So, it would appear I've stumbled into a bit of a conundrum. Some of you may know I recently got my first acceptance. Long story short, I got an email from the art director asking for some more details so that the artist contributor might illustrate something to go with my short story. I was going to mention this at some point, knowing from the start that the e-zine attaches art to writers' work, but I left it since I was already also aware that the primary editor said I had a lot of time even to refine my own work. Naturally I assumed this meant the art, tangential to the story in this context, could be delayed. In my recent response email I asked if I might supply my own art or have my brother, who is a relatively well-known and trained artist online, illustrate something instead. It turns out I can't do this as I was too late in suggesting it. The reason I'm writing this is because--and here I must be discreet--I don't think the art used for many of the stories in this e-zine is anything to write home about. Believe me when I say that. I'll just say this. I don't agree that I should have art attached to my story that I have no control over. I appear to have no say at all about what the artist creates. I don't even agree with art being on my work because I want the writing to stand on its own. But I also want to get my first writing credit. This doesn't seem right. Edit: The more I think about it, the less sense it makes. Anything could be created. I don't want someone else's work, which might be of fairly poor quality, to be the first thing someone sees... Apparently even asking to create my own art is potentially a source of offense to the contributor who has already been assigned the job.
If you don't want them to supply art, then either don't submit to an ezine that you know supplies their own art, or ask about their policies on it before submitting. Seems fairly straightforward.
Admittedly I didn't think I would be forced into having art attached to my story. That's such an absurd idea to me that I assumed I would be able to decline, be given the option straightaway. I would email them now and ask to decline the offer of attached art but apparently even mentioning this would cause offense, even though the artist isn't getting paid and he/she doesn't have to do anything.
i wrote a short story about a little girl feeding pigeons with her grandmother and how the act of feeding pigeons taught her life lessons. The artwork they chose to go along with it was a photograph of a pigeon in a miniature hat (apparently way back when, someone went around putting doll hats on pigeons). Not the picture i would have chosen, but it was cute. funny, even. a friend of mine wrote a poem about the sensuality of words.... the illustration that went beside it was a woman spread eagle. he was MORTIFIED! sometimes its hit or miss.... but that goes with the artists interpretation of your piece, i'd say
Is this common practice then? I honestly had no idea this was a part of the industry until quite recently. It seems highly suspect for strangers to interpret one's work and produce art that would be the very first thing a reader would see.
when I was editor of my college magazine, we received art submissions. We'd pair the artwork we received with stories that seemed to fit and vice versa. sometimes its not the artist's interpretation of your work, but the editors interpretations as well.
Consider it a learning experience then. You should probably start learning about the policies of various publishers before submitting to them.
"but that goes with the artists interpretation of your piece, i'd say" Honestly, I'm more concerned with the art quality. I don't consider tacky, trashy badly done Photoshop mash-ups worthy of anyone's writing... Sorry. I have to say it. It's worrying!
maybe its the magazine aesthetics. photo collage. also, art is subjective. you may not like it, but maybe some of the readers like that kind of art. I personally dont think an upside down urinal is art, but there it is in an art museum -shrugs-
I've had artwork attached to many of my published pieces. It's not really something I've given a lot of thought to and I'm not usually involved in it at all. The first time I'll see what's going to run with my story is when the editor sends galleys. And I've never once thought about challenging an editor on this no matter what I personally thought of the art. I think it's important to be easy to work with. This can be a bit hard at first. Actually, it can still be hard at any stage. After I have something accepted I can easily feel overwhelmed when I get the first edits and direction for revision. It doesn't sound like your publication is doing that with you, but I think that part of pre-publication can be a lot harder to deal with. Still, you've sold and/or had your story accepted. They saw something in your writing and selected your story (out of probably many) for publication. There are other aspiring writers who would love to be in your position. I think sometimes it's important for me to remind myself of that when it comes to publishing. Honestly, I've come to realize that the editors I work with are pretty much always right. It's their publication and they certainly don't want a writer to come in and try to control how they operate. They are putting together the best publication they can. I do think it's normal for publications to choose art to go with writing and I don't think it's something a writer usually has any say in. I don't want to sound harsh, but at the same time I want to tell you to get used to it. Maybe this is just a small zine or whatever, but you wanted them to publish your piece when you submitted it. Try not to lose sight of that. You are getting what you wanted. And when I say get used to it that's because I know you have bigger publishing aspirations where you could easily run into something like this again or you might have no idea if there will be artwork with your writing and what it will be prior to publication. I don't think this is worth fighting over. And I do feel it is important to be easy to work with and professional no matter how big or small the publication.
