Tag Archive for: publishers

Sources of the Mystery Short Story


by Paula Gail Benson
Continuing
the celebration of May as Short Story Month (see http://shortstorymonth.com/ and http://storyaday.org/), here are a few sources
where you can find excellent short stories and receive encouragement or ideas
for marketing short stories.
  
Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine (https://www.themysteryplace.com/ahmm/),
Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (https://www.themysteryplace.com/eqmm/),
and The Strand (https://strandmag.com/) are perhaps the best
known monthly publications that feature stories, interviews, and reviews. Woman’s World (http://www.womansworld.com/) is a weekly
periodical that features a short solve-it-yourself mystery, often written by well-known
mystery writers such as John Floyd and B.K. Stevens.
Wildside
Press (http://wildsidepress.com/) offers
the monthly Sherlock Holmes Mystery
Magazine
as well as anthologies produced for the Malice Domestic Mystery
Conference (Malice Domestic 11: Murder
Most Conventional
and Malice Domestic
12: Mystery Most Historical
) and the Guppy and Chesapeake Chapters of Sisters
in Crime. Wildside has also published single author short story collections,
like Barb Goffman’s Don’t Get Mad, Get
Even
and B.K. Stevens’ Her Infinite
Variety.
Level
Best Books (https://levelbestbooks.com/)
is well known for publishing the Best New England Crime Stories series and is
currently seeking submissions (which close May 31, 2017) for the 15th
anthology, to be titled, Snowbound. Now
under new editors, Level Best has branched out with a law enforcement
anthology, Busted! Arresting Stories from
the Beat
, and an upcoming culinary collection, Noir at the Salad Bar.
Two
excellent online magazines are Mysterical
E
(http://mystericale.com/),
published quarterly, and Kings River Life
(http://kingsriverlife.com/), issued
weekly. If you look at the Mystery Rats Maze portion of Kings River Life (http://kingsriverlife.com/category/kings-river-reviewers/mysteryrats-maze/),
you’ll find interviews with mystery authors, book reviews, and short stories.
Sometimes there’s even a give-away offer!
Finally,
both for its list of online resources and its continuous updates of contests
and calls for submissions, Sandra Seamans’ blog (http://sandraseamans.blogspot.com/)
can’t be beat. In addition, the Short Mystery Fiction Society (https://shortmystery.blogspot.com/)
has been commemorating the short story month with selected stories from its
member authors, including our own Debra Goldstein.
If
you love short stories, particularly mystery ones, please be sure to check out
these great sites!  

Disruptive Forces: Politics and Publishing

Disruptive Forces: Politics and Publishing by Debra H. Goldstein

I should be writing my blog, but instead I’m glued to my television set. The New Hampshire results are coming in. This is anything but the end of the political campaign, but a commentator just used a phrase to describe one candidate that I think probably could be used for the entire process. He called the candidate “a disruptive force.”

During the past few weeks, I’ve been concerned about many issues: health care, terrorism, poverty, international relations, immigration, cultural diversity and criminal justice to name a few. Although no candidate and I could ever agree on solutions for all of these issues, my hope has been that I could identify one that either holds most of my views or has rational proposals I’ve never considered.

The fact is the rhetoric is different every day. Muddled, middle, disruptive, and changing are all words being used by the pundits to describe the campaigns and how the process will whittle down the number of candidates in the race. These same words can be applied to the writing arena.

During the past few years, the multitude of large publishing houses shrunk, as has the subsidiary banners these houses published under. Recently, the mystery world was hit by announcements that Berkley Prime and Cengage, the biggest textbook publisher, will be discontinuing mystery series/lines. For writers and readers in the cozy and traditional mystery world, these announcements translate to at least one hundred books a year that will probably never be published. Some authors may find homes for their works or derivatives of their series with smaller houses or may choose to self-publish, but unless they already have established followings, most will find their works reaching far less readers than they would have “the way things were.”

I’m not sure which candidate will become president, but I am certain this streamlining of the publishing world will mean corporate profits rising to the detriment of readers and writers. The “disruptive forces” at work here will result in readers having less books to choose from while writers, having less alternatives, will discover their earning and negotiation abilities compromised at the same time they are having to work harder to find homes for their works.

Do you think we could add the state of the publishing world to the next debate?

Better Late Than Never

I thought I could do this while still in Sedona but Internet access was hard to find in our campground, Sedona is a beautiful place. I heard a quote that describes it,”God made the Grand Canyon for everyone to enjoy but He made Sedona as his dwelling place.”

Besides sightseeing, I gave two talks which were well-publicized and attended. The first was about promoting on the Internet, which I gave at the library.

The second was at Kris Neri’s Well Red Coyote bookstore. I’ve known Kris for a long time and was so glad to see her. “Working with Small Publishers” was my topic. I’m always surprised by how many have published with places like Publish America when there are other independent publishers to choose from. I always give handouts and answer questions.

What does surprise me is how few bought books, not just from me but from the bookstore. Indpendent bookstores are in danger, and the only way to save them is to support them by buying books, Oh, I did sell books, but it was a small percentage of the people who attended.

Whenever I attend something like this I always buy the author’s book to support them and the bookstore. Years ago, before I was published I did it to learn about the author’s writing and the publisher.

Next week, photos of Sedona, I promise.

Marilyn