I know most of you don’t know me from a rat’s ass, but I feel like bragging:
I sold my first short story this week! It’s going to be published by an on-line e-zine, but I don’t care, since they’re paying me $150 for it. I wrote the story about three years ago in about an hour, and I haven’t really ever tried doing anything with it. I got offered to submit some things to this e-zine and this was one of four or five I e-mailed to their editor. She chose this one, and on Thursday formally proposed the sale to me.
This is my first legitimate business as a writer, so I’m happy. $150 isn’t much, but it’s better than nothing, especially for something withering on my shelf for a few years.
Anyway, if any of you care and wish to read the story, it’s still on my web site in PDF format. It’s called The Invitation. It’s rather short (1400 words), won’t take too long to read. I appreciate comments – mweintr@falstaff.net .
I certainly have felt the same as your narrator, too many times to count. Being the best guy friend hurts a lot at times. I probably would’ve been choked up or crying if I weren’t happily married now.
Oh, and the first person present narrative was a great touch.
Satan: I intend to photocopy this check, too, when it comes. Good idea, thanks.
AWB: I tend to use the first person present tense quite a bit – I’ve used it in at least one or two other short stories. I guess it worked best in “The Invitation” because it was such a personal story.
Now, what to do with the $150 when the check does come…
If you have/are going to be published in an e-zine, shouldn’t you pull the story off line? They are giving you $150 so that people will come to thier site to read your story (and presumably look at ads) but you are actually stealing potential customers away from the hand that is feeding you.
I don’t mean to sound bitchy, but I think that part of the reason all but a few writers cannot support themselves by writting anymore is that so many writters are basically willing to give it away for free, flooding the market.
So, congrats on selling a story, but now make us pay for it!
Manda JO: Yeah, I’m sure I’m going to have to pull it offline at some point. Specifically, when they “show me the money.” I’ll gladly provide a link to their site where the story’s at.
AFAIK, the site is “open”, it’s run by a non-profit org, I think, and is sponsored by the parent organization and by advertising.
And, yes, all my stories are on [url:http://falstaff.net/mweintr/]my site. I am giving them away for free, for now, because I have nothing better to do with them. It was because of this that I got the chance to sell it to this e-zine (their editor surfed my site, read a few stories, and e-mailed me about them).
So, if you want to pay me for my story, feel free.
Canthearya: Thanks for the props, it’s people like you who keep me writing.
Anyway, I would love to take “her” out and stuff, but she’s getting married soonish, and well, she doesn’t really know she’s the “her”. Even longer story, trust me…
Ah. Well, since I’m not Jewish, I guess there’s no point in submitting. It’s just that I haven’t seen any other place on the net where you can actually get money from an e-zine. Plus, I had a piece accepted by the Blue Moon Review a couple of years back, and although they’re not a fly-by-nite organization, I’m not sure whether an e-zine really counts as a publication credit.
At this point, I’d take one or the other: money or publication credit. But e-zines don’t seem like a good break-in market either way.
Johnny: Except for my last name, I don’t know how they knew I was (raised) Jewish. I saw nothing on their site about submissions, and browsing, I saw no fiction at all.
At this point in my writing career, all my short stories are doing is collecting dust until I get rich and famous (tm.) they’re anthologized in a between novels ploy to make more money. Right now, I’m concentrating on my first novel, which is taking forever. Maybe this will prompt me to finish it? I don’t know, but I found myself starting a new short story last night.
I’ve found, overall, that the trouble of submitting stories isn’t worth it. I’m ecstatic about the $150 because it’s really like found money. I’d done a handful of submitting before, and the closest I’ve came is when a story of mine (“The Isle of Exile”) bounced around the editor(s) of the New Yorker for almost a year (their standard review period is only three months, I’ve heard).
RealityChuck: Yeah, it’s great, but honestly, hearing reviews like Canthearya’s and AWB’s is better. Thanks again, guys.
