home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
SuperHack
/
SuperHack CD.bin
/
INTERNET
/
WRITER2.ZIP
/
WRITER.DOC
Wrap
Text File
|
1994-05-16
|
52KB
|
1,105 lines
Archive-name: writing/resources
Version: 2.0
Last-modifed: 94/01/23
Internet Writer Resources
=========================
Compiled/Edited/Maintained by L. Detweiler
<ld231782@longs.LANCE.colostate.edu>
This document is primarily a list of magazines and various outlets
accepting submissions by email, and branching out into Internet
resources for the writer in general. Thanks to everyone who has
responded. This list will be updated and maintained as long as *you*
send in updates and improvements. See the bottom for information on
distribution.
Contents
--------
- How to Submit
- Electronic Submissions List
- MCI Mail Magazine addresses
- A Note to Writers
- A Note to Editors
- A Vision of the Future
- The FAQ as the Future
- Other Electronic Resources
- CRAM
- Most Wanted List
- Credits
- Change History
- Distribution
How to Submit
=============
These addresses are provided through the courtesy of the publisher for
the purpose of submitting queries or complete manuscripts. In all cases
it is best to first *query* the publisher with a short description of
your article idea or outline of an already-written article. In your
query, you should address how your article fits in with the magazine's
scope and focus. If you are querying multiple editors, do this for
each. Make sure that you are familiar with their general magazine
content enough to avoid wasting their time with irrelevent pieces or
ones that have just recently been covered. If the entry states that the
magazine has writer's guidelines, ask the editor for those first and
adhere to them.
Multiple submissions: in general, if you want to adhere to the utmost
standards of politeness, avoid multiple simultaneous submissions.
Particularly with email you generally receive a very rapid turnaround,
so that the necessity of multiple submissions is decreased. If you
absolutely must attempt simultaneous submissions, and one editor accepts
an article, immediately email to all others that you are withdrawing
the article. Explicitly noting the status of your submission as
exclusive or simultaneous is a good idea. Do not carbon copy send a
single article with no individual attention to the receiving editors.
If you learned of the email address from this source, please tell the
editor that. It will encourage the editor to maintain the capability,
spur other editors to set up their own email addresses, and in turn help
expand your own list of possible and alternative outlets for your
writing.
Electronic Submissions List
===========================
These magazines are published monthly unless otherwise noted. The
`content' category describes the general content and requested writing.
`compensation' describes the remuneration policies (if any). `rights'
describes the rights to the material that are sold to the publisher.
`contact' is the email address of the publisher, editor, or the general
submission address.
Note: the accuracy of this list is not guaranteed. In particular, the
rights involved in a particular `sale' may be variable or negotiable.
Make sure you understand the terms of the arrangement with the
publisher. If you are interested in only certain kinds of contracts
(such as retaining the copyright, which is usual the usual case but not
guaranteed) be sure to tell the editor.
- Alternate Hilarities
Type: magazine of humor in speculative fiction
Content: humorous pieces from all areas of the speculative fiction
field, horror, science fiction and fantasy of all types. ``We're
looking for stories ranging in length from 1 to 5k words. We like to
work with original stories, but reprints are OK if the author still
holds the rights. The main point is to be funny.''
Compensation: Payment for first time publication will be 1 cent a
word (and a one copy). Payment for reprints is two copies.
Rights: (?)
Comments: ``We're more likely to buy something that's consistently
funny over something that's acceptable to all audiences.'' E-mail
submissions preferred.
Contact: Talestwiceto@Genie.geis.com (Co-Editors: Alexandra Zale,
Devon Tavern)
- The Blind Spot
Type: small press 'zine (?)
Content: Duke's fantasy, SF, and horror fiction. 10K words or
less. Artwork.
Compensation: $10 plus contributors copies.
Rights: (?)
Contact: awhit@acpub.duke.edu (Andy Whitfield)
- Circlet Press
Type: small press 'zine, published anthologies (?)
Content: Erotic science fiction and fantasy. Short stories
primarily under 10K words. Anthologies. Other subcategories.
Compensation: half-cent per word. Royalties for single-author
anthologies negotiated on cases by case basis.
Rights: one-time anthology rights.
Comments: Write for guidelines or booklist. Query first.
Contact: ctan@world.std.com
- Claustrophobia
Type: small press newsletter
Content: social issues, privacy (?)
Compensation: no money, but `credit, exposure, samples for
portfolio'
Rights: nonsimultaneous publication.
Contact: dbruedig@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
- CONNECT
Type: small press magazine
Content: ``Covering the major commercial online services,
Internet/Usenet and smaller Bulletin Board System networks, CONNECT
focuses on telecommunications from a user-oriented perspective.''
Compensation: ``Authors are paid a flat rate of $75 for
mini-reviews. Authors are paid between $100 and $300 for feature
articles, depending on the length, subject matter and newsworthiness
of the article. The longer the article and the more complex the
subject matter, typically, the more the payment for the
submission.''
Rights: (?)
Comments: seeks articles and reviews.
Contact: pegasus@grex.ann-arbor.mi.US
- CYBERSPACE VANGUARD
Type: electronic magazine
Content: ``News and Views of the Science Fiction and Fantasy
Universe carries interviews, feature articles, and lots'o'news on
current happenings on the science fiction, fantasy, animation, and
comics genres.''
Compensation: ``Right now we cannot pay our writers, but we are trying
to line up a publisher for a paper version, and once that happens we
will be attempting to pay people.''
Rights: ``We "buy" one-time rights, but the remuneration policy may
change at any time.''
Comments: ``We are seeking articles and interviews from writers who
can be fun without being long-winded. Write for guidelines, but in
the meantime a query is preferred to an article.'' See
etext.archive.umich.edu: /pub/Zines/Cyberspace.Vanguard for past
issues.
