Are you writing for publication?

I'm here now. I've been gone almost a year, and just now caught up with this forum.

RANDOM REPLIES:
I do think mentioning this port in a query letter is good, an editor may not want the particular piece submitted, but may like your work in general, and find a piece for publication here. However, I only post previously-published items for general viewing, an editor would have to ask me for a key to see my unpublished, available for sale, work.

I think any market that pays something is a good market, even if it's only copies; as long as you don't have to pay for the copies. Places that say they'd love to publish you, but need help to cover the costs, are not real publication. If you're going for self-publication, do it all yourself, and make it right for you.

People don't steal garbage, they steal the good stuff. If you have a problem with trust issues, contact a legal aid society, get free representation when you get an offer. If you get an almost-good-enough offer, but are afraid to get tough, get a lawyer to do it for you. However, see next paragraph.

New writers don't charge, they get paid what the buyer wants to give, or they don't sell, 99.9% of the time. The other .1% makes front page headlines, and they still don't charge, their agent holds an auction. This is one strange business, where the customer sets the price all by himself. Need proof? An acceptance doesn't come back, "We'd love to buy your work, will you take $___ for it?"; no, a letter comes with a check in it, and a note, "We own your work now, go cash the check", the end.

I don't believe that anyone should send something out randomly to an editing service, especially if the service wants payment up front. Editing is very personal on creative work. I do copyediting, I charge all that the market will bear, but nobody buys my effort without seeing what I've done for others, AND a sample of what I can do for them. They'd be nuts to contract with me blindly, and I won't let them, so they can't come back later and refuse to pay because they didn't know what they were getting.

On another note, when I review here (which I do because I want to be a contributing member of the community), I frequently will throw in unsolicited copyediting advice. This may be worth exactly what I charge for it, but if I think it will help to sell something, I do it. If someone then wants me to copyedit their stuff, that's a whole 'nother thing, and we open a private conversation. I am not here to sell my services, I am here to improve my writing, make friends, and occasionally vent. Like, oh, say, just now.

Chriswriter