A couple of months ago I had work accepted at two different publications within a week of each other. As great as this was, I haven't heard anything back from either place since the notice of acceptance, and in one case, I was promised a payment in the contract within 30 days of them receiving it back from me. It's been more than 60, and still no payment. To that publication I just sent a gentle email inquiring about the status of my contract, but in retrospect I don't know if that was the right choice or not. The other publication was pretty vague about when I'd be published, but I'm still concerned that it may not actually happen. Does anyone have advice about how to handle a situation like this? I was pretty excited about having my 2nd and 3rd paid credits, but I'm starting to think these two might never occur.
A lot of mags work very slowly indeed, it's nothing to get worried about. However, you made the right decision in contacting them as they didn't do as promised. Whenever I've been promised publication and payment dates, & have had no response after these deadlines, I submit elsewhere - just in case. You can always refuse an offer should your original magazine eventually reply! - Andy
The first thing to do would be to make sure that these publishing houses are legitimate. Personally I would phone them up and find out what is going on. It may be that they have become bankrupt or that they have ceased trading. In any case you have been written to confirming that something will happen by a specific date and as it has not happened then you need to contact them to discuss what happens next.
yes! 1. check them out carefully [which you should have done--but may not have--before submitting]... start with preditors & editors http://www.invirtuo.cc/prededitors/ 2. call them and ask if there's some reason for the delay
Looks like things are going to be okay, at least with the publisher that I wrote to. I got an email back and I received my compensation. It might have been a little late, but I'm okay with that. For the most part I'm just happy that they're still going to publish my story. Also, didn't have much luck with preditors and editors. I've found that a huge percentage of their links are dead, well beyond those that are marked as such.
p&e isn't meant to be a listing of venues for you to query, but only a helpful listing of those you should avoid... that there are good ones also on his list is only due to those having been submitted by dave's helpful submitters who've had good experience with them, just as the bad ones are submitted by those who've been burned by the bad ones, or learned of their shady practices... for a list of current venues, you should be using www.duotrope.com and then checking the names there on p&e, to make sure they don't have a 'not recommended' rating... and keep in mind that not all baddies are listed there yet... let dave know if you come across any others, so he can add them...