Contact: Submissions should be send to xx133@cleveland.freenet.edu.
Other correspondence should be sent to cn577@cleveland.freenet.edu.
- FringeWare Review
Type: electronic magazine
Content: ``Our centroid (th/m)eme [is] "Building Community around a
Fringe Marketplace'' ``sidebars, tutorials, interviews and reviews,
with tasty, mind-twisting fiction as synthesis''
Compensation: ``We pay up to US$0.03 per word plus byline and two
copies of each issue in which you appear. We pay the full amount for
work we choose to run which: (a) hasn't appeared elsewhere, (b) fits
within our issues' themes, (c) and meets word count criteria; also,
you must provide an email address for the byline. Otherwise, we'll
negotiate. We pay US$20 per page for artwork and comix, or do
trade-outs as mentioned above. In the case of comix, we do not need
the work to be first run.''
Rights: (?)
Comments: ``We limit our magazine to 48 pages, at least 35% of
which contains catalog, subvertising, editorials, letters and
administrivia, so writers only have 25-odd pages, less artwork and
comix, in which to express their collective brilliance. We seek
terse, opinionated, first-person, active-voice, period.''
Contact: <fringeware@wixer.bga.com>
- GRIST
Type: electronic magazine
Content: a magazine of poetry, prose, essays and articles
Compensation: (?)
Rights: (?)
Comments: Well-crafted prose, experimental prose, discussions of
network prose, interactive/collaborative language, all considered
and solicited for publication. FTP or Gopher to
etext.archive.umich.edu/pub/Poetry/Grist
Contact: mail subscriptions and work submissions to
<fowler@phantom.com>.
- InterText
Type: bi-monthly electronic fiction magazine
Content: Short stories primarily under 15,000 words, though
exceptions can be made. Not genre-specific -- stories from all
genres welcome. Write for guidelines if needed.
Compensation: publication & exposure to ~3000 subscribers on
6 continents.
Rights: One-time publication; all copyrights revert to authors
immediately.
Comments: FTP to network.ucsd.edu (128.54.16.3) in /intertext Or
Gopher to ocf.berkeley.edu in OCF On-Line Library -> Fiction ->
InterText On the World-Wide Web, point your WWW browser to
file://network.ucsd.edu/intertext/other_formats/HTML/ITtoc.html
Contact: <intertxt@network.ucsd.edu> Editor: Jason Snell
- The Lighthouse
Type: monthly magazine, email version
Content: focuses on various forms of contemporary Christian music
(Rock to Rap to Metal to Adult Contemporary to Alternative to
Dance). Artist spotlights and album reviews. The ministry of
Christian music.
Compensation: `A BIG thank you'
Rights: no exclusive rights requested
Comments: write for more details and text-only email version.
Contact: JWS@SABINE.PSU.EDU
- OtherRealms
Type: Science Fiction/Fantasy Reviewzine
Content: ``50% Reviews of SF/F. 30% other non-fiction about SF/F.
20% commentary and other interesting stuff at whim of editor.''
Compensation: contributor copy
Rights: ``one-time non-exclusive rights on reviews. Prefer first
rights on other material, but we can talk.''
Comments: ``preferred review length 500-1000 words. Criticism
accepted, but it better be well-written and well-informed. Send
reviews directly. Query on all other material (and read the zine
first to get a feel for what I'm looking for. Published
approximately twice a year (with no electronic edition). Sample
issues on request.''
Contact: chuq@apple.com
- Paladin Science Fiction Group
Type: anthologies and novels
Content: ``Fiction anthologies in science fiction, fantasy, and
horror for mature readers; erotic science fiction, fantasy, and
horror for adult readers. Length: supershort to novella. Maximum 10K
words. Novels in science fiction, fantasy and horror 40K-60K words
for general to mature audience.''
Compensation: One cent per word, two copies for poetry.
Rights: (?)
Comments: Do not submit without reading guidelines first. Both
electronic queries and simultaneous submissions OK. No electronic
submissions in North America.
Contact: S G Johnson <corsair@camelot.com>
- Quanta
Type: online magazine
Content: `science fiction by amateur and professional authors around
the world and across the net.'
Compensation: publication & exposure to ~2200 subscribers
Rights: (?)
Comments: ASCII and Postcript versions. See ftp.eff.org:
/journals/Quanta
Contact: submissions to <quanta@andrew.cmu.edu>.
- Sixth Dragon (prev. Mushroom Opera)
Type: student-run magazine published twice a year at Michigan State
U. at Lansing
Content: generally science fiction and fantasy
Compensation: contibutor's copy
Rights: (?)
Contact: David Scott Martin <martind@student.msu.edu> or
<bard@cemvax.msu.edu>
- Sound News and Arts
Type: local small press 'zine
Content: ``Accept writing of ALL types, mainly about arts, music and
interviews with interesting and innovative people. Also accept
poetry, short stories and artwork. SOUND is a local publication and
is pretty open content-wise. Geared toward the younger, more
energetic crowd.''
Compensation: ``No payment as of yet (save for a few free issues),
planned payment in late '93.''
Rights: (?)
Comments: uuencoded or FTPed submissions to sunsite.unc.edu in the
/pub/multimedia/pictures/OTIS/Incoming directory). Submissions
should be in ASCII text format (or TIF, GIF or JPEG for pictures.
Contact: sound-na@unomaha.edu (or ed@sunsite.unc.edu)
- The TRINCOLL JOURNAL
Type: liberal Arts Multimedia Magazine
Content: The TRINCOLL Journal is a liberal Arts Multimedia Magazine
created by students from Trinity College in Hartford Connecticut.
