I Still Have Most Of My Organs, Actually

[ursulav]

So there’s this publishing horror story making the rounds the last few days-the saga of Mandy DeGeit, who submitted a short story to a small press that did anthologies and discovered that it was published with a whole lot of changes, including animal abuse, which she never saw, never okayed, and never had an inkling of until the bizillion copies

Comments

[twapa]

I wonder how the publishing process works with something like webcomics where the content is an already finished product?

I'm asking because I draw webcomics and would like to see them printed someday (as is the custom) but I have no idea where to start...

[ursulav]

With "Digger" they fixed my spelling and caught a couple of continuity errors with Digger's clothes (The Amazing Vanishing Necklace!) and formatted it up to fit in a book. Nothing else. (Ha! I say that, because that's my side of the story. For them, it was probably long brutal hours and weeping and layout and coming up with nice little graphic bits to stick the page numbers in and gnashing of teeth and tearing of hair. They did a great job. Much better than I would have done, certainly!)

I imagine it depends on the publisher.

[gardenwaltz]

This is why I don't do DTP. The entire layout, fiddly-bit nonsense is nonstop gnashing of the teeth to me.

[sofawolf]

No weeping that I recall, and my hair and teeth issues have nothing to do with Digger, thankfully

[sprrwhwk]

I have the hunch that we will be seeing this thing more, rather than less, now that SELF-PUBLISHING IS THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE. When any douchebag can set themself up as a publisher and legitimately get books onto Kindles and into Amazon for print purchase which are indistinguishable from the books of professional publishers... some douchebags do. I think that closing that particular barn door would be futile with the horse out and halfway to Peoria by now, but I'm not really sure what the answer is. Education, some, but in this case I don't think the author had any way to see this coming. I guess when that fails we publicly shame the wrongdoers and move on?

I wonder, can one donate to Writer Beware? I don't see an obvious donation box on the site.

[ursulav]

Actually, no--they're very serious about not taking money, for some ethical and/or tax reason having to do with being affiliated with SFWA, I believe. They ask that you donate to one of the sponsor organization's scholarship funds, I think.

[sprrwhwk]

Ah, indeed. Thanks! Then here's SFWA's benevolent funds. (And here's the MWA's scholarship programs, since they also contribute money.)

[edthetallguy]

You're probably right about seeing this kind of thing more, not just from Internet-enabled douchebaggery, but from sheer, well-meaning incompetence. I suspect it'll be kind of like what happened to graphic design for a few years after the Mac came out, or the early days of website design. Anybody could do design, but it took awhile for people to realize that many people shouldn't.

[gardenwaltz]

I have had my non-fiction and translations edited and my usual reaction is to slap myself on the forehead and say "damn, I should have thought of that." The work I do for pay is not usually work of the heart though, so it is easy enough to shrug and move on to the next project. I did have one overzealous reviewer and I *politely* cited chapter and verse while handing them their ass on a platter. It is not easy to do both at once, but very satisfying once you are done.

[archangelbeth]

The only small presses I've dealt with were... Lessee... ShandaFA and Sofawolf. ShandaFA didn't do anything except print what I sent, if I recall correctly, and Sofawolf consulted me on minor edits. Excellent folks!

(I have my own reasons for self-publishing these days, but they aren't for fear of editors. Fear of some contracts I've heard of, yes. Because of writing stuff that's neither fish nor fowl, yes. But not fearing editors. Editors don't scare me. I've been one -- and one where the contract said (very roughly translated), "Yes, I can totally rewrite your stuff because it's work for hire. Don't sign if you can't stand the possibility." Rar!

I can tell you a great horror story about a copy-editor who made C.J. Cherryh say unhappy grouchy things on her blog! But the real editor was entirely sympathetic to her.)

[ursulav]

Oh, well, work-for-hire's another bag of chickens entirely. But you know when you're doing work for hire, or you (or somebody!) has been shamefully negligent and needs to be kicked.

[archangelbeth]

Work-for-hire is not necessarily a kicking offense! In tabletop roleplaying games, work-for-hire is the norm (for obvious reasons), and if one is writing for a line... Well, the editor gets to enforce consistency if you turn in a so-called final draft and it has things in it that are not consistent. (Or are not grammar. I prefer to do my best to work with people on the stuff first, but if it's down to deadline and either it wasn't handed to me prior to that, or it wasn't fixed when I pointed it out before... Dude, the file's right here on my computer and I have a keyboard.)

Tabletop RPGs are definitely a Small Press, Do Your Homework area, though. Some are newcomers. Some have been around for ages, and yet may have had... spotty payment records. (Others have always tried and may even be darn good about it!)

But yeah, if doing fiction? Well... Tie-in fiction pays the bills now and then for some people, I gather (pry Ford's How Much For Just The Planet? from my cold hands!!), but anything else, off the top of my not-enough-sleep-

[ursulav]

No, no, I meant that somebody needs to be kicked if you don't KNOW you're work for hire! (Badly phrased on my part!)

I'm all for work-for-hire, done it myself on multiple occasions. Sometimes it's the good thing to do. But you have to KNOW up front, or there's the issue that arises like that one series where apparently the creator had no idea it was work for hire and flipped out.

[graybunny]

how much work they’re getting into and how much money they won’t be making

Speaking from experience: this. So very much.

Q. How do you make a small fortune in small press publishing?

A. Start with a large fortune.

[alicephilippa]

That's somewhat true in catering too, and why so many small restaurants fail. And why I shall stick to failing to make money from photography.

[archangelbeth]

Project Wonderful? (Kinda broad-spectrum, when you probably need a Local Venue, but... O:/ Good luck!)