What's the protocol?

[secretvictoria]

Hope this is on the right story forum, sorry if not.

I have some short stories and a novella that a British company called black lace are interested in publishing. Does that mean that I shouldn't post them on lit? Is it true it must only be unpublished stuff? I enjoy the stories here and would love to share my own.

 

[CeriseNoire]

Hope this is on the right story forum, sorry if not.

I have some short stories and a novella that a British company called black lace are interested in publishing. Does that mean that I shouldn't post them on lit? Is it true it must only be unpublished stuff? I enjoy the stories here and would love to share my own.

You should wait until you get the contract. Then the types of publishing rights the publisher expects will be listed on there. The call for submissions (if you answered one) should also have indicated whether they were looking for unpublished material or if reprints were OK. If you just can't wait until the contract, then you should contact the editor and ask for clarification.

 

[secretvictoria]

So, it's more about problems that I'd run into with a prospective publisher than about Lit. Thanks for that, I'll check it out.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Look, SV, if you post your stories and novella on Lit, Black Lace (I know them) might dump you like yesterday's garbage. Wait until you have their contract in hand, read it closely to see if they are requiring "Exclusive Rights" (they usually do).

There is a good set of guidelines for literary contracts in Writers Market. The things you should be cognizant of are: Ownership of the Copyrights, front money, commissions, residuals, overseas sales, length of the contract, etc.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Adam Nevill, editor at Black Lace, would not be pleased if he did not have exclusivity on stories he published.

Black Lace is an imprint of Virgin Publishing. (Virgin Books). The US site is not helpful and the UK site is 'under re-development'. Try Black Lace .

Unlike e-publishing, conventional publishers usually insist that the story - despite you holding the copyright - does not appear elsewhere, especially on a free site.

'Interested' is a term that publishers use to string writers along. Try and get some clarificationon what of your work is seriously being considered for publication. A publisher like Black Lace is snowed under with submissions and it is very unlikely that one author will get more than one (or max two)stories/novels/novellas published each year.

On one of the erotic writers sites I read that Black Lace were not planning to publish any more short story collections in the forseeable future as they thought they had overplayed the genre.

One thing you must do is generate a bit of self-publicity. Best advice I can give is to publish on Lit some work you haven't submitted to a publisher or has been rejected.

When (oh frabjous day) you do get published, advertise here and promote your published pseudonym.

Regards

Elle