But at least in these, and every other case, I was posting a horror story. The day before yesterday, what I posted was, for all intents and purposes, an action story; a sword and sandal story about trying to save children from monsters. So, what does that have to do with my Halloween Countdown?
Well, odd though it seems, I picked the story specifically for this countdown, not for the story within the page, but for the story without.
See, I was contracted to write that story ten years ago, in March 2014, for a small-time publisher known as Mythix Studios, as part of an anthology series known as Flux Fiction. I know the exact month because I still have a copy of the contract scanned onto my computer. Despite writing, and submitting, that story I was never paid. Now, I don't think Mythix Studios exists anymore, so you may not find them, but the person who owned, and is responsible for it is: Philip Lee McCall II
I'll gladly name and shame, he's an (admittedly small) public figure in the writing community, but he is a public figure, and it is a fact that he never paid me for my work. See, this was one of the first few stories I ever wrote for a publisher, and so I was to be underpaid—just $25 for a 5,000 word story—at the very least I was expecting US$ as McCall (who likes to use the abbreviation PLMII) was based in Florida at the time, but still even with an exchange rate leaving me with around AU$40, that's a woeful underpayment. But, I was young and foolish and I agreed to it, so as much as I find such underpayment insulting these days, I still agreed to it, and I am owed US$25
Now, this story was never published, if you look for Harpy Hunt you won't find it anywhere because the second Flux-Fiction anthology was never finished, but that doesn't matter, because like I said, I still have the contract. The contract is clear that I was to be paid, and I quote:
"Payment will be tendered to Author via PAYPAL and the transaction will be completed once the Work has been considered finalized and ready for print."
The work was considered finalized, I sent the work in and confirmed with McCall that no further work was required by me. The work was ready for print. It doesn't matter that the work wasn't published, in fact that's immaterial to me for this particular contract because all royalties went to the publisher anyway. I wasn't paying to get published, I was being paid to submit a completed work, and even though I clearly did, I wasn't paid a single red penny for my efforts.
Now, you're well within your rights to think "are you really this upset about twenty-five bucks?"
The answer is, no... it's not about the $25. I still hold McCall accountable for this petty theft, and will do so until he pays me what I am owed, is about the principle. But the reason I'm so upset is threefold.
Firstly, it's not about me... my story was never published, but my friends' stories were. If you google "Flux Fiction" and "Philip Lee McCall", you'll see that some books were published by Mythix in that series. I won't name names, but I heard about PLMII at the time through some mutual friends after their stories were accepted and published through McCall, and was encouraged to put myself out there. But even though their works were published they weren't paid either.
Philip Lee McCall II stole their work, made his profit, and never paid them for their work despite being contractually obligated to do so by a contract that he wrote! I can tell he wrote it himself, because he misspelled his own email address as "fluxfictrion@gmail.com" (I'm pretty sure this, and the correctly spelled version, are abandoned, so don't bother using it...). As far as I know, he never paid any writers for their work. Whilst I have no proof of that, I do have proof he stole work at least twice, and I'm not so generous as to assume we're the only ones.
Secondly, the reason why I'm so upset is that Philip Lee McCall II is just one example of the thousands of similar examples of small-time criminals that exist in the small-time publishing world. If you're not a writer yourself, let me assure you that there are millions of young writers out there, just starting out and eager to get their foot in the door. And waiting just beyond that door are millions of predators just waiting to feed on them.
These are young writers, and more often than not they lack confidence about their work. They don't yet know how good they are, and so they undervalue themselves, they undervalue their art and more importantly (for this discussion anyway), they undervalue their work.
Writing is an art form. We also have to consider art like a product (because Capitalism) but whether or not writing is just a fun hobby for you, a side-gig, trying to get a few ideas published or a job you want to do full-time, Writing is Work.
Yes, I have fun doing it, but how disgusting is this society that when I tell my fellow writers that writing is work, they say "oh, it's not work, I have fun doing it"—just because something doesn't feel like obligatory self-flagellation that you put yourself through out of fear of homelessness, that doesn't mean it's not fucking work. It takes time, it takes energy, it takes effort. I love doing these Halloween Countdowns, but after writing thirteen posts in thirteen days, I need to take a fucking break.
For fuck's sake - having sex is an awful lot of fun, I sure as hell love doing that too, but there's a reason most people are sweaty and out of breath afterwards - that also takes effort, energy and time!
[Editor's Note: It also bears taking into account, Sex Work is also Work, and Sex Workers require Workers Rights, but as much as that's an important topic, it's not the topic we're discussing today.]
Now this is some bullshit, but I was lucky insofar as that my story was never published (although, when contracted for work that I completed, I am still entitled to be paid). But, others are not so lucky. People like my friends, who had their work stolen and published against their will.
So, today, I am going to present 5 RULES for every writer, yes even (and especially) you newbies out there, who want to get started writing, but also don't want to get scammed... in fact, even those of you who do want to get scammed, because you allow this crap in the first place. Let me explain with this:
1. "For Exposure" is a Scam
Some people think that if they just get their work out their, it will improve their reputation as a professional writers. The reality is: writers who don't get paid, get a reputation as writers that aren't worth paying. Publishers that want to see some of your previous work want proof that they aren't wasting their money. If someone else didn't spend money on you, why should they?
