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| SFReader Forums > Writing > Small Press vs. Big House > Print versus Online | Forum Quick Jump
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Nicholas
Sage
      
Date Joined Jun 2006
Total Posts : 1041
| Posted 8/29/2008 10:45 PM (GMT -5) |   | Some personal reflections on the Print versus Online debate... You've probably all heard it. There are some old-schoolers who look down on online publication, indeed dismissing it as not a bona fide publication credit.
I can only weigh in with two observations. First, many of my online pubs have paid more than my print pubs.
Second, and more notably, I have gotten responses to my online work by orders of magnitude greater than any feedback I've ever had from print pubs. Twice my poems in Weird Tales were referenced in letters to the editor, and a poem in Mythic Delirium rec'd an hon. men. nod from YBF&H. That would be three responses. For all the other reams of print over the years: nothing but the sound of crickets (like the one that started sawing on my porch just now and made me think of crickets).
But for my online work: reviews on weblogs, copious comments, instant feedback. I've collected those comments by pasting them in a Word doc the last couple years (a virtual scrapbook of virtual letters), and it is now thirty-two pages long. That kind of feedback is invaluable--even critical responses.
Many online outlets appear to be reaching a new audience who don't read print mags anymore, at least not for fiction. Not that I have anything against print mags. I'm old-school, and still read more print than online. I subscribe to WEIRD TALES, BLACK GATE, and often pick up MAG OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, PARADOX and many others. That's where some of the best fiction is to be found.
So, there are certain benefits to be had for writers online, the most compelling being the interaction with your readers. Often you are privy to their reaction immediately after they have finished reading your story.
http://ozment.livejournal.com
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darkbow
Rabbit lord
Date Joined Oct 2005
Total Posts : 1696
| Posted 8/29/2008 11:24 PM (GMT -5) | | | | |
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RHFay
Sage
Date Joined Nov 2007
Total Posts : 1895
| Posted 9/1/2008 7:02 PM (GMT -5) | | Interesting. The debate of on-line versus print, and the perceptions of the quality of each type of media, came up recently in a comment on my Live Journal blog. According to the poet who commented on this issuse, many on-line publications may still have a poor reputation as compared to print ones, but this is changing. Apparently, on-line publications are slowly gaining more respect. And this LJ friend of mine did state that they tend to base their own judgments regarding relative quality on what names each individual publication attracts.
Keep in mind, I believe this particular poet spoke from a mainstream perspective, but I imagine the same is true of genre publications. As on-line venues gain more readers and more skilled or accomplished contributors, their perceived quality will also increase.
Me? Right now, I tend to approach publications with a Wal-Mart/Starbucks mindset - saturation! I'm not below sending material to an untried "4 the luv" e-zine, if I think the place looks somewhat promising.
"I'm going to do what the warriors of old did. I'm going to recite poetry!"
Richard H. Fay - Azure Lion Productions
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darkbow
Rabbit lord
Date Joined Oct 2005
Total Posts : 1696
| Posted 9/1/2008 8:50 PM (GMT -5) | | I think a lot of it depends on where you are as a writer. For a beginner, or even someone a little more experienced than a beginner, it makes sense to try for those "4 the luv" markets;" it gets your name out there, helps build credits, and it even feeds that urge to see your work published.
A more experienced author, someone like James Van Pelt for example, who isn't quite a mid-lister and who definitely isn't a household name yet, is more than likely going to try for publications with a broader market and a strong reputation.
Most mid-list authors are probably going to be busy writing novels most of the time, so when they do write something short, it's almost always going to be for a publication with that strong reputation. However, there are exceptions, such as when an author helps out a buddy who has a new publication, or when the author just takes a shine to a new publication.
The best-sellers are mostly not even going to fool around with short story publications, outside of anthologies and collections. Every once in a while one of them might get the bug, but they're going to hit up the really big publications, like Playboy or The New Yorker, etc. And it's just as likely an editor at one of those big mags has contacted them and asked for a story.
Whether you consider any particular publication to be of high regard and strong reputation is mostly a personal preference, though I suppose one could take into consideration circulation or the size of the reading audience. Today, I think it somewhat breaks down by age group. I think younger readers are much more likely to be accepting of an online publication, while the old foggies are going to stick with print for the most part (and then there's those like me, near 40, sort of caught in the middle).
I do believe quality fiction can be found online, even with sizable readerships. I'll always point at Every Day Fiction to show how things can be done right. Jordan and Camille have struck oil, in my opinion, and it shows in their product, which has gotten stronger in its content over the last year (also possibly making it more difficult for budding writers to make it into, and I don't mean that as a complaint, just that the stakes have been raised).
"Beneath a Persian Sun" upcoming in Carnivah House's "Infinity Swords" anthology
"Peter Piker the Pankin Man" upcoming at Big Pulp
"Deep in the Land of the Ice and Snow" in "The Return of the Sword" anthology
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