Bad Reps

[Sandra Ruttan]

I have a question for all of you, and if you read on, there's one for readers as well. How much do you think a bad reputation damages a writer? Or the reader/writer relationship? For myself the "so-and-so is grumpy and won't talk to people at the bar or comes off short in their emails/posts or is opinionated and I don't like their opinions they express on a list" is usually a non-issue. Personality is personality. Writing is writing.

But from the editor's side of the desk, I've had to implement policies because of writers. In one case, we took a story from someone who hadn't sent in their release with it. We did get the release. Then, we got unpleasant communication from another publication after the story appeared, because the author had sold it to us as a previously unpublished work, and sold it to them under the same terms as well. We published it first (unaware of this other deal until after the fact) and the other publication was - in my opinion - justifiably upset. What protected us from a legal issue was the release form. Now, we clearly state if there's no release we won't even consider the submission, because we realized how close we came to having a serious problem.

That wasn't enough for me to blacklist the writer. No, it wasn't until that person sent me a very insulting email after we rejected another one of their stories that I started to think it was unlikely I wanted to deal with them again.

In the past few weeks a situation came up where someone was annoying, nothing more (in my opinion). It fell to my husband's side of the ezine to deal with. I'm aware he was inclined to tell the person off, but was quite restrained, to the point of suggesting the person consider their behaviour and how that would affect an editor's choice about whether or not to work with them again. As of last night, my husband was ready to boot the person. I wasn't.

But as of this morning I took the unprecedented move of removing their story from the online reads section of our website. They sent two ignorant emails this morning, one making it clear that they didn't care if they had a bad reputation with us because their story had already been published), and one that told me to f off.

I walk both sides of the line, writer and editor, and I try to understand the frustrations on either side of the equation. However, I'm rapidly getting to the point where I don't want to work with people who get published by us and then turn around and insult us. Considering the volume of submissions and how many great stories we unfortunately turn away because of space, well...

Will any other editor admit to having a list of writers they won't work with? What do writers think? It gives me great pause to put another name on a list, even of two. (I'll ban obnoxious authors from being reviewed without blinking an eye, but this, to me, is different.)

Readers, does author reputation ever affect your reading choices?

Stuff like this makes me wonder if I want to spend my free time doing this any more. It's amazing how one bad situation impacts you more than all the good ones.

[Jack Getze]

Honestly, EK, I don't know how you and Ms. S do it. Such efforts can only come from love. I salute and thank you as an author and reader.

The reason many problems come from the newly and un-published, IMHO: After struggling so long to GET published, this writer expected the world to take note, my friends to hover. It took me about two weeks to figure out the world was filled with new authors and new books, and that my struggle to find readers and fans had just begun. I'm thinking some people need more time to see and understand the new world around them. What was it, 190,000 new books last year?

[Laura Root]

As a reader, I am pretty much blissfully unaware of an author's reputation - this forum is about as close as I get to some of the politics of writing/publishing. Otherwise I agree with Norby's comments.

As for your blacklist; I think both entries sound from the information you have been given to be 100% justified. A complete lack of respect shown to you and evil kev, with the first instance being potentially financially ruinous. Especially where money isn't involved, there should be a degree of trust and confidence shown by each party towards the other.

[Sandra Ruttan]

Laura, sometimes I miss the good ol' days when I was blissfully unaware!

[Sandra Ruttan]

It took me a while to figure out why this bugged me so much. A big part of what we've tried to do (and admittedly, there are times it doesn't happen) is rate story for story alone. It's about the writing not the writer. We were very determined to give new writers a chance. Most of the time I don't read the bios before I read the story. I never read the queries/synopses/outlines people send. The story is either strong enough on its own merits, or it isn't.

But having a list puts a different spin on it. Name first, then work. I guess it isn't just the rudeness that got to me - it's the fact that they've undermined something that's always been our goal - to let the work speak for itself.

[Pepper Smith]

Agreed. You're publishers, volunteering to do this. You're not doormats, and deserve to be treated with more respect than that. If it takes letting them beat their heads against the wall for a while waiting for publication, maybe that's what they need.

[Dave Zeltserman]

Fortunately with Hardluck I've only had one incident in five years. What it comes down to is as an editor/publisher you should be treating people professionally and courteously and expecting the same from the writers you're dealing with, and have a zero tolerance for any poor/unprofessional behavior.