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FaePublishing Dead? A Salutary Tale

Wednesday, 28 September 2011

Back in May I was trumpeting the happy news that I'd sold a story to FaePublishing : my second pro sale in a month. I made edits, signed contracts and all was well.

A few weeks back, wondering when the story might be appearing, I went over to their web site. It didn't seem to have changed much. I assumed they were just busy. Then fellow writer Lydia Sharp got in touch. She'd had a story accepted by FaePublishing too, but couldn't get any reply when she emailed them. I went back to the web site today and it's no longer there. Nor is the Twitter account of editor Theresa Miles. Emails sent to the faepublishing.com domain bounce. It looks very much like the magazine has folded.

This happens, of course. Magazines come and go. What's annoying is that we, the poor writers, weren't informed. My story hasn't been published and I haven't been paid. Right now I have no idea if FaePublishing still exists and is having some temporary glitch, or if it's gone for good. The kicker is, my contract says that, in the event of my story not being published, I have to wait until next May before I can submit elsewhere. But I don't know if that's void or not because I don't know if Fae still exists.

Perhaps there's a good reaon for all this and the magazine will be back up tomorrow. I hope so. But I bet not. If you're in the same situation there's an AbsoluteWrite thread here.

Not good. FaePublishing and Theresa Miles : writer beware.

Posted by Simon Kewin at 20:34

20 comments:

  1. Unknown28 September 2011 at 20:47

    Well, this sucks.

    On a positive note, you did earn a Pillar of Fire at Write 1 Sub 1. That's nothing to sneeze at. And I see some 60 publications there for you. Keep the faith. Your time will come.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous28 September 2011 at 20:48

    That sucks, Simon. I was reading Absolute Write last night about the same thing happening with another publisher.

    Scary times. I really hope you get your rights returned quickly.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Deborah Walker28 September 2011 at 20:57

    So sorry to hear this, Simon. Hope that the situation resolves itself soon.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader28 September 2011 at 21:45

    Sorry to hear your disappointment. This sounds terrible. If I hear anything I'll let you know.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Unknown28 September 2011 at 22:53

    Depending on how the contract is written, it may be void because you were not paid. Contracts may go void if the company goes out of business, but that depends on how they break down.

    Also: I am not a lawyer. Maybe ask SFWA?

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  6. Golden Eagle28 September 2011 at 23:45

    That's awful. I hope you find out more about what's going on soon!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Joe Romel29 September 2011 at 01:30

    Man that sucks.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous29 September 2011 at 02:28

    Hey, if they didn't pay you, isn't the contract null and void? Get that story back out there!

    I can only imagine the frustration this has caused you, Simon. Not cool at all. I mean, I know times are tough, but the least they could do was let you (and others) know instead of just disappearing.

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  9. S G29 September 2011 at 03:14

    That's bad news! I hope you find out soon what's going on with your story.

    Also, congratulations for W1S1 this month.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ms Saba (aka Teacher007.5)29 September 2011 at 04:44

    I'm so sorry to hear that. I hope everything works out okay for you.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Simon Kewin29 September 2011 at 07:31

    Steve : Thanks, man. That's definitely the attitude to have.

    Donna : Thanks, hope so too.

    Deborah : Me too!

    Michael : Thanks for that - I appreciate it.

    Rich - great advice, thanks. I may just do that.

    Golden Eagle : Yeah, me too. It's only one short story but that's not the point is it?

    Joe : Agreed.

    Milo : Yep, that's the really frustrating thing here. It's so damn impolite.

    Lydia : Thanks and thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Simon Kewin29 September 2011 at 07:33

    Thanks, Ms. Saba. I'll let you all know!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Lydia Sharp29 September 2011 at 14:21

    Thanks for posting this, Simon. I hope we can at least get the okay to sub our stories elsewhere, and soon. Beyond that, good riddance.

    Rich: I've already contacted Victoria Strauss of SFWA's Writer Beware. As of the time of this post we're still waiting for her response.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Madeline Mora-Summonte29 September 2011 at 14:48

    I hope it all works out, Simon.

    I'm sort of in the same boat - I have/had a story coming out in an ezine at the end of the summer but the old issue is still up and I received no reply to my status email.

    It's the not knowing, isn't it? Like you said, these things happen with magazine/ezines but then they should notify the writers, etc so we can make new plans for those stories.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Simon Kewin29 September 2011 at 15:16

    Lydia : Cool. If I hear anything I will, of course, let you know.

    Madeline : It is horrible isn't it? Hope it works out for you. At the very least it's damn impolite for them not to tell people.

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  16. Thomas Taylor29 September 2011 at 16:08

    This stinks. And we writers are always the last to know because we don't do much, just EVERYTHING that's of primary importance to a publisher.

    I suppose there's a small chance they'll resurface. Fingers crossed.

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  17. Simon Kewin29 September 2011 at 16:23

    Thomas : Damn right. Sometimes it just feels like we're an inconvenience to others in the industry for writing the stuff in the first place.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous1 October 2011 at 01:13

    On a brighter note, congrats on reaching your Write1Sub1 goals this month. Onward and upward!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Cate Gardner1 October 2011 at 16:51

    That's awful. I hope you hear from them soon.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Simon Kewin1 October 2011 at 22:32

    Cate,

    Meh. They're dead to me.

    ReplyDelete

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