This is a followup post to the one I wrote a few months ago about about pulling a story that had been accepted at Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.
To recap: I had submitted a story to Hitchcock’s. After about sixteen months (!), I got an email saying the story had been accepted. Contract attached.
I read the contract, which was a rights-grab, and promptly withdrew the story. I’m not the only one who has had a similar reaction. Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Scott Edleman, just to name two I know about.
Well, the artists aren’t being treated any better. There’s an article at Locus Online about the contracts the artists are being offered. It contains several lengthy quotes, so I’m just going to link to it rather than quote from it. The artisits quoted (John Picacio and Donato Giancola) explain their perspectives better than I could ever summarize.
In short, things aren’t getting any better, and the attempted rights grabs continue.
I’ve given my “Contracts You Shouldn’t Sign” talk at a few cons. It sounds like the magazines have become so rapacious that soon every profession will avoid dealing with them. Which, alas, means they’ll be preying on the new kids.
Sad, but true.
They’re desperate for revenue and relevance.
It sucks they own five classic magazines. Just when I was thinking about trying my hand at mystery/crime and test driving a new protagonist.
Agreed. Try it anyway. There aer a few short fiction magazines the publish mystery. And you can always publish yourself.