Random things make a podcast post

[hrj]

I had a bit of a podcast-guest drought over the turn of the year. I'm getting a bunch of interviews on the schedule that should cover most of the first half of the year, but don't currently have anyone recorded for February. It makes me a bit twitchy, but since I officially announced that the week 2 & 3 shows will be less structured going forward, that gives me leeway to pull something out of my ass at the last minute if necessary.

What I can't pull out of my ass are submissions for the fiction series. The month is essentially 2/3 gone and I have no (zero) submissions yet. And, yes, I've had some verbal confirmations of intent. But I'm seriously worrying I won't even get four submissions, much less enough that I can choose the four best from a strong field like last year. What the hell am I doing wrong? You'd think that, given the usual token royalties offered for lesbian short fiction, the prospect of getting $300 for a 5000 word short story--just as if I were a professional mainstream venue and everything--would stir people's interest. There's a lot of talk about how people want good f/f historical fiction to read, and a lot of griping from authors about how hard it is to sell it. So where's the disconnect?

I suppose it would simplify my life in future years to give up on the fiction series. (It would certainly save me the angst of trying to shift it from a loss leader to a self-supporting project at some point.) But I really liked the idea of supporting the genre this way.

At least I have a solid set of titles for the new/recent books segment. There's even one that looked interesting enough that I ordered it. (Only Kindle and hard copy so I went for hard copy.) And I loved doing the group movie review/analysis. And I'm commissioning transcripts of the interview shows. (Though I'm not aiming for real-time posting yet. Working on the backlog first.)

Comments

[kareina]

I am not certain you are doing anything wrong at all, I think that perhaps the reason there aren't so many submissions is the same reason people are saying that they wan good f/f historical fiction to read--the pool of people who are already writing it has been limited by comparison with the pool of people who are writing other stuff. Do you have any idea of how many of the authors who submitted stories last time had already been in the habit of writing f/f historical stories before sending you their submission, vs how many chose to write their story as their first attempt at such a story? That split will tell you how valuable this service you are offering to the community is. If the existence of your fiction series is getting new stuff written that wouldn't otherwise have been written, that is a good thing. Even better if the new stuff is quality stuff.

Heck, I have never been one to write fiction, yet when I read your call for stories there was this flash of "I wonder if I could write such a story?" going through my mind before sanity kicked back in and pointed out that I am not yet back to meeting my work obligations, let alone anywhere near on top of my hobby list of stuff to do ASAP, and I really, really don't need yet another new challenge in my life. But let that seed sit in the back of my mind, one day, if your series continues to exist, perhaps a story will appear from me.

In other news, I have just this past week beta read a story that I enjoyed that is an obvious fit for your fiction series, so I would be very surprised if it isn't on its way to you.

[ursula]

I suspect the disconnect is about ecosystems: if you're the only pro market for work in this genre and at this length, submitters have to purpose-write for your market, which is stressful. You might be able to glean more submissions by phrasing your priorities as desires rather than hard requirements (e.g., "We're really excited about pre-19th century stories!" rather than "Nothing after 1900".)

Anyway, would you accept poetry?

[hrj]

Except it's the same guidelines as last year, worded the same way. And it was a completely unknown project then.

I had not previously contemplated the question of whether I'd accept poetry. I think the answer is no, unless it was a decision I'd made and announced in advance. (I'm quite fond of non-standard narrative structures in prose, though.)

[katerit]

I crossposted the link a few places and pay post elsewhere or on my own page.

[hrj]

Thanks. A lot of people have been cross-posting, and I really appreciate it.