Acting like a professional

There should be professionalism even in the non-professional field of small press publishing. And I’m not just talking about money.

Over the past year I have come across at least four publishers that did not give a contributor’s copy to the writers included in their anthologies. In one case, the publisher didn’t even supply the eBook version. No, I’m not going to name names – that way just leads to an endless tirade of abuse, and life is too short for that.

What this meant is that the author of the story, if he or she wanted a copy of the book the story was in (and who wouldn’t?) had to pay to be published. Sort of vanity publishing. Yes, sometimes the writer got paid a tiny sum – a friend received $5 for a story. Buying the book and paying for postage far exceeded that five dollars.

I know there are the submission guidelines and that we should read them carefully. But some of them seem to go on a bit and then I skip-read the final part, and so it was my fault that I didn’t get a free copy of the book (there was no payment, but I knew about that). In this case I put up my hands: mea culpa.

I run a small press outfit, The AlchemyPress, which has published a couple of anthologies – and has two more on the way. For the first two there was no payment – I wasn’t rich enough for that – but all contributors received copies. I will be paying a nominal sum for stories in the next two anthologies plus a contributor’s copy. It’s acting like a professional.

Looking good

When I began editing and producing small press magazines (for the British Fantasy Society) I had to type up the text using an electric typewriter. I’m not sure that personal computers existed back then. The typed text had to be cut and pasted onto plain paper using real scissors and glue, rulers to ensure straight edges, and Letraset for headings and titles. It took a lot of time, especially if one worked hard to produce something that looked neat and pleasing on the eye.

Now, with computers, word processors and design packages, it is so much easier to do a proper job – a professional-looking job. Just look at Rumours of the Marvellous by Peter Atkins (published by The Alchemy Press). I designed this book using inexpensive software. It wasn’t difficult to produce a volume that looked good, that’s a delight to own. (The hard bit was ensuring that the signature sheets were all signed and returned to me on time for printing to a deadline – but that was a rod I made for my own back.)

And the contributors got a free copy of the book – just saying.

I recently bought a small press book via Amazon because – well, just because. It was bought based on the contents. Okay, one can argue that it’s the words that matter, not the packaging. If that’s true, then I’d just buy Kindle books. But I, for one, like real books, books printed on paper. I like to flick the pages, read stories at random. Anyway, getting back to the book I ordered via Amazon…

There were no page numbers. The contents page was, therefore, useless. The author bios were printed at the back, using differing paragraph layouts (both single and 1.5 spaces). The margins were huge. It looked as if the designer simply cut and paste (electronically speaking) from the original manuscripts. It appalled me. As I said, it is so easy to make things look good nowadays – so why not take a little pride in the work and do just that? (I’d even do the work for you – see here.)

And finally

On Facebook recently there was mention of a certain editor who over-edited, with links to a couple of blogs that went into the story in greater detail. And that story is horrifying. Apparently a writer received her contributor’s copy (at least she got one) containing her story – but a story heavily edited. No, not edited: altered. The editor excused this by saying that she signed the contract allowing for editorial changes. Maybe she did. But there is editing and there is abuse, and it looks as if this editor abused the writer’s works. He said the story was improved by the alteration. I don’t know; I’ve not read either version.

The thing is, if the editor requires substantial changes it must be done with the writer (I’m not talking about grammar – I’m talking about changing the story). It’s called acting like a professional. Going back to when I started in this game, I didn’t use contracts. We exchanged letters and phone calls and maybe spoke face to face. I didn’t need contracts to be professional in my dealings. Perhaps I’m just old fashioned.

Being professional

Yup, this is going to sound like a whinge. Maybe it is. But I believe that my points are valid and warrant saying. I could simply ignore the issue but in this case my sense of fair play won’t let me.

On and off, for a number of years I edited the news content for the British Fantasy Society, both online and in the Newsletter (in the pre-Prism, pre-Journal days). Amongst all the information about mainstream books that I covered, I did my utmost to champion the UK small/independent press. Most publishers sent me press releases to ensure coverage of their titles; frequently I heard a snippet of news, which meant Googling for further details. I did it because I believed in giving fantasy and horror publications as much publicity as possible.

I am also a publisher of small press items – check out my Alchemy Press website for details. In 2011, after an interregnum of many years, I resurrected the press, launching a signed, limited edition of Peter Atkins short stories, Rumours of the Marvellous. So far this year I have three projects on the go.

Rumours was an expensive book to produce and hence its relatively high cover price. Nevertheless, I sent off review copies to several fantasy/horror-related websites and magazines. I sincerely thank all those who mentioned the book and especially those who also reviewed it. I am less than impressed by the total lack of acknowledgment I’ve received from some others.

I appreciate that the book may not be reviewed. As much as I would wish for a review, I never expected one. And after all, when I was book reviews editor for the BFS, many publications were never reviewed – it’s impossible to do so for every title received. My point is this: I think that for websites and magazines that purport to promote the genre, it is professional to at least mention a new book when received, and thereby support colleagues who are in this game.

© Peter Coleborn

In the tradition of...

First off, let me warn you that this isn’t a review. It’s a vaguely-focussed semi-rant on “fat” fantasy books and as such it may come across as being unfair and biased. Please don’t take it to heart – this is me getting things off my chest, and I’ll be fine tomorrow.

I have in front of me a copy of The Shadowmage Trilogy by Matthew Sprange (Abaddon Books £10.99), an omnibus edition of three novels (Shadowmage, Night’s Haunting and Legacy’s Price; originally published in 2008, 2009 and 2012). It forms part of the Twilight of Kerberus series, apparently a shared-world sequence of at least seven novels. Other writers include Mike Wild, David McIntee and Jonathan Oliver (also the overall editor).

In his editorial to this volume, Oliver states that the Twilight of Kerberus series was conceived as a celebration of the stories by Fritz Leiber, Robert E Howard and Clark Ashton Smith rather than of Lord of the Rings or George R R Martin’s magnum opus. Oh, how I applaud that. No disrespect to Tolkein or Martin or other such scribes; I’ve nothing against their books other than that they seem to me to be too – well – long. Leiber and Howard and Smith (and others of the same ilk such as Jack Vance, C L Moore, etc) wrote, to quote Oliver, “punchy fantasy adventures”, mostly of the short story form.

And that’s why I hesitate to read The Shadowmage Trilogy. This book collects the three novels listed above to create a single story arc of 600 pages (admittedly, some modern fantasy novels attain that number of pages per volume, so let’s be thankful this book doesn’t contain 1800 pages!). My point is this: I wish writers would emulate not just the characters and settings of the masters of such yarns, but also their succinctness of storytelling. I don’t want or need much in the way of world building. I require just hints of the unknown realms in which the characters inhabit. My imagination supplies the rest.

OK, I am being unfair, I know. The trilogy may be exceptional, the writing of a high quality. That’s why I’m not passing judgment on Matthew Sprange’s series. Mine is a personal comment on the way fantasy novels seem to expand, to become fatter than necessary (to my mind) – and poor Mr Sprange just happens to be the author of the book to hand. I hope he forgives me.

And finally, a quick comment on the book’s production: please use a larger font. I’m not sure what the point size is in The Shadowmage Trilogy, but it strains my eyes.


© Peter Coleborn