Now if you're more of a "hobbyist" type, and you want to get your name out there but don't care about getting paid, there are millions of healthy ways of doing that without legitimizing scammers who will steal your work. create a blog on Blogger.com, just like I've done here; create a profile in AO3, FictionPress, Wattpad, WritersCafe, or Writing.com; hell, create a YouTube channel, and read your stories aloud. These are just half a dozen of the hundreds of ways you can post your story online without giving scammers money.
2. Never Pay to be Published.
I gets even worse than being unpaid. I've seen publishers that ask for a "submission fee". Remember what I said, Writing is Work. You don't pay for the privilege of a job interview, so why would you pay to submit your work to be considered for publication? I've seen some people argue that this is necessary for an 'editing fee' or to pay judges in certain writing contests or worse, that they're supporting a smaller publisher who can't afford to pay higher rates. This is just ridiculous. The reality is: If they can't afford to pay their judges, editors or prize money, they can't afford to pay you. You're a writer, not an investor, if a publisher can't afford to pay you, it's not your job to support a struggling business.
What really frustrates me about pay-to-play publisher scams, is that I have seen some "for exposure" scams, use their existence to legitimize their own scam. They call themselves a "free opportunity" with "no submission fee". This just normalizes a disgusting practice, and I offer every one of those scammers a "free opportunity" to eat shit and die.
3. Pay should start at 5 cents a word (at time of writing).
There are different pay rates, sure, and unless and until we do something about Capitalism, Elitism & Inflation, it's a sad reality that isn't going away any time soon. But, a lot of publishers have taken advantage of inflation to keep pay rates as low as they were in the 1950s. You might think 5¢ high, but it isn't, it's well below a semi-pro rate. Do you know what professional writers are paid?
According to the Australian Society of Authors, a fair rate (professional) rate for creative writing is approximately $1.03 a word. When I started, I thought eight cents a word was a professional rate, but it isn't. Semi-pro rates, by definition, are half that, they start at 50¢ a word. So, asking for 5¢ per word isn't asking too much.
And yes, some writing may lose some value if it's outdated, or it's being published for a second time, or if you're writing it for charity, maybe it's a discounted rate. But always start at 5¢, so you recognize that half a cent is one-tenth of what your words are worth. If a publisher can't pay that, then they don't want your stories.
4. Literary Agents only get Paid if they sell your Work.
Maybe you're not small-time, maybe you actually have a few stories out there and you're looking for an agent to take you that next step towards getting your manuscript published. That's excellent, but you're not free from scams either. According to Penguin Random House an agent will take a percentage of the deal sales in exchange for their work earning the book deal, so their money comes from your profit, not from your pocket. The phrase they use is "money flows towards the author" - Just like a river, it may slow, it may stop, but it will never flow backwards unless there's something very wrong with the universe.
Even if you seem to be working for what appears to be a legitimate publisher, several scammers will deliberately pretend to work for a trusted name so that they can take advantage of that trust, to swindle you. So, you need to be cautious out there.
5. If you've been Scammed, you're a Victim, not a Villain.
I am giving you all of this advice not because I think you're stupid, or because it's your responsibility to stay vigilant. As far as I'm concerned, these people are criminals, and the law is simply ill-equipped to handle them on this scale. But, if you will, or already have, fallen victim to these scams just as I have in the past, you need to know that it's not your fault, it's theirs. Scammers take advantage of positive human compunctions towards empathy, hope and trust.
Whilst I will always promote the benefits of a healthy dose of skepticism, you're not a failure for wanting to trust someone, they're a failure for abusing that trust. Most importantly, don't be ashamed of what you've done, because you have nothing to be ashamed of, and they have everything to gain from shame keeping you silent.
I was lucky that all I lost was $25 (even though, as far as I'm concerned, that story was worth at least $250), and whilst it shouldn't be your responsibility, almost nobody is going to protect you and we bear the weight of it on our own backs, especially so long as this culture is complicit in letting publishers underpay them for their work and perpetuate scams as legitimate business.
If nothing else, I'm here to tell you that you deserve a lot more than what's being offered.
I'm the Absurd Word Nerd, and remember, this post is not meant to incite hatred or violence, merely education. I don't want anyone to "cancel", harass, or in any way abuse Philip Lee McCall II - he owes me 25 bucks, that's not worth an internet hate mob. Not that I even have enough followers for that kind of thing, but even if this could somehow explode into something much bigger, I am officially stating that I don't want it to.
He is just one small part of perpetuating a culture that exploits young writers. If you want to abuse and harass someone... well, don't. What's wrong with you? But, if you want to cancel someone, then let's cancel these scammers... but only in so far as cancel means "report their activities to the relevant authorities, and warn fellow writers to steer clear of them".
That would be a better use of your time, and it would mean a lot more to me than $25.
...but I still do want my money, Phil, and so do my friends. Come on. Pay up.
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