Actual posty-thing
Actually posted something over at Evolutions. Gist of it is that all stories in Slush or that I was considering are officially "Released" as in I'm not buying anything, anymore, for the foreseeable future (maybe ever). Writers and artists who want their stuff pulled need only ask and I will comply. I also mention that I plan on using Evolutions primarily to post my book reviews and the occasional odd thoughts about writing.
I don't have a problem using Evolutions that way nor do I mind using it to help my writer-friends/colleagues use it as a portal to share "value-added" marketing shorts/whatnot. Point being, other than paying for the hosting and the URL stuff, I'm not dumping any more change down the well. "Free-content" is nothing but advertising when applied to prose. I'm sure someone will jump up to ram an exception or two to this down my throat, but that's why they call them "exceptions" and I believe that any kind of true success at "Free-content" donation-profit model prose release is more likely to flow from already having a ready reader/fan base rather than being something "cool" that gets boosted by the denizens of the net.
Of course, I have given Evolutions little more than a child's care, so it doesn't really count. My lesson from this is that, although I can edit, it's not something that I long to do at odd hours of the day and night. I've also realized that, for me, writing is something that I must do for my own enjoyment and edification first. I have to be happy with what I'm producing or interested in the outcome or I frankly will just quit caring and walk away from the carcass.
There's certainly no profit motive or return on investment in prose to sustain the kind of effort it requires, otherwise. And please don't point to some uber-successful asshat like Weber, Scalzi, or whoever your favorite over-hyped market-setter du joir is. They're complete and total outliers who suck up way too much of the available spec fic author money for what they deliver and their results are meaningless for 99.9999 percent of those who write.
Anyhow, that's it for me. I'm going to try to find the joy and fulfillment of writing again and post stuff to Evolutions that I want to share just for the fun of sharing.
Oh, I did decide something else. After I send a story 'round to all the pro markets and get rejected as will undoubtedly happen, there's no reason that I can't gather them up in 100k batches and self-publish collections on Lulu for my own enjoyment. That way, if someone wants to see my stories (as has actually happened a couple of times, believe it or not), I can give them an actual print copy to read instead of sending them a batch of computer files that will probably never get opened. An added benefit is that I can have non-volatile and nicely bound copies of my stories safely stored with my purchased books. That way, if I ever lose all my computer files somehow, I at least will have a compact and easily accessed backup copies as opposed to bulky 8.5x11 single-sided MS copies eating up too much space in my office.
Plus I now know enough artist-y people that I can work with cost-effectively to get decent art and illustrations for my own stories. JOY!
I don't have a problem using Evolutions that way nor do I mind using it to help my writer-friends/colleagues use it as a portal to share "value-added" marketing shorts/whatnot. Point being, other than paying for the hosting and the URL stuff, I'm not dumping any more change down the well. "Free-content" is nothing but advertising when applied to prose. I'm sure someone will jump up to ram an exception or two to this down my throat, but that's why they call them "exceptions" and I believe that any kind of true success at "Free-content" donation-profit model prose release is more likely to flow from already having a ready reader/fan base rather than being something "cool" that gets boosted by the denizens of the net.
Of course, I have given Evolutions little more than a child's care, so it doesn't really count. My lesson from this is that, although I can edit, it's not something that I long to do at odd hours of the day and night. I've also realized that, for me, writing is something that I must do for my own enjoyment and edification first. I have to be happy with what I'm producing or interested in the outcome or I frankly will just quit caring and walk away from the carcass.
There's certainly no profit motive or return on investment in prose to sustain the kind of effort it requires, otherwise. And please don't point to some uber-successful asshat like Weber, Scalzi, or whoever your favorite over-hyped market-setter du joir is. They're complete and total outliers who suck up way too much of the available spec fic author money for what they deliver and their results are meaningless for 99.9999 percent of those who write.
Anyhow, that's it for me. I'm going to try to find the joy and fulfillment of writing again and post stuff to Evolutions that I want to share just for the fun of sharing.
Oh, I did decide something else. After I send a story 'round to all the pro markets and get rejected as will undoubtedly happen, there's no reason that I can't gather them up in 100k batches and self-publish collections on Lulu for my own enjoyment. That way, if someone wants to see my stories (as has actually happened a couple of times, believe it or not), I can give them an actual print copy to read instead of sending them a batch of computer files that will probably never get opened. An added benefit is that I can have non-volatile and nicely bound copies of my stories safely stored with my purchased books. That way, if I ever lose all my computer files somehow, I at least will have a compact and easily accessed backup copies as opposed to bulky 8.5x11 single-sided MS copies eating up too much space in my office.
Plus I now know enough artist-y people that I can work with cost-effectively to get decent art and illustrations for my own stories. JOY!