When Everything Goes Silent…
There’s a long gap between a story’s acceptance and its publication … and sometimes unfortunate things can happen in that time period. I’ve had several stories accepted by markets that have, between acceptance and publication, collapsed, leaving my work homeless once more.
It looks like it may have happened to me again. Some time ago I had several stories accepted by collections, including a story in Holy Horrors — which has had a roller-coaster ride of a time trying to find a publisher, having been declared dead for a period last year before being miraculously resurrected — and a story in Hardboiled Horror, which was scheduled to be published by Notorious Press. I received occasional updates from the editors of both collections up until summer, and then…
Silence.
I know from my own experience that putting out a small-press collection takes time, so I try not to pester editors. However, this week I finally sent out my queries. While Holy Horrors sounds like it’s still on blessedly on track, I fear that Hardboiled Horror may be swimming with the fishes, since Notorious Press’s website hasn’t been updated since last August. (If anyone knows what’s going on there, please tell me!)
As I said, this has happened to me before, and in fact my own Harrow Press isn’t innocent of it, as a few years ago we had to cancel a contest-based collection we’d been planning to publish.
See, while it’s fantastic that digital publishing permits the proliferation of so many small presses, they’re usually one- or two-person shows, so when Real Life gets in the way, publishing concerns tend to fall by the wayside. Illness, divorce, bankruptcy, family problems — all of these can, quite understandably, scuttle an editor’s or publisher’s project.
It’s understandable, but it’s always a disappointment for the writer.
At any rate, now I’m off to Ralan’s Webstravaganza, my favorite genre market website, to hunt around for a publication that may want a certain 1940s horror story….!
drupagliassotti @ February 10, 2009