You don't pay to publish.

Let me repeat that, my fellow South Africans.

You don't pay to publish.

The publishing house pays you.

If you paid to have your work published, then you've either been conned, didn't do enough research into the publishing industry, or - and this is the minority - know exactly what you are doing and have weighed the odds. You also probably have a lot of time to market your work, and knowledge of exactly how good marketing works.

I was trawling through the various writerly and publishery sites that litter the internet, and I kept coming across the same sort of questions - how much will it cost me to get my book published, what kind of fees will my publisher charge me, I don't have R25 000 to publish my book, and so on.

A legitimate publisher will, if they accept your work, pay you a certain amount upfront - your advance. When your royalties from the sales of your book have earned that money out, you will then begin earning royalties. Not all books earn out, but even if they don't, you will not be asked to return your advance.

The publisher will not only pay you an advance, but will also pay the related publishing costs, and will most likely have a budget set aside for marketing. If you're a n00b writer, that budget probably amounts to having your book advertised in trade magazines, if you're Stephen King, well, lets just say it's a little bigger.

But in all of this, no-one is going to be asking you to finance your own book. They'll want you to do your bit by working with the editors and copy-editors on any changes, and proofing the work before it goes to press, but that's your job - you're the writer. And there's another thing; a legitimate publisher will edit your book so that is it as free from error as is humanly possible.

You will also not be expected to buy your own book. Most publishing houses give the author a number of copies to keep and for review purposes, but they don't expect sales to come from your family and friends.

So before you run off to a glorified printing company masquerading as a publisher, do your research, and find out how to submit your manuscript to valid publishers. Sites like Preditors And Editors have exhaustive list of publishers and agents, with information relating to their legitimacy.

International Pixel-stained Technopeasant Wretch Day

The stories are starting to go live, and the links are being collected at the IPSTP livejournal.

An interview with David de Beer is up at Dasef Central. He talks about flash fiction and gives a good list of markets.

So you're in it for the money?

Then I suggest you take up gambling.

No really, if you're writing for the oodles of cash, then rather take up playing the lotto professionally. You have just as much chance there.

While the point is obviously to reach as many readers as possible, and hopefully make a living out of writing, if you're expecting JK Rowling-sized paychecks then you're in for disappointment.

Science Fiction writer Tobias Buckell has a very interesting article about the kind of advances you can expect in the SF/fantasy genre corner. Karen Fox has a similar article about the expected earnings of romance writers.

In other news April 23 is set to be International Pixel-stained Technopeasant day, where many pro (and not so pro) authors will be giving it away on the web. To see what it's all about head over to this post on World Fantasy award winner Jo Walton's blog.

Horror market calls for submissions

New horror ezine Noctem Aeternus is looking for stories of up to 4000 words for their free quarterly PDF.

They pay 10 cents a word, which is very good rates for short fiction.

"We are looking for horror stories with a solid plot, strong character development, and attention to detail. Stories should also grab the reader’s attention quickly and hold it until the end. Although a good story can include gore, we don’t want gore for gore’s sake.

We are looking for great horror stories. Stories can be about monsters, the paranormal, serial killers, or anything else that evokes fear.

Science fiction, mystery, western, or fantasy elements are acceptable, however, there should be no doubt the story is horror."

Finish the story first

Karen Miller has a post about The Tyranny Of The First Draft. It tackles the fear of finishing a story, and encourages you to give yourself the permission to be crap.

James D Macdonald, over on the Absolute Write boards, has lots of excellent advice for writers, the best of which is to sit down and write, commonly abbreviated on the boards as BIC (butt in chair). The thread is well worth reading, and it's at close on 250 pages now.

The Man Who Eats Angels.

Our very first post here, and the spotlight is on speculative and horror fiction writer David De Beer.

His story, The Man Who Eats Angels, is available online at the dark and wonderful Chizine.

David, if you want to give me a bio and any other links, just let me know and I'll modify the post.

In other news, I'm hoping that my readers know that plagiarism is A Bad Thing. In case you don't, here's an article about a schoolgirl disqualified from the SABC Lights Camera Action Film and Story Writing Competition.