Publication or poisoned chalice

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