A predicament

Jayaprakash Satyamurthy

Jayaprakash Satyamurthy

Knivesout no more
Joined
Nov 11, 2003
Messages
4,044
Location
Bangalore, India
Last year, I wrote a story that I submitted to an anthology which was to be published this August. It was accepted for the anthology; then communication dried up.

Finally, in July, I got in touch with the editor. He informed me that the publisher's wife had just died and the anthology was indefinitely delayed. I then wrote to the publisher asking what the status of the anthology was. He said that he still planned to bring out but could not be sure when, so I asked him if I could submit the story elsewhere. He replied that I could. At this point I'm afraid I became a little sentimental and decided that it would not be fair to bail at a time when personal tragedy had come in the way of his plans.

However, it has been four months since, and my latest query has been met with a terse 'no, not yet'. There are several other markets that I can submit this story to, and I'm wondering if I should just go ahead and do so.
 
Is this a small, new press, where "indefinitely" could mean "possibly forever," if the publisher loses heart and decides not to continue publishing? If so, I think you should submit it elsewhere.

But if it's an established company where "indefinitely" means, "yes, we will publish it, but we can't give you a date," then ... I don't know what to tell you.
 
It is a small press, indeed. I've mostly dealt with fairly established publishers before (writing very minor sorts of things for them, I should hasten to add); this is my first exposure to small press vagaries.

I think, then, I may submit the story elsewhere in good conscience.
 
I think you can. I've met a number of people who sold stories or books to small presses that went out of business while they were waiting to see their work published. I guess one question you might ask yourself is how well do you know these people and how much do you trust their commitment to keep on publishing? If you do have reason to believe they are highly committed, that's something to weigh in the balance.

But ... this is an anthology. Other writers may be withdrawing stories, and soon there may not be an anthology for them to publish your story in.
 
Remember, knivesout, it's all about business decisions.

The publisher cannot yet make a business decision on your submission, so I would have thought your own business decision would mean to submit elsewhere in order to increase the likelihood of it being published.

2c.
 
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