The Journal is a weekly publication with its writing and art work
created by readers from around the world.
Compensation: (?)
Rights: (?)
Comments: To view the Journal use your favorite WWW browser to open
a URL to: http://www.trincoll.edu/homepage.html FTP:
troy.trincoll.edu /pub/incoming/TrincollJournal
sumex-aim.stanford.edu /info-mac/per
Contact: <journal@trincoll.edu> Peter Adams, Paul Tedesco Editors
- Wilde Oaks
Type: literary journal
Content: South Bay (San Jose, CA) Lesbian and Gay Community Center
literary journal. Accepts fiction (less than 6K words preferred),
prose, poety, photography, and artwork from gay, Lesbian, bisexual,
transgender, or supportive people. Erotica is okay, but no
pornography. Submission guidelines are available.
Compensation: One contributor copy
Rights: One-time publication rights
Contact: jrd@frame.com (Jim Drew)
- Writer's Nook News
Type: national quarterly magazine
Content: ``dedicated to giving freelance writers specific
information for their immediate practical use in getting published
and staying published. It contains news; writing tips; book reviews;
legislative/tax updates; conference, contest, and market listing;
and various related topics.''
Compensation: ``The Nook News pays 6 cents per word on acceptance
for First North American Serial Rights to short, pithy articles (400
words max.) on the writing experience.''
Rights: (?)
Comments: ``Simultaneous submissions will be rejected. Articles
must be specific, terse, and contain information my readers can put
to immediate, practical use. Avoid third person whenever possible.
Include a short bio (25 words or so, not a resume) with your
submission.''
Contact: <comprophet@delphi.com> (Eugene Ortiz, Publisher)
- WIRED
Type: monthly national magazine
Content: Cutting edge computer technology, `techno-culture
and hardware' (?)
Compensation: (?)
Rights: (?)
Comments: Write for guidelines.
Contact: submissions@wired.com, editor@wired.com
MCI Magazine Addresses
======================
The following entries were retreived from the public MCI electronic
yellow pages. They are being included in this FAQ with *no* prior
warning to the publishers. The FAQ author has emailed a few of them with
no result. `Your mileage may vary.' The author would greatly like to
receive more information (contents, compensation, rights, comments) on
these outlets to move the entries into the previous section, and hear of
any `success stories' in receiving *any* response (even simple
submission guidelines) from these addresses.
To send mail to these addresses from the internet, use the form
[x]@mcimail.com where [x] is the ID given below. DO NOT INCLUDE THE
HYPHEN in the address.
(Generated ~8/93)
`MAGAZINE' search
MCI ID Name Organization Location
596-6620 Avionics Magazine Avionics Magazi Potomac, MD
371-5189 Biotechnology Magazine Nature Publishi New York, NY
250-0135 BYTE Magazine Peterborough, N
411-2547 C Magazine Softbank Corp JAPAN
323-9250 CIO Magazine CIO Magazine Framingham, MA
379-1932 Computer Graphics World Ma Computer Graphi Westford, MA
324-3008 Computer Shopper Magazine Computer Shoppe Titusville, FL
393-3639 ComputerLand Magazine Pleasanton, CA
339-5237 CPI Purchasing Magazine Cahners Publish Newton, MA
280-8275 Data Based Advisor Magazin Data Based Advi San Diego, CA
416-2157 Data Communications Magazi McGraw Hill New York, NY
335-7244 DBMS Magazine DBMS/PCA San Mateo, CA
477-1898 Dyna Magazine Softbank Corpor JAPAN
391-5774 EDN Magazine EDN Magazine BLANK
427-6021 Electronic Products Magazi Electronic Prod Garden City, NY
582-3736 Epicurean Magazine Epicurean Magaz San Fernand, CA
601-1044 Food Product Design Magazi Food Product De Northbrook, IL
312-3728 Foreign Policy Magazine Foreign Policy Washington, DC
313-3729 Foreign Policy Magazine Foreign Policy Washington, DC
598-8565 Fortune Magazine Fortune Magazin San Francis, CA
442-3685 Frequent Flyer Magazine Frequent Flyer New York NY
312-4471 IN Magazine MCIC Washington DC
319-3071 Interior Design Magazine Interior Design New York, NY
376-9627 Interiors Magazine Interiors Magaz New York, NY
REMOTE 567-3913 LAN Magazine Computer Pubs AUSTRALIA
503-2941 Laser Focus World Magazine Laser Focus Wor Westford, MA
422-5920 MacUser Magazine MacUser Foster City CA
355-9510 Maintenance Technology Mag Maintenance Tec Barrington, IL
564-3622 Metroland Magazine Metroland Magaz Albany, NY
387-0963 Modern Motor Magazine Modern Motor Ma Australia
445-5851 NewMedia Magazine San Mateo, CA
318-3782 Omni Magazine New York, NY
468-2934 Packaging Magazine Cahners Publish Des Plaines IL
157-9301 PC Magazine PC Magazine New York, NY
447-7466 Popular Science Magazine Popular Science New York Ny
413-3658 Prepared Foods Magazine Prepared Foods Chicago, IL
392-5775 Purchasing Magazine Purchasing Maga BLANK
514-3313 Risk Magazine Ltd. Risk Magazine L Chicago, IL
500-0238 Sail Magazine Cahners Newton MA
317-3309 Smithsonian Magazine Smithsonian Mag Washington, DC
277-9362 Software Magazine Software Magazi Westboro, MA
556-3896 Solutions PC Magazine PC Magazine New York NY
103-5034 Teleconnect Magazine New York, NY
494-4254 Telephony Magazine Chicago, IL
402-6156 The Kfar Chabad Weekly Mag Tzeirei Chabad ISRAEL
519-6247 Treasury Magazine Treasury Magazi Boston, MA
380-3905 Turbo Magazine Kipp E. Kington Huntington Beac
