I'm thinking of seeing if I can publish some pieces of my poetry. Ya know a little magazine or a little internet site. For some money. Do you guys know any magazines or internet sites that accept horror poetry?
That is where my poem, The Sweetest Valentine, was accepted. They pay $5 American dollars a poem on acceptance. Which is also classed as professional rates with the horror writers association. They are a really good magazine to submit to and will generally give you a line, or even a few lines, of feedback if they do not accept the piece. But if you want to find somewhere for dark fiction/poetry, try out www.ralan.com they have loads of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror publishers. You just have to sift through to find those that 'do' publish horror poetry. Which can be very painful on the eyes. At the moment, there are many that are closed to submissions as well. So take a look through the paying markets, semi-pro and pro markets for publshers that pay, for the luv for those who pay exposure. Best of luck.
you might want to check out www.duotrope.com to find more venues for your work... i'd say $5 is the low end of the pay scale for poetry and would not call it a 'professional' rate by any means, but it's certainly better than nothing, or just copies, which is all most unknown writers can get...
I guess this is another question relating to this. My mother and father think all of these are scams. How do I tell them they are genuine? Do you guys know if they are scams? How can you tell a scam from a non scam?
Leaka, The first clue that something isn't a scam is if they're willing to pay you money for your work without requiring you to spend any (such as purchasing a copy of the anthology). I know that Fear and Trembling isn't a scam because I've been published by them. They wrote me a check for my work, which I cashed. You can go to sites such as Preditors & Editors, or Writer Beware or Absolute Write's Bewares and Background Checks section of the forum, and find out information. You can google the publisher and see what is posted about them. Terry
yes, check them all out at p&e first... then go over their website carefully, to see if there are any red flags, like fees for reading, or editing... and google for feedback on them from the disgruntled...
Thankies very much. You guys are very helpful. Edit: I want to use my pen name. Only because that is the name I have been writing under for a while at this moment in time. How would it be possible to use my writing name?
It isn't a very large sum at all, but for the horror/dark genre of poetry writing, it can be very difficult to get acceptances with the higher paying markets when you don't have your name out there. Everyone has to start somewhere and it is better than going for publishers that only give exposure, like so many poets I know are doing. They have their sights set to just the exposure and nothing more... which is very disappointing. Leaka, as far as I know, if you want to have your work published under your pen name, just state in the email that you wish to have your work published under a pen name.
Leaka, Aberrant Dreams does accept horror poetry and does pay better than Fear and Trembling (if your poem is more than five lines that is), but Aberrant Dreams is known for being quite slow with responses, well beyond those stated in the guidelines. Yes, Mammamaia, five dollars for a poem isn't great pay, but horror poetry is kind of a limited/niche market. I don't write a lot of horror/suspense work, and not poetry, but Torana is correct that it is better than simply for exposure (unless the market is a highly recognized and respected one--but those usually do pay) Terry Terry
yes, torana and terry... i know that, which is why i also said it's better than nothing, or just copies... what you do is put your real name in the contact info on ms first/cover page and in the query letter, sign the letter with your real name, and just put your pen name in the by line on the ms... that makes it clear to agents/editors, that you don't want your real name to appear as the writer, when/if the piece is published...
