There’s an interesting new anthology being Kickstarted at the moment. Titled, Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling, it aims to present new twists on tired story tropes. The book is edited by Monica Valentinelli and Jaym Gates, and will include stories by Haralambi Markov, Nisi Shawl and Alyssa Wong, amongst others.
It is also very cheap — just a $5 pledge for the ebook. Though if you want paper and are outside of the USA the cost shoots up.
I really liked the idea of this one and actually sent them a story. It didn’t get in, which doesn’t surprise me because I don’t think I’m good enough for professional rates. But it was a lot of fun to do. If anyone out there is looking for a different take on the Wicked Stepmother meme, let me know.
“Not good enough for professional rates?” Nonsense! Self-rejecting never helped any author. One has to try it, and then again, and again – and learn on the way. I’ve only so far read one story of yours (and liked it) but I have read many of your essays and even though it’s difficult to generalize from nonfiction to fiction, I hope I can say that you surely are good enough for professional rates. It’s just a matter of the right story for the right venue. And rejections don’t mean that a story is not good – it’s just not right for the venue at that time (yeah, I know I sound like a form rejection now :)). In my experience, pro sales can happen at the first as well as tenth try. Alex Shvartsman once wrote about selling a story to a pro market at thirtieth try, if I’m not mistaken. Just don’t give up :)! Good luck with placing the story elsewhere!
Well, I disagree on three counts.
Firstly I’m not going to stop submitting. Just because I don’t think I’m good enough doesn’t mean that other people might disagree.
Second, non-fiction skills overlap only marginally with fiction skills. If there was a big overlap I’d be selling stories with ease. There are things in fiction that I need to learn.
And thirdly, I’m first and foremost a critic and an editor. I know what a quality story looks like. I may be a little hard on myself, but I am hard on everyone else too.