424-1434 Variety Magazine Variety Magazin Lakebluff IL
`PUBLISHING' search
MCI ID Name Organization Location
527-0613 A I Publishing A I Publishing Japan
586-1732 American International Pub American Int'l Harrison, NY
471-0440 Axel Springer Japan Publis Tokyo
543-0709 Bloc Publishing Bloc Publishing Coral Gables, F
561-9762 Brana Publishing Brana Publishin Pacific Pal, CA
594-5629 Cardmember Publishing Corp Stamford, CT
531-2388 CFO Publishing Corp. CFO Publishing Boston, MA
583-9841 Clark Publishing Inc. Clark Publishin Lexington, KY
458-2083 Cowles Publishing Company Cowles Publishi Spokane, WA
589-5427 First Image Demand Publish Norcross, GA
572-8673 HHO Publishing HHO Publishing Los Angeles, CA
220-0783 Hitchcock Publishing Co. Hitchcock Publi Carol Stream IL
497-2767 Hortideas Publishing Gravel Switch
581-6677 Indemp Publishing Indemp Publishi Casa Grande, AZ
294-3992 Information Publishing Cor Info Publishing Houston, TX
293-5313 Isthmus Publishing Company Isthmus Publish Madison, WI
422-1911 Kluwer Academic Publishing Kluwer Academic Norwell, MA
266-2543 Kohgaku-Sha Publishing Co. Kohgaku-Sha Pub JAPAN
380-2809 Laurin Publishing Co., Inc Laurin Publishi Pittsfield, MA
583-5230 Linmore Publishing Inc. Linmore Publish Barrington, IL
399-2652 Macmillan Computer Publish Macmillan Compu Carmel, IN
452-8706 Malakoff Publishing Malakoff Publis Shepherdstown
605-4375 Meister Publishing Meister Publish Willoughby, OH
273-9287 M.M. Cole Publishing Co. M.M. Cole Publi Chicago, IL
557-0450 Mondadori Publishing Mondadori Publi New York, NY
294-3756 M&T Publishing Administration Redwood City
292-3754 M&T Publishing Pete May Redwood City
489-8359 Nelson Publishing Nokomis, FL
350-9803 Olympia Publishing, Inc. Olympia Publish Little Rock, AR
332-7597 Phillips Publishing - Potomac, MD
542-5761 Phillips Publishing Phillips Publis Potomac, MD
245-8579 Pinpoint Publishing PINPOINT Publis Glen Ellen, CA
602-7175 Pinpoint Publishing Santa Rosa, CA
533-8478 PRENTICE HALL COMPUTER PUB PRENTICE HALL C CARMEL, IN
297-6976 Roger Wagner Publishing. I Roger Wagner Pu Santee, CA
340-4180 Rush Franklin Publishing Rush Franklin P Douglaston, NY
289-9011 Software Publishing Corpor P.R. Dept. Mt. View
273-0600 Software Publishing Corpor Quarterly Rept. Mt. View CA
264-0158 Software Publishing Corpor Software Publ Mt. View
566-5907 Spencer & Associates Publi Spencer & Assoc Melville, NY
426-7566 Step-By-Step Publishing PEORIA, IL
586-7891 Surburban Publishing Surburban Wayne, PA
493-3568 The Wichita Eagle & Beacon Wichita, KS
581-5678 Troy Publishing Troy Publishing Troy, NY
559-7594 UpClose Publishing El Granola, CA
509-3687 Walsworth Publishing Co., Marcelini, MO
240-3935 West Publishing Company St. Paul Eagan, MN
241-3936 West Publishing Company St. Paul Eagan, MN
242-3940 West Publishing Company St. Paul Eagan, MN
243-3938 West Publishing Company St. Paul Eagan, MN
243-3941 West Publishing Company St. Paul Eagan, MN
244-3942 West Publishing Company St. Paul Eagan, MN
245-3927 West Publishing Company St. Paul Eagan, MN
245-3930 West Publishing Company St. Paul Eagan, MN
246-3928 West Publishing Company St. Paul Eagan, MN
247-3932 West Publishing Company St. Paul Eagan, MN
248-3933 West Publishing Company St. Paul Eagan, MN
249-3918 West Publishing Company St. Paul Eagan, MN
273-5540 West Publishing Company Schoolbooks St. Paul, MN
284-6776 West Publishing Company West Publishing St. Paul, MN
314-0105 West Publishing Company West Services, Seattle, WA
326-8021 West Publishing Company COP-Collections St. Paul, MN
543-3405 Western Publishing Racine, WI
218-4001 WGE Publishing, Inc. Hancock, NH
173-2546 Wordware Publishing, Inc. Wordware Publis Plano, TX
350-2648 Ziff Davis Publishing PC Computing Boston, MA
`PRESS' search
MCI ID Name Organization Location
597-3297 Capra Press Capra Press Santa Barba, CA
259-0558 Clarity Press, Inc. Atlanta, GA
593-8735 Daily Press Dow Jones & Co, NEWPORT NEWS, V
507-9207 Global Financial Press Global Financia NY, NY
403-1178 Gum Tree Press Cowles Magazine Unionville PA
582-3930 Islamorada Free Press Islamorada Free Islamorada, FL
584-5231 Long & Strider Press Long & Strider Scottsdale, AZ
574-6460 Magnetic Press, Inc. Magnetic Press New York, NY
587-6181 Micro Pro Litera Press Micro Pro Liter San Francis, CA
263-5152 Microsoft Press Redmond, WA
381-5247 New York Press New York Press New York, NY
533-9561 The Mercantile Press, Inc. Mercantile Pres Wilmington, DE
595-4427 TRAPLESS SANDS PRESS TRAPLESS SANDS PALO ALTO, CA
295-9492 University of California P University of C Berkeley, CA
517-0393 Western Computer Press Tualatin, OR
546-5105 Westview Press Boulder, CO
A Note to Writers
=================
Email submissions have many advantages. In addition to the fast and
reliable transmission, the editor may give more rapid turnaround to
email inquiries. The opportunity for writer-editor communication and
feedback is increased. The ability to find the specific outlet for a
particular piece is improved. Also, in comparison to the telephone,
people can read their mail whenever they want instead of at random
interruptions. They can measure their responses carefully and archive
them for future reference. For submissions, the intermediate step of
rekeying typewritten text is largely eliminated.
