immediate paycheque.

Patrick, LOL.