Having been doing this old writing thing for a few years now I’ve had experience of many publishing outlets and they range from professional to competent to … well, incompetent. Sometimes I have even spoken publicly about them (witness my experiences with Crows Wing Book’s 2050 anthology and the old religious horror antho Decadence), some of them I have not. I understand that a lot of people publishing are doing if for-the-love and therefore don’t have a lot of time and money and have always given people a LOT of leeway when it comes to what I expect. (The Russian publishers of I-O, for example, bought the rights for 18 months but took almost four years to publish it.) I understand, and almost expect, delays to happen, but what I also expect is that the publishers remain honest with me and my fellow writers.
If there are going to be delays, then that’s fine – just let us know. If you can no longer afford to do a hardcover because of funding, then that’s fine – just let us know.
So I thought what be worthwhile would be me posting when I had a good experience – a really good experience, actually.
What I’m talking about is the just-released Cinema Spec anthology published by Karen Romanko at Raven Electick Press. I couldn’t have asked for this process to have gone any more smoothly that it has from start to finish. I submitted my story shortly before the deadline date and within a few weeks received a response that Karen wanted to include my story. I then received another email a few weeks after that informing me about the rest of the contributors and the publishing schedule. Then came the cover image previews and a request for bio info which I duly sent back. A few weeks later in came the proofs for checking (both the story and index page). A few weeks after that, the full publishing info and an offer to buy contributor copies at a reduced price and then a few weeks after that (unprompted!) a Paypal payment for the story.
The whole time the communication was open and wonderful, Karen kept us all in the loop and was quick to respond to any questions. She kept tight reigns on everything and ensured that the project kept moving along. She sent us information that she thought would be useful without us having to chase her about it – and she paid promtly and without question.
There are so many badoutlets out there (bad because they are dodgy, bad because they are incompetent, bad because they are just subject to the same stresses as the rest of us) that I think when we have a good experience we should shout about it just as loudly so I want to fully congratulate Karen and Raven Electrick on such a well-handled publication. Regardless of what the book looks like or how it performs she should be applauded for her work on this project and so that’s what I’m doing!
Gret job, Karen.
Damn, that sound’s so easy if you think about it.