Please treat this capability of email submission with the utmost
respect. If you abuse it you may jeopardize your own and fellow writer's
future opportunities. An editor may decide capriciously that only junk
comes in electronically, and ignore or remove the capability. Or, the
editor may pay special attention to all the gems of articles that can be
discovered and polished there. Always treat the editor with kind regard.
If an article is rejected, simply resubmit elsewhere, make changes, or
abandon it. The email address is *not* a hotline to flame or harass
editors.
Whenever you hear of a new address, please inform the author of this
list. You do not gain anything by withholding it from your fellow
writers. Everyone benefits when the list is thorough and complete. A
comprehensive list of outlets encourages competition between them for
your writing based on rights and remuneration policies, similar to an
electronic Yellow Pages.
Also, feel free to approach editors you know about the idea of setting
up the service of internet email submission addresses. Tell them that
their competitors have set up the system and that there are many
potential benefits, perhaps ultimately eliciting improved reader
satisfaction and interest.
A Note to Editors
=================
From the current perspective, you are in one of two categories: a
backward Luddite or a visionary pioneer, depending on whether you have
never heard of internet email or are utilizing it and supporting
submissions through it. (That is a joke.) Sincerely however, in the near
future conducting writing transactions over the internet may become the
medium of choice for many markets. Of course, there are disadvantages
along with the grand incentives to support this capability. Many editors
however have found the ability to receive submissions and queries via
email to be immensely valuable in cultivating future issues' articles.
In some cases, you may be competing with them directly for knowledgeable
and interesting articles and writers. If a writer sees two outlets with
similar content but one with more ideal rights or remuneration
arrangements, which will s/he submit to?
The author of this list strongly encourages you to support and solicit
articles via email. It may allow you to interact and direct your writers
more effectively and less stressfully. It may allow you to improve the
quality of submissions by expanding the available pool and increasing
the target and focus of individual pieces. Ultimately it may make you
more responsive to readers than your competition. Potentially, both the
writer, editor, and reader benefit from the dynamic arrangement. All
this is written in speculative terms, however, because it is not
guaranteed. You may find that irrelevant or useless queries increase,
but even so a wider selection pool may render that unproblematic.
A Vision of the Future
======================
(By L. Detweiler)
I wrote this FAQ for a variety of reasons. The Internet has completely
exploded into the collective human psyche and it is radically altering
the realm of writing, and writing for money. It is clear that Cyberspace
offers unprecedented opportunity for *everyone* to profit from writing
and editing, not just a anointed elite clique as is often the case in
many existing publishing structures. This threat to the status quo
upsets many. But to me the bottom line is that the quality of writing
available to the consumer (the reader) is ultimately going to improve,
and the cost of that quality is going to decrease, and selling writing
will be more accessable and profitable for everyone who truly has
something valuable to offer.
But the definition of `valuable' is going to be upheaved and
revolutionized over the next few years. I feel very strongly that a
certain kind of `parasitism' whereby a middleman takes advantage of a
writer, reselling the `product' without adding any value himself, is
going to become a much more difficult or even impossible niche in the
future cyberspatial society, because all writers will have available
their *own* unparalleled publishing capabilities.
I think we are entering an age where *everyone* will be able to run
their own publishing stations at home (sort of like FTP sites but far
less complicated!) -- they will become perhaps as common as answering
machines. And a structure to allow for transparent, seamless, painless
transaction charges will evolve very soon as well. And ultimately, this
was partly the motivation in writing this FAQ-- to encourage everyone to
market their writing independent of people who seek to take advantage of
them by denigrating, underpaying, monopolizing, and diminishing their
choice of outlets. I seek to advance this vision of the future where
everyone who can type can `publish'.
Some people think, or fear, that the role of the writing `middleman' is
threatened to the point of extinction. But I must emphasize that most
existing editors, critics, proofreaders, etc. *do* add value to writing
and deserve to be rewarded and sought by the better writers. In fact, I
think these future developments in Cyberspace will also help to
separate, more than ever before, the parasites from the truly talented
artists (writers) and `meta-artists' (critics, proofreaders, editors,
etc.) by rewarding the latter beyond their wildest dreams and making the
former an unprofitable and untenable existence. Cyberspace is going to
revolutionize publishing *more* than the printing press did, and in
amazingly similar ways.
One example of this emerging egalitarianism and populism in
cyberspatial writing is in the explosion of electronic `zines'. While
generally of marginal quality compared to more sophisticated outlets,
some 'zines have built up immensely prestigious reputations and quality
of editing and writing surpassing many paper-published journals. This
trend will continue until an entire spectrum (a sort of `food chain')
of magazines will exist in cyberspace from the lowliest free, irregularly
published, slapped-together paragraphs to the most professional, slick,
typeset, paying, even advertising- and subscription-based outlets all
coexist.
