Okay, in the last couple of months I have been working on a project I wanted to introduce to Fantasybookspot.com for a while. Anyone familiar with out site knows we are a review and interview site that opens are doors to all form of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and the opinions that accompany them, the format and length of which completely up to the individual reviewers. Recently we have been working on covering Mystery, Horror, and the Comic Book industry as well, maintaining an open door policy in regards to those genres as well. For the last several months I have been thinking about a way on how to expand on what has been a rather fast growing process for FBS as it is, without affecting adversely our own niche – not to mention how to do it in a manner that isn’t going to cause me or our the site to go bankrupt. 
This is what I have come up with: There is an excess of people who have fascinating perspectives and opinions to share, and not enough venues to share them. Furthermore, in some cases you are not getting properly motivated to do so. I want your opinions, your criticisms, your fiction, and I don’t give a damn who you are. If you have something to say, whether you’re an author, a mad blogger, or an interested fan, or even a genre hater, I want the opportunity to see if I would be interested in paying you to speak your mind. Thus, our as of yet, unnamed project is born, a – for now – bi-monthly E-Zine that will be attached to FBS, that will deal exclusively with criticisms, articles, and short fiction. After picking the brain of several authors and non-fiction contributors, I have formulated a pay scale that will work for now (i.e. the first issue). While one of them made me feel like a cheap bastard with his input, I appreciate all those who offered advice.
What I’m looking for:
Articles/Criticisms: Preferably 2,500+ words although if you have something shorter in length and think strongly about it, please run it by me. Criticisms are not review/summaries. I’m looking for in-depth opinion. Your slant or angle is not one that will be brought into question, merely how you argue your point. FBS is not trying to support any ideologies exclusively, but merely give a venue for all of them. If you haven’t read extensively outside of the genre this is probably not what you want to submit for. Please check with before you submit something, to inquire on our interest. I will pay a $80.00 flat rate for articles/criticisms.
Reviews: We already do reviews at FBS, however we do not make our reviewers follow any set guidelines. I’m looking for reviews that are 1200+ words; I’m looking for reviews that reflect your unique perspective. Again, I’m not looking for a summarizations, I’m looking for individual and unique reflection. What do I want reviewed? I’m not going to restrict what we are looking to cover, as if a book doesn’t have anything to offer, it’s impossible to write 1200+ meaningful words on it. I would ask people to apply common sense, however, the world does not need another review of even a great work like Gene Wolfe’s ‘Book of the New Sun’ in the world (although a interesting article is possible). I will pay $20 for these reviews, and if you get chosen to one I will use FBS’s and my own resources to facilitate you with the subsequent book you wish to submit a review for in the future for free (along with payment).
Art: We want to accompany both the online and print versions of the zine with different art for each issue. If you are an artist and this sounds like something you be interested in, please contact Damon (who will handle this matter) at admin@fantasybookspot.com.
Short fiction: Due to spacing issues, I simply can’t accept anything over 4000 words, and we will pay 5 cents a word with a minimum payment set at $55. Again, I’m not going to limit what type of work we are looking for, I’m more interested in your voice than chosen format. If you send fan-fiction…I will kill you!
We require all submissions (whether fiction or non-fiction) to be original and previously unpublished (that includes online). We require exclusive publishing rights for 90 days, and would hope you would allow us to maintain the work for our archives. Send all non-art related submissions to me at sueyoshihigashi@yahoo.com
For publishers/publicists/authors who want to specifically submit books for this E-Zine, most of you know how to contact me and use those same channels – I will be happy to discuss it. If not, use the same email address I noted above. Feel free to contact me with any further questions.
More official sounding announcement at FBS tomorrow.
(EDIT)
This announcement has been added to here.
Tags: books
15 responses so far ↓
1 // Apr 19, 2006 at 1:53 pm
< ![CDATA[Are you only looking for established or at least previously published writers to submit short fiction, or are first-timers welcome?]]>
2 // Apr 19, 2006 at 4:04 pm
< ![CDATA[[...] Via Hal Duncan I learn that Fantasy Book Spot is to launch a bi-monthly magazine alongside the web site. It will feature mainly criticism and short fiction. And it will pay. Good luck to Jay on this. I have no idea how he’s going to manage to finance it, but if he manages to do so I’ll be delighted. Details here. [...] ]]>
3 // Apr 19, 2006 at 5:39 pm
< ![CDATA[Sounds like a good idea to me. While I'm not a regular at Candlekeep, I do browse through their publication when it comes out. Granted I don't find much of interest in there, but I think something from FBS would be more entertaining and informative. I've also seen some e-zine/web publishing done by some Star Wars groups and they've gone off very well.
One thing I'd think about adding is the opportunity to sell limited ad space in the publication. That may help offset the cost of publishing and allow vendors/artists/writers the opportunity to hawl their wares.]]>
4 Werthead // Apr 19, 2006 at 6:08 pm
This definitely sounds interesting and something I’d be willing to consider. I often do reviews on Amazon and sometimes feel I have to shut up after about 500 words in order to get my point across to the more lazy readers. Having the opportunity to do something more in-depth would be very cool.
5 // Apr 19, 2006 at 6:24 pm
< ![CDATA[Very interesting indeed. I look forward to the official announcement of this.]]>
6 // Apr 19, 2006 at 9:05 pm
< ![CDATA[This sounds ambitious, Jay. The very best of luck with it. I hope it becomes a great success.]]>
7 andrewj // Apr 19, 2006 at 10:08 pm
Well, I might just have to get in on this, too! And don’t feel about about those prices–I believe the 5 cents per words is about average for magazines that pay like that (though they’re more like 7 cents) and $80 per article and $20 per review is certainly feasible.
I’m also interested in the writing acceptance question, though: will you accept first-timers?
8 Online Home of Andrew; The Kindness of Strangers // Apr 19, 2006 at 10:52 pm
[...] If you’re interested or just curious, head over to website runner Jay’s post about it. [...]
9 // Apr 19, 2006 at 10:58 pm
< ![CDATA[Awesome news, Jay!]]>
10 jaytomio // Apr 20, 2006 at 9:35 am
< ![CDATA[Scott - I'm going strictly by what I feel about the story. First timers are not frowned upon at all.
TK - Thanks for the vote of confidence. I was going to announce ad opportunities in the official announcement.
Sean - Thanks!]]>
11 // Apr 21, 2006 at 10:49 pm
< ![CDATA[Really excellent news Jay. Good luck with it.]]>
12 // Apr 22, 2006 at 7:25 pm
< ![CDATA[Sweet! Sounds like a lot of fun, Jay! Good luck!]]>
13 // Apr 25, 2006 at 2:00 pm
< ![CDATA[Do you accept entries from foreign writers *hopeful*?]]>
14 // Apr 30, 2006 at 8:03 pm
< ![CDATA[Well, since I'm always looking for new places to submit stuff to, I'll definitely bookmark the site & write up your info in my publisher files (for whenever I write something small again:))
JA Howe]]>
15 // Jun 25, 2006 at 5:22 pm
< ![CDATA[Would you be interested in articles analyzing particular character archetypes or subgenres, or why people read milieu aka sffhh fiction (the other 'h' is for historical), or tips on how to create speculative worldbuilding, or anything like that?]]>
Leave a Comment