Comments | mizkit: Escaping Stockholm: Part 1

mizkit

Escaping Stockholm: Part 1

May 28, 2013 08:53

I’ve said this before and will no doubt say it again: one of the coolest things about the intarwebs and growing up to be a writer is having become friends with some of my writing heroes. People I wanted to grow up to be, or whose work touched me, or who I admired the holy living bejeezus out of, or I learned from by reading their books, or all of ( Read more... )

writing, books my friends wrote, industry essays, publishing, self-publishing

Comments 21

irishkate May 28 2013, 12:34:03 UTC

Ouch!

angela_n_hunt May 28 2013, 15:43:44 UTC

Yeah. It's pretty horrifying.

But the good news is that I do believe there's a way out for authors. It's just going to take a different type of approach.

Judy's Story ext_863117 May 28 2013, 17:15:06 UTC

I was still in college when Judy got started, and attended the Clarion SF writers workshop the next year. I was focused on what was said to be the "traditional" entry into SF/F writing at the time - writing short fiction for the digests, then getting a novel contract. I actually quit writing right about when I would have "broken in" and therefore would have followed a path more like others who did stay in the game. By the time I got started again, I was very fortunate to be mentored by Jim Blaylock and many others. But the stories they told were very unlike what even I had experienced in the early 80s, much less the 90s, and certainly not today ( ... )

Re: Judy's Story lwe May 29 2013, 05:43:53 UTC

Elwood didn't own Laser; he was the editor-in-chief and the covers said something like "Presented by Roger Elwood." They were owned by Harlequin, who didn't see any reason they couldn't do to SF what they'd done to romance.

It didn't work, but while the line existed it was an opportunity for several young authors to get into print. They paid small advances by the standards of the day, but were clearly a pro market. I intended to send them something, but they went bust just about when I had my first novel ready to submit.

Re: Judy's Story ext_863117 May 29 2013, 06:07:24 UTC

Well you dodged that Elwood bullet, LWE. I guess I could have guessed this was a Harlequin project from that cover. Jim described it as saying "Roger Elwood Presents!" in huge letters at the top, but it really did have Tim's name on there clearly.

Congratulations, Mr. Watt! Evans!

In current dollars... amberley May 28 2013, 17:29:02 UTC

With inflation, $40k in 1983 dollars would be $93k in 2013, and a $25k advance then would be $58k now.

Re: In current dollars... mizkit May 28 2013, 20:23:37 UTC

Jesus.

Re: In current dollars... tuftears May 28 2013, 20:24:45 UTC

This is relevant! I was just thinking 'hmm, that's not terrible money but...' and then I realized this was in dollars from Back When.

Re: In current dollars... gows May 28 2013, 20:51:42 UTC

I was wondering about that, myself.

burger_eater May 28 2013, 19:52:48 UTC

::bursts into tears::

::runs out of room::

mizkit May 28 2013, 20:16:51 UTC

*brings you a glass of water and some tissues*

burger_eater May 29 2013, 04:49:13 UTC

More seriously, there's no part of becoming successful for me that doesn't involve lots of time-wasting revision. I suspect I'm not cut out for the modern era.