The FAQ as the Future
=====================
(By L. Detweiler)
An interesting form of cyberspatial writing has existed for essentially
as long as Usenet and continues to gain momentum and prestige, and may
be the bridge to the vision of the future I have written about above.
The Frequently Asked Question List, or FAQ, a document designed to
answer questions that pop up on newsgroups to decrease the annoyance
factor in reading them, started out as not even something that was ever
archived at a public site-- FAQs were just regularly posted by their
authors. (A regular Usenet posting itself represents different kind of
publishing that is unique to cyberspace-- somewhat reminiscent of the
way an electron beam of a television set displays a picture by
continually retracing it.) But FAQs have evolved into extremely
sophisticated collections of information on virtually any subject,
becoming highly refined over many years and in involving whole
hierarchies of teams and editors. A FAQ is even superior to many other
types of static collections of writing in this way-- they are far more
valuable (but also sometimes more difficult to keep track of) because
they are continually updated.
The most important new development in FAQ writing is that of the
`commercial factor'. Buried in that phrase are many multifaceted pots of
gold, but also many bugaboos. Very soon, the Internet will have a
standard for mercantile commerce, and some FAQs will be one of the first
pieces of the pie to be commercialized. I foresee some great, wrenching
upheavals in the FAQ structures as the forces of `volunteerism' and
`entrepreneurialism' meet face to face. I believe that a certain
percentage of all FAQs, which in many ways are a microcosm of the
Internet, will remain free and maintained by volunteers. But the rewards
to both writers and readers in a fee-based structure for access are
great. For even extremely inconsequential fees to individual readers,
writers could be compensated, rewarded, and encouraged in their writing
quite tangibly. And I believe a commensurate increase in the quality of
the FAQs written by them, for their `consumers', will be quite dramatic.
The FAQ will continue to be at the forefront of cyberspatial writing
frontiers.
I encourage you to read about my CRAM service below involved
`publishing' the collections of others into the FAQ infrastructure. This
removes some of the bothersome overhead to the writer in disseminating
their writing by having an `agent' take care of the details. I have
propagated over a half-dozen different compilations into the FAQ
structure with extremely rewarding benefits to everyone involved. The
writers are quite delighted at the increased exposure and the readers
are quite delighted at running into the quality compilations they might
never have discovered otherwise.
I also urge anyone interested in cyberspatial writing to read the
news.answers FAQ posted to that group and write a FAQ on their favorite
subject of interest if it is not already covered. Even the simple
process of taking existing FAQs and reorganizing them into more useful
collections of information is an extremely valuable service to the net.
Writing a FAQ in many ways is one of the ultimate community services to
your fellow cyberspatial citizens. Just browsing the rtfm.mit.edu
archives is an extremely pleasureable activity.
The FAQ is a beautiful model of the future of writing in cyberspace. As
it exists, the current process on Usenet to submit an `official' FAQ is
far from Herculean and in fact highly accessable to virtually anyone
with a modicum of interest in writing. In fact, the effort is
astonishingly less than that required for that of say, a book, but, with
newsgroup distributions reaching tens of thousands of readers, amazingly
the exposure in many cases can be *greater* than that of a published
book. And this exposure will increase tremendously as cyberspace becomes
more ubiquitous, and I am convinced the `entrance requirements' will
also become even more trivial to pass such that, as I wrote above,
virtually anyone who can write can publish. Even the necessity of owning
a computer is bypassed!
Other Resources
===============
Newsgroups
----------
alt.cyberpunk.chatsubo
``Original science fiction in the Cyberpunk / Shadowrun genre'
posted for review. Accomplished and beginning writers as well as
fans. Submissions of stories (any length) or poetry related to
Cyberpunk themes will get constructive feedback from other writers
in this style. Interactive stories with other authors a
possibility.'' (Jay Brandt, FAQ maintainer)
alt.journalism
Journalists and journalism students.
alt.prose, alt.prose.d
Predecessors to rec.arts.prose, lower distribution. Disscussion in
alt.prose.d only.
alt.zines
`zines' or small low-circulation low-cost newsletters of fringe
elements
misc.writing
Accomplished and beginning writers. Submissions, queries, markets,
etc.
news.answers
Also alt.answers, comp.answers, misc.answers, etc. The standard
moderated newsgroups for `approved' or `official' Usenet FAQs.
rec.arts.prose
Posted fiction for review. Discussion of posted articles.
rec.arts.poems
Posting and discussion of original poetry.
rec.arts.sf.written
Written science fiction. Great authors. Writing style. (?)
rec.mag
Magazines (?)
rec.mag.fsfnet
Fantasy and science fiction discussion, movies and television (?)
Mailing Lists
-------------
- MAGAZINE
Topics: ``Expert opinion or help from established scholars and
professionals. Covering the history, current state and future
prospects of the American Magazine, and issues related to magazine
publishing. Primary focus is journalistic, but also addresses
other magazine-publishing matters of economic (management,
marketing, circulation, production, research), technological,
historical and social importance.''
Subscription: send JOIN MAGAZINE <YourFirstName> <YourLastName> in
message body to <COMSERVE@VM.ITS.RPI.EDU> or (BITNET)
<COMSERVE@RPITSVM.BITNET>
Moderator: David Abrahamson <ABRAHAMSON@ACFCLUSTER.NYU.EDU>
- Small Press Mailing List
Topics: ``Concerns of authors and editors involved with the small
press, both of books and of magazines. Printers and services,
announcements, calls for submissions, bookstores, discussion of
acceptance and rejections, book and signing events,readings, `war
stories', advice for writers, editors, self-publishers.''
