I own Horror Literature Quarterly. I say this because I want full disclosure before I move on to the bulk of this essay about non paying markets and the relationship with its readers. Horror Literature Quarterly pays its authors at least five cents a word and according to the Horror Writers Association that makes it a pro market. My pay rate ranges depending on the experience of the author, of course, but never below the five cent floor. I think my stable of authors is pretty impressive and I know that the stories I published are some of the best in the past year (end shameless self promotion, almost).

On that note, I will now discuss what are commonly referred to as 4theLuv markets and the reader. 4theLuv markets are basically markets that don’t pay their authors but tout that the “payment” is in exposure. They are usually free and have abysmal web page designs. They usually also are hosted on a free web hosting platform.

Their stories are usually crap (you get what you pay for), the copy editing is usually crap, and overall the entire product is crap.

A reader should expect more. Even if the stories are free. Readers should also understand that supporting 4theLuv markets is a detriment to online publishers that pay their authors.

Authors should understand that submitting to these markets only encourages the concept that publishers, and I use that term loosely, don’t have to pay their contributors. These markets are further encouraged to keep publishing crap because they still get submissions.

Since this essay is more about readers and the 4theLuv markets and you can find better essays from pro authors about submitting to the top markets and not non paying ones, I’ll let them comment on that subject since they do it far better than I could.

As for the reader I’ll try to make a strong arguments as to why you should not support these markets by visiting their sites.

Quality- There is a reason why some authors show up in magazine after magazine and have book contracts with top tier publishers. They are that good. They may have a hiccup here and there, but on the whole, their work is always way above average in quality. As a publisher, and I use that term loosely for me as well, when I see a story from an author that has publishing credits that include some top tier markets I know that this is going to be well written. I may not like the particular story but it isn’t a painful experience to read.

4theLuv markets, since they don’t pay their writers, will only get submissions from writers that aren’t good enough to break into the top markets. At least not yet and there is a reason for that. They aren’t good enough to be published. Just because a writer writes something it doesn’t mean it is automatically publishable. So why would a reader waste her time reading a market, that from the start, has a inferior product than Clarkesworld Magazine, which is also free and has a list of incredible authors and incredible stories.

4theLuv markets also tend to not care about their final product; copy editing. format, site layout, and even text color tend to be sub par. Since I have already shown that the stories that they will be publishing are not the best, not even close to average, the probability that the story has proper grammar, proper copy editing, and an easy to read layout is pretty low. Why waste your time? When you can read some great dark fiction at ChiZine: Treatments of Light and Shade in Words.

Authors- I mentioned that the stable of authors at HLQ is pretty impressive for a online venture that has only 4 issues released. HLQ has Kealan Patrick Burke, Tim Lebbon, Lavie Tidhar and Christopher Golden and many others. I know I talking up my site but even more so you should see the authors at Clarkesworld Magazine; Caitlin R. Kiernan, Ekaterina Sedia, Jeff Vandermeer, and Lavie Tidhar. Chizine has a pretty impressive roster as well with Nick Mamatas and Lavie Tidhar (see what I mean about pro authors and being published over and over again), and many more.

What I am getting at is that the free fiction markets that pay their authors pro rates have a better chance of publishing incredible authors. The quality of the writing is in direct proportion of the rate paid. As a reader, why would you read a questionable free story at a 4theLuv market when you can read a free story from those authors I just listed.

Supporting Publishers that Pay- Publishers want to make money. So do authors. It is a pretty basic concept. Publishers that publish free fiction online have different ways of trying to make that money. Publishers want a wide and large audience reading what they publish. The increase in numbers of readers translates, at times, into more revenue. And on a side note, seeing that more and more readers are reading what you publish has a slight ego boost. If publishers can increase their revenue they in turn can, in theory, increase their pay to their contributors.

At the same time, supporting markets that pay their authors pro rates or more, shows that you support your favorite authors. Deciding that spending the twenty minutes reading some story from Joe Unknown at a 4theLuv market instead of reading Nick Mamatas and Tim Pratt | The Dude Who Collected Lovecraft , Clarkesworld Magazine » Issue 7 with Jeff Vandermeer and Michael De Kler, or Horror Literature Quarterly Issue 4 with Lavie Tidhar and Christopher Golden then I won’t be able to convince you to stop supporting 4theLuv markets.

The Exceptions- There are exceptions. They are very far and few between. Much like self publishing, nonpaying markets that have exceptional fiction is so far from the norm that there are probably only a hand full. The most famous would be Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet [edit- I have been informed that LCRW does pay a token payment to its contributors. I would like to correct my statement that they are non paying to not a pro rate market. But my point still stands]. Another one is All Hallows. As you can see I named two. I bet I could fill the rest of this entry with non paying markets that suck and still have hundreds more to go. Get the point?

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