Hi, all:
I'm new to these boards, so please excuse me if I'm bringing up a question that's already been addressed to death elsewhere. I'm also American, so I realize there may be differences between British and American SF-publishing standards, practices, or even general assumptions, with which I'm not familiar. That's why I've come here to respectfully ask a question, to which I hope you can give me some responses and perspective.
I recently saw a call for submissions, on ralan.com, that led me to the submissions page for Elastic Press's upcoming anthology "
Subtle Edens - The Elastic Book of Slipstream" (I'm afraid I'm not allowed to post URLs, but the link is easy to find). I read the guidelines with interest, found the concept intriguing, and found myself coming up with ideas for a story I thought I'd like to write and submit.
What puzzled me when I came to it, though, was this text:
"You will be paid for your work in copy / copies of the book. Elastic Press receives no Lottery or Arts Council funding and is completely independent from any multinational media organisations. We survive because discerning readers buy our books. Thank you."
I found myself confused by this. The reason is that the general wisdom, what I've understood from classes, peer workshops, and professionals in the field, is that some form of compensation is normally expected for work accepted for publication. I understand that not everyone is in a position to pay professional rates, but aren't semi-pro rates, or at least a percentage of royalties, the standard for for contributors to published books that will be sold to the public at standard prices?
I'd like to add that it occurred to me that I might not understand the publishing context in question, so I looked up Elastic Press and read what I could find about it online. I had not heard of Elastic Press before -- again, not surprising, since I'm American and most of us haven't heard of small presses outside our home countries -- but was certainly impressed to learn that two of its recent anthologies, _The Alsiso Project_ and _Extended Play: The Elastic Book of Music_, had won the British Fantasy Award for Best Anthology. At the same time, I confess this leaves me even more confused about why the publisher is unable to pay for contributions to its anthologies.
I'm aware that there is an Elastic Press forum elsewhere on this website. I thought it would make more sense to post here, since my question involves broader issues regarding standards and norms in UK publishing, which, I figure, may simply be unclear to me because I'm a foreigner. I would be glad to hear from anyone representing Elastic Press, as well as from those not affiliated, to help clear up my confusion on this matter.
Thanks in advance for your responses.
Best,
- Susannah