Subscription: send your human-readable *request* to join or leave
to <small-press-request@world.std.com>. *Posts* to the list go to
<small-press@world.std.com>.
Moderator: <ctan@world.std.com> (Cecilia M Tan)
- Writer's Workshop
Topics: ``Although started for discussion of writing,
submissions, critiques, various mind-joggers, and exercises also
are passed among the participants. All postings are archived and
available to participants.''
Subscription: The workshop is self-serve - send email to
<listserv@vm1.nodak.edu> (or <listserv@ndsuvm1.bitnet>) with the
message SUBSCRIBE WRITERS <yourfirstname> <yourlastname>.
- Fiction and Writing lists
Topics: Fiction Writers Workshop. Fiction list is for submissions
and critiques, Writing list is for general discussions, new member
introductions, and announcements of various sorts. Tone is
professional. Most members actually pursue publication. Usually in
science fiction or fantasy genres.
Subscription: send mail to LISTSERVE@psuvm.psu.edu, `subscribe
<listname> <yourfirstname> <yourlastname>' where <listname> is
`fiction', `writing', `novels-l'. For the nonfiction list send
`subscribe nfictn-l <yourfirstname> <yourlastname> to
listserve@american.edu.
Posting: FICTION@PSUVM.PSU.EDU, WRITING@PSUVM.PSU.EDU. Also,
<NOVELS-L@PSUVM.PSU.EDU> for novels and and non-fiction and poetry
<NFICTN-L@american.edu>.
- Poetry list
Topics: ``This list is designed to be a forum where original
poetry (either complete or in progress) may be posted by members
interested in critique-style discussion, examination, and analysis
of their work. ...It is assumed that all members will at some
point post an original piece, and not merely assume an exclusively
responsive role.''
Subscription: send mail to listserve@gonzaga.edu, `subscribe
poetry <yourfirstname> <yourlastname>'.
Posting: <POETRY@GONZAGA.EDU>
- Screen Writing Discussion List
Topics: ``a discussion list of the joy and challenge of screen
writing for film and TV ... Any topic of interest to writers or
potential writers is appropriate (i.e. format, story ideas,
dialogue, characters, agents, producers, directors, actors,
studios, problems and/or solutions).''
Subscription: send mail to listserve@tamvm1.bitnet, `subscribe
scrnwrit <yourfirstname> <yourlastname>'.
Posting: <SCRNWRIT@TAMVM1.BITNET>
- Creative Writing Pedagogy for Teachers and Students
Topics: ``a place to discuss how and why creative writing is being
taught at colleges and universities, including the role it plays
in the curriculum, the history of creative writing programs, the
shape and flavor of creative writing courses, and the influence
it has or should have on students' lives''
Subscription: send mail to listserve@MIZZOU1.BITNET, `subscribe
crewrt-l <yourfirstname> <yourlastname>'.
Posting: <CREWRT-L@MIZZOU1.BITNET>
- Megabyte University
Topics: ``an unarchived list primarily for professors, teachers,
graduate students and administrators involved in teaching
composition using computers.topics of discussion have included
software descriptions and comparisons for use in teaching
composition, determining real audience for composition students,
and announcements of upcoming conferences, both actual and
virtual. Many of the members of this list also participate in the
MediaMOO weekly online conferences and other activities''
Subscription: send mail to listserve@TTUVM1.BITNET, `subscribe
MBU-L <yourfirstname> <yourlastname>'.
Posting: <MBU-L@TTUVM1.BITNET>
Moderator: Fred Kemp
- The Composition Digest
Topics: ``a weekly newsgroup for the study of computers and writing,
specifically writing instruction in computer based classrooms."
Subscription: send mail to listserve@ULKYVX.BITNET, `subscribe
COMPOS01 <yourfirstname> <yourlastname>'.
Posting: <COMPOS01@ULKYVX.BITNET>
- Purdue Rhetoric
Topics: ``Rhetoric, Professional Writing, and Language Discussion
Group - a scholarly forum for discussion of rhetoricand
composition, professional writing, and language research.
Subscription: send mail to listserve@URCCVM.BITNET, `subscribe
PURTOPOI <yourfirstname> <yourlastname>'.
Posting: <PURTOPOI@PURCCVM.BITNET>
- English Forum
Topics: ``An archived discussion forum on electronic
communication in instruction and research of English, writing, and
literature.''
Subscription: send mail to listserve@MIZZOU11.BITNET, `subscribe
ENGLMU-L <yourfirstname> <yourlastname>'.
Posting: <ENGLMU-L@MIZZOU11.BITNET>
- WIOLE
Topics: Writing Intensive Online Learning Environment, an archived
list for writing instructors.
Subscription: send mail to listserve@MIZZOU1.BITNET, `subscribe
WIOLE-L <yourfirstname> <yourlastname>'.
Posting: <WIOLE-L@MIZZOU1.BITNET>
- Writing Center
Topics: ``A discussion list for directors of academic writing
centers, including evaluating software for writing instruction,
use of tutors, and other issues specific to writing centers.''
Subscription: send mail to listserve@TTUVM1.BITNET, `subscribe
W-CENTER <yourfirstname> <yourlastname>'.
Posting: <W-CENTER@TTUVM1.BITNET>
FTP sites
---------
A large collection of electronic `zines' and other miscellaneous
electronic text files can be found on the University of Michigan
archives, etext.archive.umich.edu.
Other writing-related FAQs can be found on rtfm.mit.edu:
/pub/usenet/news.answers/writing. The FAQ site is also an
outstanding collection of highly refined writing by `amatures' on
virtually any topic, highly accessable to both readers and writers.
The FAQ maintainers mailing list is available by request to
faq-maintainers-request@mit.edu.
