In Case You Want a Sample

The first piece of fiction I've sold (which happened around late February/early March) is about to appear in issue #11 of Apex Science Fiction and Horror Digest. As far as I know, the release date is sometime next month.

One thing to note here (other than, you know, that it's freakin' sweet) is what kind of compensation is involved in the fiction market these days. The story, "Uncanny," is about 800 words long and appears under the "Parting Shot" header (meaning it's on the last page). As per Apex's Guidelines, the payment for a story of this length is $20, which ain't bad at all for a first-sale piece of flash fiction.

To give you some idea, my first sold poem was published back in January in issue #4 of The Shantytown Anomaly. I was paid a dollar. When I published the first issue of Spinning Whorl in May 2006, contributors received no cash payment at all.

So basically, there's not a ton of money in writing short stories (granted, it gets better--there are a few magazines out there handing out four-figure paychecks), and if you can even get paid anything for your poetry, you're in minority territory. Not everyone realizes this. In fact, people often have odd ideas of how money flows in the fiction world; I remember one awkward conversation in which I explained to my father that no, The Atlantic Monthly would not pay me $20,000 if they published one of my short stories. I've also met a lot of people who find it only logical that the writer should pay the publisher, not the other way around.

Even more confusing is that the pay scale didn't always work like this. To quote (I think) Steve Eley of Escape Pod, "Fifty years ago, magazines paid a few cents per word for short stories. Nowadays they pay... a few cents per word." To get a better idea, check out this article by the ever-so-helpful John Scalzi (if you've never heard of Robert Heinlein, his books included Stranger in a Strange Land and Starship Troopers).

When people ask me how you're supposed to earn a living like this, all I can say is "don't quit your day job," and that's usually about the size of it. Even better, just keep in mind that "writer" may be a profession, but it is rarely a primary source of income.

Sure is fun though.