Back in the Gutter for #6

Well, will you look at that... my name is on the list for Out of the Gutter #6. Yes, that does mean that the Sexploitation issue of said fine publication will contain a new Bo Fexler piece.

And, that same list of contributors also includes Albert Tucher-- as in, the author of Diana Andrews. Damn, you KNOW this is gonna be a publication that requires reading with one hand. And maybe a box of Kleenex nearby...





(Hey, you can see the girl's pussy... ;-)

Tracking Submissions

Inevitably the joy and agony of writing a story comes to an end and something must be done with it. Seeking publication is almost a job in and of itself. Luckily I tend to read the same zines that I submit to, so that part of the research is done. (Though it does get awful hard to keep up with the turnover rate of zines!)

Usually, I have several stories in various states of completion (done, done and edited, and submission ready.) It is imperative to keep track of where these stories are submitted and when.

Surprisingly, I'm still old school on my short story submissions. I'm not sure why, but I just haven't moved to keeping track of them on the computer.

I created a table in Word with title of publication on the left, date submitted in the center column, and response on the right. There's room at the top for the title of the story and I usually write the word count on the bottom (for easy reference.)

I print these sheets out a couple at a time, keeping spares on hand. They're in a folder with those little prongs in the middle. I jot the information in where appropriate. Some stories are accepted early and easy. Others take a couple rejections. I've had a couple that filled the whole page. Once the story is accepted, I wait until publication. Upon publication, I move the tracking sheet to "The Binder" (insert trumpet fanfare) and print the story off in hardcopy.

As for novel submissions, it's all electronic. I have an Excel spreadsheet with the agent name, agency, any notes on preference, how to query (I admit liking equeries. As much as anyone can like queries at all!) and expected wait time for responses, especially for those that say "No response in 6 weeks means no." Then, I enter the date queried. I use a different color for each batch because I'm a little odd that way. I've been querying in batches of 5 or 6. Then, I log the response. (22 rejections out of 25 queries so far.)

And, looking back through these recrods, I see that it was early 2006 that I really started writing and attempting to publish short stories. It seems so long ago, and yet so short.

(Today's Demotivators are brought to you by 101reasonstostopwriting. =)

Markets

No, not a post on how hard it is to find markets. This one is on how hard it is to pick markets, sometimes.

Every now and again, I finish a story and have to pick who to send it to. Sometimes I could pare the list down by word count, but even then, I may still have to choose between several good markets.

For example-- do I send it to Powder Burn? Or Flash Fiction Offensive? Or maybe to Chris Pimental's Bad Things? Or I could submit it to Twist of Noir. Or, depending on the story, maybe Pulp Pusher, Beat to a Punch, or Yellow Mama. And there are others.

So I try to weigh the options-- exposure, layout, linkage, other authors. But really, I may as well just throw darts. Most of the publications are comparable in so many ways. Not a bad thing, as it's nice to have variety. It just makes it hard to choose.

Right now, with so many new zines, one of my top criteria has been that I have not had a Bo Fexler story appear in that publication. I figured that I would see if I can spread my name around some more. Break into markets that I've not been in.

There are worse problems to have, I suppose. It wasn't that long ago that it seemed like no publications wanted hardboiled crime. The main publications wanted no sex or violence. Now, the numbers are skewed the other way.

Finally, I'm not struggling to find places for Bo Fexler stories. Too bad I'm not writing as many of them as I did last year. (Mainly because I'm *trying* to get book series rolling!)

Popularity Contests-- Difference between pessimism and realism

I don't enter many contests, be they for my writing or otherwise. When it comes to writing, the more general the contest, the more I'm certain that my writing has no place within a thirty-mile radius of said contest.

I realize that my writing does not have broad appeal. Well, no, truthfully, there are quite a few women that like my writing. Ha ha. But when it comes to popularity contests, my writing isn't going to appeal to a wide enough audience to win.

Or maybe I'm just being a pessimist.

Is there much difference in cases like these between the two?

While it would be nice to win a contest, and surely it would provide some serious validation for my writing skills, I don't enter. I hold on to my money and send to places more likely to accept things dark, bitter, sexy, and sharp. Am I short changing myself or just accepting that as the quiet bookworm with glasses, I'm never going to be prom queen?

And when it comes to writing contests, sometimes I do have a hard time with questioning whether perennial winners are really just that good or if perhaps there's a little bit of nepotism going on. Especially in smaller groups. Makes me wonder if track record or longtime relationships are affecting judging. I

I don't know if it's pessimism or realism.

Neither quite aligns with how I view my own attitude anyway: I'm an cynical optimist. The glass is half full, but some jackass is going to kick it over.

Sex Appeal is Evil?

Watched a movie the other day, and as soon as this one female character walked on screen and spoke a few lines, I knew she was going to be one of the bad guys.

I was so disappointed, really. She was confident, sexy, and intelligent. She was deffered to by the men she spoke to and the implication I came away with at first was that it was because she was smart and took no bullshit.

Alas. She's one of the baddies.

Sex appeal, time and time again, is one of the easiest ways to tell when a female character is good or bad. Particularly, if the woman is aware of and able (willing) to use her sex appeal to her own ends.

Some how, it's okay for the suave stud-muffin male lead to make the ladies swoon. But it's not okay for a sexy woman to turn heads and be pleased with it.