Miscellaneous
-------------
A more accurate list of electronic `zines' is posted intermittently
to alt.mag, alt.zines, posted by John Labovitz <johnl@netcom.com>.
See netcom.com:/pub/johnl/zines/e-zine-list (most recent) or
rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/writing/zines.
``Electronic Writers' Workshops and Online Education in Creative
Writing'' (Bowers & Butcher, 1993) is available from gwuvm.gwu.edu:
/WRITERS.RESOURC. Compilation of resources for writers and for
writing teachers on the national network services, part 1. Part 2,
virtual classrooms and tools for collaborative writing projects.
Part 3, `a new breed of literatary magazines that are written,
published, and read exclusively by network users...finding a
readership beyond the best hopes of many professional and academic
literatary magazines' editors.' Part 4, copyrights, what constitutes
publication in the electronic realm, antidotes to `remarkable
examples of misinformation'.
CRAM: the Cyberspatial Reality Advancement Movement
====
In an effort to bring valuable information to the masses, and as a
service to motivated information compilers, I (L. Detweiler) will help
others unfamiliar with Usenet `publish' their documents for widespread
dissemination via the FAQ structure, and act as a `sponsor' knowledgable
in the submissions process. This document is being distributed under
this arrangement.
I have found these compilations tend to appear on various mailing lists
and are valuable enough to deserve wider distribution. If you know of an
existing compilation of Internet information that is not currently a
FAQ, please contact me and I may `sponsor' it. The benefits to the
author include:
- use of the existing FAQ infrastructure for distribution:
- automated mail server service
- FTP archival
- automated posting
- a far wider audience that can improve the quality, accuracy,
and coverage of the document enormously through email
feedback
- potential professional inquiries for the use of your
document in other settings, such as newsletters, books,
etc.
- with me as your sponsor, I will also take care of the
technicalities in the proper format of the posted version
and updating procedures, leaving you free of the `overhead'
to focus on the basic updates alone
The choice of who I `sponsor' is entirely arbitrary. You always
have the option of handling the submission process yourself.
See the FAQ submission guidlines FAQ in news.answers.
Most Wanted List
================
This list can grow and prosper if you help keep it updated, use the
information herein wisely, and help recruit new sources. Please do
NOT send random editor email addresses unless those editors specifically
approve of advertising them. Currently most wanted:
- More popular newstand magazines, esp. paying ones. Asimov's, Analog,
etc.
- Old discussion on MAGAZINE email list about email submission
addresses.
- More HTML magazines like GNN and Trincoll.
- FTP sites.
- any elaboration on places with `(?)'
When submitting updates to the list, PLEASE include all known
information in the categories recorded. That is: email address,
description of the general content of the outlet, remuneration policies,
and the rights involved. The editor of this list prefers outlets that
are `well established' and are not likely to disappear. Also, another
list by J. Labovitz better tracks electronic `zines'. See `Other
Resources' above.
Send comments to <ld231782@longs.lance.colostate.edu>.
Credits
=======
Special thanks to the following people for contributing especially
valuable information to this list:
Kyle Conway <kconway@nyx.cs.du.edu>
Ed Stastny <ed@cwis.unomaha.edu>
Cecilia M Tan <ctan@world.std.com>
David Abrahamson <ABRAHAMSON@ACFcluster.NYU.EDU>
Laura Packard <ae099@freenet.buffalo.edu>
John Bowers <JBOWERS@gwuvm.gwu.edu>
Chuq Von Rospach <chuq@apple.com>
Special thanks to the forward-seeing editors who have the patience,
vision, and expertise to support email submissions.
Change History
==============
v2.0 (1/94)
`A Vision of the Future' inspired partly by Chuq Von Rospach
hostility in email. `CRAM' and `FAQ of the Future' added. Alternate
Hilarities (Tales Twice Told), OtherRealms, Intertext, Trincoll
Journal, Writer's Nook News added. Mailing list entries modified to
indicate list address vs. subscription addresses (apologies for
inconvenience, but blame J.B. :).
v1.3 (11/93)
Grist addition. Fix of the Lansing vs. Ann Arbor (thanks many
people!) Fringware Review. Fiction & Writing lists. Bowers papers
on cyberspatial writing resources FTP pointers (highly recommended).
Poetry list. Screen Writing list. Creative Writing Pedagogy list.
Megabyte University. Composition Digest list. Purdue Rhetoric list.
Writing Intensive Online Learning Environment list. Writing Center
list. (New mailing lists added are from Bowers paper, thanks!)
v1.2 (9/93)
MCI Mail magazine addresses included. Posting frequency changed.
Glitch that posted to `misc.writers' oblivion instead of
`misc.writing'.
v1.1 (8/93)
Writer's Workshop list, Cyberspace Vanguard added.
v1.0 (8/93)
Wilde Oakes, Lighthouse added. Posted to *.answers groups &
archived at rtfm.mit.edu.
v0.6 (8/93)
Added `rights,' `comments,' `type' categories. Reordered
list categories. Added small-press list. Paladin and Circlet added.
v0.5 (7/93)
Basics of email address, newsgroup list, editor & writer notices,
submission protocol, etc. in place after initial query on
misc.writing.
Distribution
============
FTP
---
This FAQ is available from the standard FAQ server rtfm.mit.edu via
FTP in the file /pub/usenet/news.answers/writing/resources
Email
-----
Email requests for FAQs go to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with commands
on lines in the message body, e.g. `help' and `index'.
Usenet
------
This FAQ is posted every 21 days to the groups misc.writing,
rec.arts.prose,rec.arts.sf.written,misc.answers,rec.answers,
news.answers.
--
ld231782@longs.LANCE.ColoState.EDU