# I sold a story! **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sold-a-story/11239 **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share **Created:** [November 15, 1999, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sold-a-story/11239 "1999-11-15T04:16:00Z") **Posts on this page:** 20 **Page:** 1
### Author: ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort) #### Post date: [November 15, 1999, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sold-a-story/11239/1 "1999-11-15T04:16:00Z")
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](http://falstaff.net/mweintr/writing/invitation.pdf). It’s rather short (1400 words), won’t take too long to read. I appreciate comments – [mweintr@falstaff.net](mailto:mweintr@falstaff.net) . Whoo! ---
### Author: ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system) #### Post date: [November 15, 1999, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sold-a-story/11239/2 "1999-11-15T04:19:00Z")
Woohoo! Congratulations! May this be the first of manny! -Melin ---
### Author: ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort) #### Post date: [November 15, 1999, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sold-a-story/11239/3 "1999-11-15T04:22:00Z")
Manny? Who’s he? 🙂 Thanks! ---
### Author: ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan) #### Post date: [November 15, 1999, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sold-a-story/11239/4 "1999-11-15T04:24:00Z")
Good job! I still have a copy of the first check I got for my writing prowess on my cubical wall at my office. You never forget your first time! * * * Yer pal, Satan ---
### Author: ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB) #### Post date: [November 15, 1999, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sold-a-story/11239/5 "1999-11-15T04:50:00Z")
Hey Montfort! Good story! \\*\*Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert! \*\*\ 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. ---
### Author: ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer) #### Post date: [November 16, 1999, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sold-a-story/11239/6 "1999-11-16T13:20:00Z")
Congrats, Montfort. Satan, let me get this straight. You wrote on the cubicle wall and they gave you a check. How much do they pay for bathroom poetry? 🙂 * * * **Dopeler effect:** The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly. ---
### Author: ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan) #### Post date: [November 16, 1999, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sold-a-story/11239/7 "1999-11-16T14:33:00Z")
Ah yes… Gotta love misplaced modifiers… No wonder I didn’t get more checks! 🙂 * * * Yer pal, Satan ---
### Author: ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort) #### Post date: [November 17, 1999, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sold-a-story/11239/8 "1999-11-17T04:37:00Z")
Thanks for the kind words everyone… 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… ---
### Author: ![Ayesha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c0e974/32.png) [@Ayesha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ayesha) #### Post date: [November 17, 1999, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sold-a-story/11239/9 "1999-11-17T05:01:00Z")
Congratulations, as for the check, well you an just send it to me, Ayesha . I’ll take are of it for you. 😉 I could have a good time in the craft store with 150.00, for about 45 minutes anyway. * * * Ayesha - Lioness * * * There are two solutions to every problem : the wrong one, and mine (Thomas A. Edison) ---
### Author: ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo) #### Post date: [November 17, 1999, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sold-a-story/11239/10 "1999-11-17T05:20:00Z")
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! ---
### Author: ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest) #### Post date: [November 17, 1999, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sold-a-story/11239/11 "1999-11-17T05:21:00Z")
Whooo hoooo! Now the big question is:Whatcha gonna do with your big bucks? Buy a house near Bill Gates? 🙂 ---
### Author: ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort) #### Post date: [November 17, 1999, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sold-a-story/11239/12 "1999-11-17T05:25:00Z")
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/](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. 🙂 ---
### Author: ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort) #### Post date: [November 17, 1999, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sold-a-story/11239/13 "1999-11-17T05:26:00Z")
Well. [http://falstaff.net/mweintr.](http://falstaff.net/mweintr.) Anyway… back to the Great American Novel. ---
### Author: ![Gazelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Gazelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gazelle) #### Post date: [November 18, 1999, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sold-a-story/11239/14 "1999-11-18T16:03:00Z")
**Montfort** , I loved it… Words fail me. My suggestion for the $150: Take her out to dinner at a candlelit Italian restaurant with red-checkered tablecloths. Kiss her again. You brought back some memories, sir. Ah to be young and single again… * * * Men are from Mars, women are from Venus, dogs are from Pluto. ---
### Author: ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort) #### Post date: [November 18, 1999, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sold-a-story/11239/15 "1999-11-18T22:29:00Z")
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… But, thanks. (And yes, I’m young and single.) 🙂 ---
### Author: ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel) #### Post date: [November 18, 1999, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sold-a-story/11239/16 "1999-11-18T23:54:00Z")
You never mentioned the name of the e-zine. Which is it? ---
### Author: ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort) #### Post date: [November 19, 1999, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sold-a-story/11239/17 "1999-11-19T00:02:00Z")
Oh, yeah, duh. It’s “Generation J, a webzine for Jewish genXers” – [http://www.generationj.com](http://www.generationj.com) I didn’t approach them, so any comments about their non-secularity will be brushed off. As long as their money is green, I’ll take it. I’d never heard of the site until the editor told me that’s who she was recruiting for. ---
### Author: ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel) #### Post date: [November 19, 1999, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sold-a-story/11239/18 "1999-11-19T00:16:00Z")
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. ---
### Author: ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck) #### Post date: [November 19, 1999, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sold-a-story/11239/19 "1999-11-19T00:26:00Z")
Congratulations! Great feeling, isn’t it? * * * Read “Sundials” in the new issue of Aboriginal Science Fiction. [www.sff.net/people/rothman](http://www.sff.net/people/rothman) ---
### Author: ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort) #### Post date: [November 19, 1999, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sold-a-story/11239/20 "1999-11-19T02:17:00Z")
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. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sold-a-story/11239.md?page=2)