In which I abruptly develop empathy for my fellow-writers.

Good God, but I just got filled in on the original/’reprint’ racket.  Long story (heh) short: everything counts when it comes to whether a story’s a reprint, apparently.  Including things like, say, Patreon accounts or websites. And the rates go through the floor.  I say this with bemusement, not anger: it’s a hell of a racket, particularly since nobody seems to be actually making a mint off of it.

I’m just grateful that I discovered this on Day Two. Looks like I’m going to have to write more things that just go straight out to the publishers before anyone else sees them. I’m also contemplating whether I need to seriously reassess how long I wait before I put Patreon-generated works on this website: there’s some debate about whether things published via subscription count as reprints, and absolutely none on whether things published on websites do.

So join my Patreon, dagnabbit.

patreon-medium-button

Moe Lane

PS: None of this should affect the gaming stuff, though. Different rules and I expect that I’ll be mostly self-publishing, anyway.

9 thoughts on “In which I abruptly develop empathy for my fellow-writers.”

  1. I suppose it depends on whether you’re writing to sell, or writing for feedback. If you want feedback, you might try a site like Scribophile. If you are trying to sell, you should probably send that stuff straight to the people with money. There are good reasons for doing both.

  2. Yeah, this is an important detail. Most guidelines will be clear on this, and if they’re not, you can ask, but generally reprints pay a lot less, and count any publishing online. At half rate, Mysterion actually paid pretty well for reprints.

      1. That’s one of the reasons self-publishing is becoming so enticing and popular. Publishers will use any excuse to Not Pay You if they can get away with it.

        I hope you’re dealing with Baen – they seem to work with their writers pretty fairly, even with this “reprint” nonsense.

        1. Baen doesn’t publish individual short stories. I think.

          The ironic thing in all of this is that, hey, I already got paid for these, right? They’re coming off of Patreon, after all, so what’s my beef, anyway? 🙂

          1. I’m not aware that Baen pays for individual shorts, no.
            .
            That said, they do publish anthologies. If, for instance, you were to write something in Larry Correia’s universe, with his permission, it could make its’ way into a future anthology.
            .
            Note that I’m picking on Larry because I know he’s got an anthology coming up soon for his “Monster Hunter” universe, but .. a Moe Lane piece in the “Grimnoir” universe could be quite a nice fit.. ghosts and magic being real and all..
            .
            Mew

          3. Baen tend to publish one or two anthologies per month. They also have short fiction contests for new writers (one or two per year, IIRC).

            Also, you might want to look at MadGeniusClub.com, which has lots of advice for new writers from published writers. It focuses on Indy publishing, but also discusses trad publishing (which, for these authors, means Baen).

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