I’ve had a few days to think about my SF Signal guest post and I have some last things to say. It is very interesting to me that anyone commented on my post. I never thought that any more that 4 or at the most 10 people would respond. By the end there were 228 comments on the post. And I have to ask myself, why? Why respond at all, especially if you’re a big deal author or editor? Why not ignore me? After all, who am I? I’m nobody special in this industry. I’m just starting out. If they ignored me then what I had to say would be ignored and that would be that. So why answer the post?
Hell, there were people on that post I ignored. Those that sounded nuts, or made unfounded accusations, or made disparaging remarks about me, I just ignored them. There were those that called me out by name just wanting me to fight with them so that they could play the part of hero. (BTW, You can’t be a hero if you comment anonymously. That’s called being a coward.) They are not important in my estimation, so I ignored these people. I answered those who I thought could advance the argument not those who where just being a pain in the ass and wanted attention. So, I ask again, why answer the post?
I think they answered because there was more than a grain of truth to what I had to say.
Mainstream fiction has nothing like the semi-pro, token, non-paying (For the Love) markets the genres have for short fiction. There is the New Yorker at the pro level and that’s pretty much it. Sure there are some academic journals with very narrow audiences. Other than that, there is nothing. That’s why mainstream fiction looks like it does. All blockbusters with very few new voices. And there are tons of new great writers out there pouring out of MFA programs (and other places) just waiting to be heard. But where?
The fresh stream of new writers in the genres are bolstered by these smaller markets. Sure there will be a few writers that will burst onto the scene at the pro level. Good for them. A lot of other writers, those with different points-of-view and newer things to say may need time to develop their voices. The semi-pro market is the perfect place to do this. And, no, you are not going to get rich writing a semi-pro story. You will not pay your rent, or go on a world cruise with the payments from these markets. But what you get is much richer: encouragement. The responses from these markets can let you know if you are on the right track especially when they responded personally to your story. Useful, useful stuff. I know how hard I’ve been working and I’m proud of the few sales that I’ve made. So I got defensive and, yes, personally insulted when I saw that this whole area of the market was being deemed “crap.” Even though people like Rachel Swirsky and a few others took it back (I believe that Rachel didn’t mean it, BTW. Especially since she was only one who tried to make it clear that that was not what she meant) there were plenty of others who WERE saying that they thought the semi-pros were “crap.” Not naming names. You can read it for yourself.
Things have been cleared up as far as I’m concerned. My point has been made. Those guys can go on arguing amongst themselves about payments at the pro-level all they want. I suggest they get a better agent or publicist or something. But for gosh sake don’t deride the semi-pros. As far as I can see, they are doing a wonderful job in the service of the genres and doing it all out of love and usually out of their own pockets. They should be thanked not called names.