Publication or Poisoned Chalice
Correspondence
from a competition organiser advises you’re a place getter. Well not quite a
place getter, first, second and third places have been awarded to other
writers, but the judges have bestowed a commendation on your entry, which means
your work is worthy of entry in their current anthology. It also means you
won’t benefit monetarily from your labours, but that is of small consequence.
Your work is about to be published. You have achieved your ultimate aim,
congratulations!
No one knows
but you, how many hours were spent in creating the story, the sweat and tears
that went into the editing process, the emotions that drove every tap of the
keyboard, and now all your efforts are to be rewarded.
Waiting seems forever but eventually your free contributor’s copy arrives in the post. Yep, that’s your name in the index. You are a published author. Although you know your own work thoroughly, you are compelled to read every single syllable of every word because you have never seen it like this before.
They got it
right, no errors. Your story is in print. Wonderful. An advantage you get with
an anthology is you get to read the stories that beat you. Curiosity compels
you to fan the pages in search of the winning entry. The story starts off all
right and you nod your head subconsciously. You can see how the judges were
hooked from the start. Wait a minute, you’ve turned the page and it is clear something
is wrong. The ending has no bearing at all on the rest of the story. The second
place getter ends in similar fashion. The conclusion is neither satisfying nor
satisfactory.
Somewhat
disillusioned, you fan more pages till you come to the story that earned third
place. After a careful and honest appraisal you agree it is in its rightful
place but it is not as good as your story, In fact, word for word none of these
stories measure up. How could the judges have got it so wrong? Did the entire
panel have an off day?
We won’t go
into a full analysis as to the elements that appealed to the judges most,
suffice to say that at another time, another place your entry may have scored a
gong, but that’s little consolation when lesser stories come in ahead of yours.
Not only
have you missed out on the money, your chances of doing better in the future
has taken a severe hit as published work is not generally acceptable for entry in
competitions. Your market has just become a trifle restricted.
There is a
good lesson all in this, which is to read submission guidelines thoroughly
before sending in your masterpiece. Beware of clauses that say authors of
commended works will be expected to take part in support activity, or help to
promote the production.
Finally, if
you’re a newbie and something like this has happened to you, don’t despair. Put
it down to experience and get on with your writing, at least you can now claim
to be a published author.
Frank Ince
