Inchoate Ascendant™: July 8, 2011.

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July 8, 2011

Submission Mission Or Not

Hello and welcome to a special Inchoate Ascendant. As you know Killing Time - Horror E-Rag™ completed it's run of Year 3 issues. That ended completed issues that only needed a spit shine and hammering into magazine and then PDF shape. Throughout the three years of the E-Rag I wrote everything from start to finish. With the completion of the backlog I came to a decision point. Do I continue on or do I quit? Some might point to the financials of producing and selling the magazine as the indicator of whether to continue or not. That is hardly a satisfying way to decide. Anyone can look to the numbers as an excuse to give up. Is it worth it though is not a question that I want to base on numbers, even aside from the fact that numbers and I do not get along under the best of circumstances. I had to decide quickly before rolling the final issue out so I could give people a heads up.

If you do not by now, I suggested that there will be a Year 4 and it might land in late September or early October. What no one knows until reading this now is that I am more than seriously considering opening up Killing Time to submissions for short stories. That opens up a whole host of serious questions. The first question is will there be enough interest? That is dependant on the second question, which is are people willing to contribute to a publication that pays little to nothing? Even if authors are not part of the profit cycle initially they still want to know about how large an audience they are going to be put out before. So, other questions aside, do you think it is worth my while to open to outside submissions? Will authors be interested in submitting for the credit alone?

I have considered paying royalties or profit sharing. In that case authors have to believe that I am honest in my reporting and that there will be enough copies sold. That is the one place where the author may actually share in the responsibility. Right now it is only me, and some occasional help from friends in letting people know the magazine is even out there. Anyone submitting to a publication like this should help advertise it even if they are being paid, after all they will want people to know they have been accepted somewhere and they will want to be as widely read as possible. Of course I could just stay the course and produce it all from start to finish like I have so far. Or I could even let it stand at only three years. I have to make the decision quickly because that release date will come sooner than I might like otherwise.

Have your say.

Music: Run Silent Run Deep by Iron Maiden.