I recently made a post on my Facebook page regarding “Royalties Only” publications, and I thought I would expand on it a bit. First, here's the post:
“Okay, new authors, please listen. It seems this is something that needs to be constantly repeated as new writers enter the market.
If a magazine or online publication advertises that they pay "royalties only" for short stories, and you send them a story, you are working for free. That is a "for the luv" publication. IF you ever see a dime in royalties, it will not be enough to purchase a candy bar. If a publication does not have the readership numbers to afford to pay professional rates, they do not have the readership numbers to even claim to offer exposure. They are just building their brand with your hard work and talent. Don’t do it.”
I later followed it up in the comments with this:
“Everyone was once a new author. And every author who is no longer a new author would tell you the same thing. I would give new authors the same advice I read in The Writer's Market back in 1981, start from the top down. Never start from the bottom. Submit to the highest paying, most prestigious publication you can find, then go one step down when they reject you, then take another step down when they reject you, rinse and repeat until it's sold. Now you know your level and you can build from there. The problem with giving your stories away for free is that once they have been published, even if you didn't get paid for it, their value instantly diminishes. You have now excluded yourself from ever getting professional rates for that story because it will now be considered a reprint. Take your lumps. Earn your stripes on the battlefield of rejections, and start at the top.”
When I first started in the writing business, I submitted several stories to “for the luv” and “royalties only” magazines, webzines, and anthologies in order to get my name out there as quickly as possible. I scoffed when more experienced, more seasoned, authors told me not to do that and that I was wasting my time and, worst of all, ruining the market for serious professionals. Then I lamented when those magazines, webzines, and anthologies folded one by one, taking my promised “exposure” with them. Or, when absolutely no one read them.
Like I said in my post, the whole concept of "for the luv” markets that offer exposure as payment is flawed. If a magazine had the readership to truly give a new author valuable exposure, they would have enough to pay those authors. If their readership is so low that they can't afford to pay an author anything, then they can't really offer you much in the way of exposure either. It also doesn't speak well of their business plan.
Small presses are the only businesses I can think of that open their doors with no budget to pay their suppliers or subcontractors. Because that’s what you are as a writer, a supplier. A subcontractor. You wouldn’t open a bakery and tell the companies supplying eggs, sugar, or flour that you hope to be able to pay them some day, but right now all you can offer is exposure. When I opened my gym and had to buy all the gym equipment I didn’t ask Ringside or Title Boxing to send me heavy bags, speedbags, handwraps, mouthpieces, and gloves in exchange for me proudly displaying their logo, promising them that my little gym that had not single membership yet, would be such great advertisement for their products that it would more than pay for itself. But don't get it twisted, I would have if I thought they were dumb enough to go for it.
I know some will say they write for the joy of it — for the art, not the money. I get that, but someone is going to be making money off of it. There is no honor in being financially exploited for your art.
A publisher's business plan should include a budget for paying cover artists, layout artists, copy editors, and writers. The only reason it doesn't is because these publishers know authors eager to see their names in print will give away their talent and labor for free. We are the problem, and the solution has to come from us. Stop giving away your work. Get paid!