It's a little disappointing because I know this sort of culture is going to make it hard for Bo Fexler to find a publisher for her novels. But it's also empowering because I know I have something different. Something that does have an audience.

In fact, I just got another story accepted. It's nice to know that even after a long drought, I still have the ability to write things that (some) publishers want. The trick, I suppose, is finding the right ones.

What do you tell yourself to keep going?

And Another One Down

It's end of the road for Muzzle Flash. It's all out of ammo, or something. DZ Allen shut the site down, so unfortunately, the archives are gone as well.

There's a string of zines that have died quiet deaths this year. Unfortunate, to say the least, though I understand wholly.

Like any writer who struggles to break into the ranks of the Big Name publications, I always get a little concerned when the online markets shift, change, or die. One less market that accepts my work.

If there weren't places like Muzzle Flash or the others, I might have long thought that I just wasn't a good writer. (There may be some editors who still think that!)

So long, Muzzle Flash. It was fun. Just too short.

Wasted Opportunity

I remember, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... that books included advertisements in the front cover or in the last few pages.

I've not seen hardly any of these advertisements in more recent books. The most I often see are for the author's next (or sometimes previous) book. Usually the first chapter or something.

This seems like a missed opportunity for publishers to draw attention to their other authors who may write in a style comparable to the book in hand. Publishers could put a page or two at the back of the book with "If you like this author, try these books/ authors." I know that I'd take note, since I'm always looking for more authors that are like the ones that I really like.

If I opened the next Baby Shark book and saw an advertisement and teaser for another author who writes like Robert Fate or has a character like Baby Shark, I'd totally check that book out. It'd immediately be put on my 'books to read' list.

I prefer to spend my time reading things that I'm going to enjoy, but I have never been able to force myself to abandon even a boring or bad book. It's not easy to find more books that are in the vein I like-- anyone who's seen me hanging out on the internet has surely seen my pleas for more authors who write female protags that are akin to what I'm looking for. But not everyone who reads wants to research the stuffing out of books just to find the ones they like.

But I'm thinking that a reader who gets to the end of a book they enjoyed would take note of authors compared in short ads at the back. I would. Would you?

Gimmick or Angle

One detective has books named alphabetically, another has them by numbers. There are detectives with beach themes, with craft themes, with sudoku themes. Name a theme or an angle and there seems to be a set of mysteries to go along with it.


Is this good or bad? While it certainly has that nudge of Gimmick to it, I'd have to argue that it's one way to stand out. The mystery section at even my baby Borders store is massive. Let's not talk about the corner of the library devoted to mysteries. It's actually rather overwhelming at times.


But gimmicks and angles stand out. Many non-mystery people I talk to (okay, most of them are my students, but I have to educate them...) don't know who Sue Grafton is, but they know the alphabet books. Similar deal with Janet Evaonvich.


There are so many aspring writers, and so many people who've already gotten their book onto those bookstore shelves. In order to get more than a small sliver of the market, I think it's important for an author to have or devise some way to stand out from the rest. At least until name alone is strong enough to carry the books.


Obviously, my angle is sex and violence. Along with my sharp tongued and sharp witted female private eye. I've not read anything quite like what I write. Especially nothing set today.


This is how I think I'm going to stand out. My angle. Or gimmick.


Now, I just got to finish that novel and find out if I'm right.

• What I'm Reading: Branded Woman by Wade Miller
• Current Song: Kiss off by the Violent Femmes

Everyday Evil

I've concluded a couple things in the past year as I've avidly pursued and moderately succeeded in being a published short story author. One of those is that my particular storywriting has trouble fitting into most publications.

Obviously, if you're reading this, you're familiar with Bo Fexler. She's not a terribly heart-warming character. She doesn't always do what's best. And she's quite fluent in profanity. Well, my readers may not realize that since many publications don't accept profanity. So, it's edited out or downplayed to meet the audience (or rather the publication's editors).

These are fine publications and I accept that profanity is still considered inappropriate speech in many forums. Hell, I'm a teacher. I'm regularly reminding my students to watch their language. (The irony is not lost on me!) My stories are usually not affected by lose of vulgarities.

Except some of the stories are not about good people doing good things. They're about people who are bad to varying degrees-- including Bo-- doing a variety of bad things. I don't often write about murders in my stories, but rather missing people, cheating spouses, and other everyday evils. But many publications don't seem to accept bad people doing bad things. Maybe because there's no redemption and no warm-fuzzies. Warm fuzzies make me gag.

On the other side are the hardcore crime noir publications. These are bad people doing horrible things. Everyone gets beat up. People are killed for fun or sport. Women are prostitutes and men are sleaze. The extreme. Now, I'm familiar with pulp fiction (both movie and genre.) Some of my work pushes into this ultra-gritty area. And in these ones my aptitude for profanity also finds its outlet.

Except most of my work isn't hardcore enough. Bo doesn't beat everyone up. She tries to walk the legal line. She's not willing to jeopardize her PI license since she really likes her job. But she's also not redeemed at the end of the story with a "happily ever after" and a "God bless us one and all." Bo's not hardcore crime noir. She's not literary detective/ mystery fiction. She's just an articulate dame trying to make her way in the world full of regular do-badders.

Now THAT is writing I can relate to.