Neil Clarke's Blog, page 29

First Rights

Earlier today, I engaged in a Twitter conversation about first rights for short stories/novelettes/novellas. Over the course of the conversation, it became clear that it would be nice to have a single page I could link to from the submissions guidelines of the various projects I’m involved in.

There was some debate on this topic, so I will start by saying that I am not the final authority on this issue for anything but the magazines and anthologies I’m editing. This includes The Best Science Fiction of the Year, in which case my definition will overrule that of the editor of the publications I select stories from.

FIRST RIGHTS

In over-simplified terms this means the person/publisher that gets to publish the story first. If there are restrictions (First English Language, First Electronic, etc) then it is the first to publish to that particular subset. NOTE: Obviously unrestricted first rights are no longer available the moment a subset of those rights are sold.

These days, there are many ways to publish a story. It’s not always as clear-cut as appearing in a book or magazine. You have to think of publishing as distribution. There are some obvious situations that make it clear that the story has been published:

appearance in a book or magazine (print, audio, or digital formats)
money has changed hands (barter too) in exchange for a copy of the work
anyone using Google or another internet search tool can find the text of the story

Here are a few examples of situations where a story has been published:

it appears in a book, magazine, pamphlet, postcard, etc. (self-publishing and school journals included) that is freely available or sold
it appears on your website for visitors to read (no matter what size your audience is)
it appears on a publicly available website (like Wattpad or a forum, even one with membership restrictions)
it is distributed as a Patreon or Kickstarter reward (money has changed hands, no different than selling an ebook)

Here are a few example of situations that don’t count as publication:

story is read aloud at a convention (unless that is recorded and distributed)
story appears on private site that exists for the purpose of providing feedback on a story (only editors and writers participating, covers various private critique groups)
story is shared in a classroom or given to teacher as part of a class
a copy of the story is placed on your mom’s refrigerator

REPRINTS

Stories that have already been published can be sold or published again as reprints. (The original publisher may have a fixed period of exclusivity on the story that prevent you from selling reprint rights before a certain date. Some even limit where it can be reprinted. Pay attention to your contracts.)

Publishers looking for first rights or original stories are, by definition, excluding reprints.

When a story is reprinted, the first publication is usually credited (Originally appeared in XXX, edited by YYY, YEAR) so make sure you include that information with any submissions that are open to reprints.

Please ask questions in the comments. I will update the document as additional examples are brought to my attention.

 

The last thirty days in slush

The Clarkesworld slush pile has been extremely active lately. In the last thirty days, we’ve processed 1240 submissions.

This is how they break down by genre:

Word Count – Part Two

We’ve decided to change the word count and pay rate at Clarkesworld. We will now consider stories up to 16000 words long.

Guidelines

Word count

For several years now, I’ve capped the upper limit on Clarkesworld’s original fiction at 8000 words. There were several good reasons for doing that, but they were mostly financial.

This past week, we passed our latest Patreon goal and secured funding for a fourth original story in every issue. Add in the translations that will be in every issue and that’s five originals, two reprints. Assuming the Patreon pledge levels hold, this puts us in a situation that provides me with some flexibility.

I’m considering raising our upper limit to 16000 words. That would take us firmly into novelette territory. (Right now, we barely scrape it.) Each issue would feature no more than one novelette. In the issues we feature a novelette, it would absorb two story slots and leave the issue with four originals, two reprints. Given how few we’d be able to publish, they’d be harder sells, but it does give us (and authors) more flexibility. We would also accompany this change with an increase in pay rate on the 4000+ side of our scale.

I’ve already talked this over with Sean and Kate. Any readers or authors have some thoughts they’d like to share?

NOOK Newsstand!

Clarkesworld and Forever Magazine are now available for subscription via the Nook Newsstand!

This is our first hybrid subscription option. Your subscription includes a replica edition (the layout that mirrors our iPad edition, think PDF-style) and article view (the layout that mirrors an ebook).

Subscribe to Clarkesworld Here

Subscribe to Forever Here

Short Story Author Survey Demographics

The short story author survey is now closed. In the end, I received 944 usable responses. I’m not ready to talk about the theory that inspired the survey, but it looks like I’ll have enough time to write it all up for my editorial June issue of Clarkesworld Magazine (to be released June 1). In the meantime, I can share some of the demographic information:

Gender

Male: 53.8%

Female: 43.5%

Other: 2.6%

Publication History

Published in Clarkesworld: 7.2%

Traditionally Published: 80.7%

Self Published: 30.1%

Unpublished: 13.3%

Location

USA: 70.6%

UK: 7.3%

Australia: 5.6%

Canada: 5.6%

Other: 10.9%

Age

Under 18: 0.2%

18-21: 0.8%

22-29: 12.7%

30-39: 30.3%

40-49: 32.5%

50-59: 16.3%

60-69: 6.7%

70-79: 0.4%

To short story authors

I’m testing a theory and need your help. Can you answer the questions on this survey? It should take you less than two minutes and it’s completely anonymous.

Thanks!

[survey closes Wednesday night]

Updating the office calendar

Just remembered to update the sign in my cubicle at the day job.

Every month it reminds me:

I’m lucky to be alive
I hoped to be working FT on editing/publishing by now. Try harder.

Speaking of trying harder, we’re currently running a Patron drive. This morning, we had 225 supporters at Patreon. Our goal is 250 by the end of the month.

patreon.com/clarkesworld

Forever Magazine – May 2015

Today, in addition to the 104th issue of Clarkesworld, I also published the 4th issue of Forever Magazine. I’m having fun with this little reprint project and it’s proving to be a good warm-up to editing the The Best Science Fiction of the Year (coming out next year). If your at all curious about the range you can expect to find in that book, Forever is going to be a good indicator. This month’s issue features stories by Robert Reed, Juliette Wade, and Elizabeth Bear. I hope you consider buying a copy. Ordering information is here.

May 2015 Issue of Clarkesworld Magazine

The May 2015 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine is now available. You can get the issue:

Online at www.clarkesworldmagazine.com
Via podcast subscription (free)

or help us pay the bills by purchasing Clarkesworld with a subscription at:

Amazon.com
Apple Newsstand (iPad/iPhone)
Google Play (Android Phones and Tablets)
Patreon (epub/mobi/Kindle)
Weightless Books (epub/mobi/Kindle)

MAY 2015 – ISSUE #104





FICTION

“The Garden Beyond Her Infinite Skies” by Matthew Kressel

“For the Love of Sylvia City” by Andrea M. Pawley

“Mrs. Griffin Prepares to Commit Suicide Tonight” by A Que

“Ossuary” by Ian Muneshwar

“An Evolutionary Myth ” by Bo-young Kim

“Solace” by James Van Pelt

“Tyche and the Ants” by Hannu Rajaniemi



NONFICTION

Destination: Mars by Andrew Liptak

Neither Here Nor There: A Conversation with Cat Rambo by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro

Another Word: It’s Good to Be Lazy and Foolish by Ken Liu

Editor’s Desk: Overload! by Neil Clarke



PODCAST

This month’s stories will be released in audio form over the course of the month. Read by Kate Baker.



COVER ART

Io Emissary by Julie Dillon

If you enjoy what we do, please consider supporting us by spreading the word about our subscription options or Patreon account on Facebook, Twitter or your blog. Your subscriptions make everything we do possible.

Thanks!