Show Me The Money

(Source)

As of now, I'm revising my first YA novel for the umpteenth time. In between revisions and pulling my hair out at work, I still like to dabble in poetry and short stories for children and adults.

My writing journey began in 2008. I had no fear. From day one, I plunged into submitting my work.

My first published piece was a poem I submitted to Parent:Wise Austin. When I read it now, I cringe. It wasn't very good, but I got paid $10! Woohoo! My next two pieces were puzzles for Highlights' Puzzlemania. I got two checks from them for $25 each! I thought, "Wow, I can get used to this!"

Since then, I've had a poem published for an e-zine for $5 and a flash fiction piece that was accepted and awaiting publication and payment of five British pounds.

I've had other pieces published: two children's stories on smories.com, two poems on SNM Horror e-zine, haikus on SoftWhispers, two poems for a now-defunct literary magazine, a poem on Roguezine, and a children's story in 31 More Nights of Halloween, a printed anthology. All for no monetary payment. In some cases, I didn't even receive a contributor's copy.

Don't get me wrong--after each and every acceptance, I did the Happy Dance. Acceptance is so crucial to my self-esteem, and every acceptance is a tid-bit of recognition letting me know I'm doing something right. But honestly? I'm getting tired of leaving a little bit of my blood on the page and only getting a pat on the back.

I've heard writers say that even if they never got paid, they'd still write. Well, my computer's hard drive is full of manuscripts awaiting completion, revision, and submission. I wrote them all without the promise of publication, and most of them will never be seen by an editor, let alone the general public. I wrote them because I needed to get them out of my head.

There are two schools of thought on paid acceptances. Some say that no author should work for free. (See 315 Million Reasons Why Writers Shouldn't Work For Free and Harlan Ellison Hates Cheap Writers) Others say that getting writing for free gives exposure. (See The Value of Free)

I say, "Whatever works for you, is great!" But from now on, I'll be searching Duotrope's database of 4445 listings for paying markets only.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you submit to non-paying publishers? Why or why not?

Reading Fees?

Apparently we write more than we read.  Indie publishing is being crushed by submissions, but we don't pay for their products.

I recently did some online market research for a few adult fiction pieces I wrote.  I noticed a trend that I never saw before.  More and more publications require a fee for reading submissions.  Some charge as little as $2 and others charge as much as $20!

I have only been writing for about two years and have only been actively submitting to adult publications for the past year.  I've personally only heard of paying reading fees for contests.  Understandably, the fees pay for judges and prize money. 

But, bear in mind that some of the publications charging reading fees for submissions do not offer monetary payment for publication.  Your reward for a perfectly polished piece is the inclusion in their magazine.  Some of the literary reviews are well-known and quite hard to get into, but without payment, how will writers fund themselves?

On the other hand, the argument is that their editors are overwhelmed with submissions and by charging a reading fee, the quality of submitted material will be at its best.  True, the odds of a single piece in a slush pile of 200 submissions are better than in a pile of 2000 submissions, but it won't stop lousy writers with hefty bank accounts from submitting. 

I suppose having to fork over $2-$3 a pop will force me to be certain a piece is the best it can be, but I try to do that anyway.

What are your thoughts on reading fees?  Would you submit if a magazine charged one?  What will you do if every magazine began charging reading fees?