Grand Admiral Shaun Duke

Just saw a short fiction market that pays very little also demanding basically every publication right under the sun.

If I'm only expecting to get a pittance for a story, there is no way in hell I'm giving it to someone who can do whatever they want with it forever. That's nuts.

Nov 18, 2022 at 6:04pmWeb
Show threadK.C. Mead-BrewerNov 18, 2022
@shaunduke what! that's bananas!
Show threadGrand Admiral Shaun DukeNov 18, 2022

@kcmeadbrewer Yeah, assuming I sold this story to them, I would have made like $10 or $15. While I want actual publications for the resume and all, if I'm going to make that little and have to give up all my rights, I'd be better off putting it on Patreon, where could make that amount in a month or two and still own all of the rights...

Which is not to say I want to do that. Just that...you can't pay nothing and have all the rights...

Show threadRobert MacAnthonyNov 18, 2022
@shaunduke yeah, that’s crazy. Have to wonder if they thought that through or just grabbed language somewhere online.
Show threadGrand Admiral Shaun DukeNov 18, 2022
@rmacanthony If they did, they got it from someone unethical. I don't see how you can reasonably argue that you should have basically all of the rights for no real compensation to the author. Especially when there's no royalty share on book sales and your rights grab will let you sell the story in every imaginable format forever...
Show threadRobert MacAnthonyNov 18, 2022
@shaunduke certainly irresponsible business at best. Hopefully writers will beware of that market :/
Show threadJeff XilonNov 18, 2022

@shaunduke There are some ridiculous ones out there. I also side-eye magazines that have over the top, frankly aggressive, language about how picky they are or how much they expect authors to prepare themselves for extensive editing and then pay like, a cent a word.

Sorry dudes, but if you want to get macho about "quality" you'd best be able to pay like the elite.

Show threadJeff XilonNov 18, 2022
@shaunduke Not that there aren't some truly excellent quality publications at the 1 cent a word realm- there are! - but they aren't the ones trying to neg their authors in the submission guidelines.
Show threadGrand Admiral Shaun DukeNov 18, 2022

@JXilon There are GREAT publications that pay a very tiny sum for stories. I've sold to some of them. While everyone wants to get the Big Bucks, I'm happy to sell something to a venue that will treat it with love and respect.

Taking every publication right under the sun for the cost of a cup of coffee is insulting.

Show threadGrand Admiral Shaun DukeNov 18, 2022
@JXilon Oh, yeah. I wonder if it has to do with the idea that they still want super quality but also aren't being given as many of the top stories because those mostly get nabbed by the Big Bucks publishers. I dunno. Spitballing.
Show threadJeff XilonNov 18, 2022
@shaunduke possibly. And probably different answers or mixes of answers for different places, but, given that even running a 1 cent a word publication requires a certain amount of excess money and time i do sometimes wonder if it isn’t just a mark of a certain kind of entitlement at work.