In response to this, I thought I’d do a poll to see where and how people on the board actually have been published.
Multiple selections are allowed. Being published on a BBS is assumed, of course.
Scientific American
New Jersey History
Weatherwise
Parabola
Optics Communications
Journal of the Optical Society of America
American Journal of Physics
Optics Communications
Journal of Applied Physics
Bulletin of the American Physical Society
Physica Status Solidi
Science News
Double Star Observer
Journal of the American Association of Variable Star Observers
The Spectrograph (muliple times)
Optics and Photonics News (a whole lotta times)
Plus one book.
In addition, several pieces for Teemings online and several student publications (newspapers and literary magazines)
Couple peer reviewed journals, nothing anyone of you would ever have heard.
An article in COMPUTE!'s Gazette in 1985. I earned about $1,000 in royalties when they redistributed my program on a disk that went with the magazine. As a 16 year old, I considered $1K a lot of money.
No option for “nowhere”?
Pieces/sections in several gaming books (fiction and game rules, both paper and online), one complete game supplement book, several self-published online novels, one self-published hardcopy novel that’s coming out in a couple of months (the book is finished–just waiting for the cover artist to finish), and occasional blog articles.
No options for TV/movie/game scripts?
Back in the day, Alternative Press used to run a column called “Demorandum,” where unsigned bands would send in their demos for review. The guy who wrote the column advertised for volunteers, and two of my reviews were published.
I had a few small essays and poetry in highschool and college newspapers, but now I’m only “publishing” on my blog. Which pretty much nobody reads, so I’m not sure it counts.
The Straight Dope (I wrote a staff report once)
The Washington Post
Government Computer News
LODGING Magazine
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal Europe
The Wall Street Journal Asia
The Marietta Register
The Parkersburg Register
The Economist
The Frontrunner
The White House Bulletin
Game Industry News
I once tried to tally up the potential readership I’ve had by crossing stated circulation with publications and it’s WAY up there. Ridiculous, really.
Really, I can’t list them all. I’ve been published in dozens of magazines and such that I’ve worked out usually without attribution. But those are the bigs.
Some self-published webcomics and some comic books, too. Working on a deal for an original graphic novel right now but finding the time with the new day job is easier.
And, of course, college and high school lit magazines and papers.
The Who Gives a Shit monthly.
mmm
Skin mags to academic journals (and everything in between), plus several scholarly books.
I’m confused. Did you make the transition to digital before that or have you since switched back? That is awesome though. You probably got a few cents from me because I had the magazine then. What did the program do?
Are you me? I’ve had the same experience.
I’ve been published in ever so many places, and all I have to show for it is a scrapbook, some books on a shelf and an empty bank account.
I managed to make a (crummy) living as a freelance newspaper/magazine/advertising writer in the 1990s, back before every idiot with a computer thought she was Dorothy Parker. *Those *days are over. I had a monthly column in Movieline, and wrote regularly for half a dozen weeklies and monthlies, and copy-edited on the side for extra cash. Now I contribute to friends’ blogs as a favor–no one gets *paid *anymore.
I am now working on my eighth book–I only got an advance for my first one; the others have been for University presses and I get 10% of the take. They get nice reviews and sell OK (for University press books) and I just about make back what I’d spent on research, travel and photo publication rights.
It’s a hobby–one I enjoy, but which I probably will have to stop now, I just do not have the time or the money to support it, unless those MacArthur bastards cough up some Genius Money.
Other:
Trade magazines
PC Magazine
Article and software in Volume 7 of The Encyclopedia for the TRS80.
Do gov’t regulations, investigative reports, contingency plans, stuff like that count? Of course the company name (of whichever company I worked at when I wrote the report) is the name cited, not my name specifically, do I get an honorable mention?
Cripes. I was going to say I’m working on a comic that will be out at the end of the month, for which I am being paid, but that looks so much more impressive. Also, I wrote manuals at my old job.
You were in Weatherwise, Cal? I worked at the publisher for a couple of years. When were you in?
Without giving anything away it’s tough, but I’ve written and edited fiction and non-fiction books. A book of mine was once talked about in a thread here on the Dope, positively, fortunately. Another was translated into several languages. I was a millionaire in Polish zlotys. That loses some cachet from noting that the conversion rate at the time was 13000 zlotys to the dollar but it was a good moment.
As a freelancer I’ve done almost everything. Posters for corporations. Speeches for the Mayor. The anniversary tribute to a business school. Help files. All the sort of thing you find absolutely fascinating at the time of writing or you get out of the profession, but not the stuff you brag about.
Some cooler stuff. Games magazine when Will Schortz was editor. Nature. Yes, the journal.
Don’t become a writer because it sounds like a fun profession. It’s not. Become a writer because it’s what you have to be. That’s the only thing that makes it survivable.