Cricket edits

The edits for my folktales “When Shakko Did Not Lie” and “The Snow Woman’s Daughter” (renamed from “Winter’s Daughter”–no problem with that, at a quarter a word, if they wanted to rename it “Bob” I’d be fine with it!) arrived in the mail today from Cricket. Additionally, the editor, in her letter, told me to look for the edits of “Razi and the Sunbird” soon.

Y’know, having a top rate editor can really make a huge difference in one’s writing. Debby Vetter has a knack for really making my prose sing. I noticed when she edited “Manny” for Cicada, I actually learned how to write tighter and clearer from going over her changes. Now that’s damn fine editing, that is. I agree with all of her modifications, a situation I have not always been fortunate enough to be in with other editors. On whole, I’m of the philosophy that it’s the editor’s prerogative to tweak my story to fit their house style and vision so I’ve never made a stink about fixes and changes. But with Cricket/Cicada I wholeheartedly approve of their revisions.

Also, she wants to include an author’s note at the end of “Shakko” from one of my correspondences with her that explains a little of the kitsune mythology. That swells my total word count by another 159 words . . . adding another forty dollars to my paycheck. Wow. The author’s note bonus alone is more money than I’ve received for some of my sales.

I don’t think I can gush more about the Carus publishing group without drooling, so I’ll stop now. But I’m utterly delighted to be appearing in their magazines again. They’re a real class act.

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10 Responses to Cricket edits

  1. mouseferatu says:

    “(renamed from “Winter’s Daughter”–no problem with that, at a quarter a word, if they wanted to rename it “Bob” I’d be fine with it!)”

    A quarter… a… word?

    *bawls his eyes out*

    I am so in the wrong line of writing.

    Congrats again, though.

    • mouseferatu says:

      And oh, yeah…

      *LOB!!*

    • Eugie Foster says:

      Yepper, a quarter a word! They pay better than all of the top tier SF genre markets do, and have a huge circulation (including schools and libraries) so I’m just ecstatic they seem to like my stuff!

      I am so in the wrong line of writing.

      Oh, puhleeze, novel-trilogy-boy ! I think I’d just die of shock if I got the sort of offers you’ve been turning down.

      • mouseferatu says:

        Well, it’s not like I turned it down for very long… 😉

        But seriously, novels aside, the RPG industry pays crap. I can’t get into specifics, of course, but with the exception of huge companies like Wizards of the Coast, the top companies in the industry pay their top writers something in the neighborhood of one-fifth what you’re getting for this short story. 🙁

        • Eugie Foster says:

          the top companies in the industry pay their top writers something in the neighborhood of one-fifth what you’re getting for this short story. 🙁

          Hang on, that’s based on word count, not flat rate, right? Five cents per word is considered very good money in the SF short story industry. It’s just the children’s lit markets that pay so very much better for fantasy.

          Plus there’s that whole novel (and trilogy!) thing.

          • mouseferatu says:

            Yep, word count. Most RPG companies (in my experience) pay by the word.

            I didn’t realize that .05/word was considered very good for sci-fi short stories; I was under the impression they paid better than that. But as I said, it’s also pretty close to top end for RPGs, too.

            I wonder why the kid’s market pays so much better? Odd.

            I think people just need to pay writers more in general. 😉

            “Plus there’s that whole novel (and trilogy!) thing.”

            lol

            You’re not crusing past that any time soon, are ya? 😉 Wish I could tell everyone more about it. I’m psyched as hell, during those few moments of every day when I’m not terrified of it. 😉

          • Eugie Foster says:

            I didn’t realize that .05/word was considered very good for sci-fi short stories; I was under the impression they paid better than that.

            Until recently, “pro” rates were .03/word as dictated by the SFWA. This year they raised that to .05/word. The list of qualifying SFWA markets is pretty short. A few venues pay considerably more, like SCIFICTION.com pays .20/word, but they’re easily the highest paying genre market.

            I wonder why the kid’s market pays so much better? Odd.

            I think it’s more accurate to clump children’s lit in with mainstream markets than SF. Their pay-scale is more on par with them, which makes sense as they have similar circulation figures. A print run/circulation of 5000 is considered quite respectable in the SF world. The Carus publication group boasts a circulation in the hundreds of thousands.

            I think people just need to pay writers more in general.

            Amen!

            You’re not crusing past that any time soon, are ya? . . . I’m psyched as hell, during those few moments of every day when I’m not terrified of it.

            I’m positively chartreuse with envy! (And pink with admiration.)

            Aw, what’s to be terrified of? You’ve already got a top-selling novel under your belt. What’s three more?

  2. amokk says:

    It’s great to see you getting a lot of print. 🙂

    I’ll admit I haven’t had time to read your story that was online yet. I’m bad.

    I need to stop wasting my time and write more…

    • Eugie Foster says:

      Thanks!

      I’ll admit I haven’t had time to read your story that was online yet. I’m bad.

      It’s awkward reading on a computer screen, so I don’t hold it against you . . . this time. I still greatly prefer selling to print markets ’cause I just like the feel of paper better.

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