Have you been published? Share your experiences here.

[Voadam]

I've mostly done d20 work by answering open calls I've seen. I've been a contributing author on a few books (Penumbra Fantasy Bestiary, Creature Collection III, Relics and Rituals II, Gaming Frontiers Monsters, Son of a Portable Hole Full of Beer, and some that have not been published yet).

I've also done a number professional freelance reviews for d20 weekly and now Pyramid magazine. (I have not reviewed any that I wrote for yet and would disclose my co-authorship if I did).

I do it as a hobby in my spare time a few hours here and there. The money is very small potatoes particularly compared to my day job but I'm happy to have my name in a number of gaming products.

 

[grodog]

I've published 2 articles in the long-defunct Different Worlds -- the magazine was put out by Chaosium and I found that the company lived up to its name. I never knew who I would be talking to next, who would decide that my articles were to be in or out, and it took a long time to get paid. Overall a very frustrating experience. I floated a couple ideas for Pendragon adventures, but that went nowhere.

Wombat, what did you write for DW? I've got a few of their back issues floating around on my shelves, I could look you up

 

[grodog]

Hmm.

I started by doing a little bit of freelancing on Nobilis and Blue Planet, both of which I got as a result of doing stuff for cons.

Hmmm, were you working on BP for FFG or Biohazard Mytholder? I may know you if the latter

 

[I'm A Banana]

I'm published, but I can't get them to pay me yet!

(almost a year later....razzmfrazzm....)

 

[Mytholder]

Hmmm, were you working on BP for FFG or Biohazard Mytholder? I may know you if the latter

FFG. I co-wrote the adventure in the back of NATURAL SELECTION.

I've been hanging around since the tail end of the Biohazard days, though...

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I'd like to reiterate the importance of being persistent (within reason).

When someone contacts me, I'll always reply immediately with either a positive or negative response. When it's positive, it might be something like, "I like your stuff, I'm interested, but I don't have anything right now."

I won't speak for other publishers, but I am very busy chasing down current projects all the time. So it's very easy for someone that I have interest in, quite innocently falling off my radar. When I find I do need someone, I'm often most likely to go with whoever is at the top of my mind at the moment.

That doesn't hold, of course, once you've done a project with me and been paid. At that point, you'll be top of mind all the time as a possible resource.

Anyhow... Following up is good. Just don't be annoying about it. In my case I'd say once every 3 months, or immediately after you notice Bad Axe just released a book.


Wulf

 

[Richards]

I got my start freelancing for Dragon back in the TSR days...I think I first started submitting articles in 1992, and was first published in October 1993. The best advice I can give is to keep at it, no matter how many rejections pile up. In fact, hang on to your rejected material, as you never know when you can polish it up and use it elsewhere, or at least steal bits and pieces of the good stuff buried inside it in a different article, adventure, or whatnot. (If I remember correctly, my first article was about the 10th that I had submitted.)

The more often you get published, the easier it becomes. I met Alexander Fennell (of Mongoose) at a Gen Con several years back and he set me up with Mongoose head Matthew Sprange to do some Slayer's Guides based on the strength of my frequent "Ecology of" articles for Dragon.

You also have to learn to develop a thick skin, and realize that not everybody's going to like your work. I was initially devastated to read a review (already at that point several years out of date, but I was slow to adapt to the Internet) of Dragon magazine as a whole, over its multi-decade history, and have the reviewer decide that basically everything in the magazine was great except for my Monster Hunters "Ecology" articles. Yes, in his mind I was the single worst thing about the magazine's entire history. (That'll cure anyone of any possible ego inflation, huh?)

My full list of published works can be found in THIS THREAD.

Johnathan

 

[WizarDru]

I honestly don't want to kill this thread. Please continue to elaborate on the experiences of getting published.

Waitaminnit. Hamburg, PA? As in "Cabella's"? We were just through there yesterday on the way to and from Knoebels. Freaky.

 

[Wombat]

Wombat, what did you write for DW? I've got a few of their back issues floating around on my shelves, I could look you up

Two old cults -- one weird, one straightforward.

The Weird (and oddly still popular with certain folks): The Cult of Indlas Sommer

The Straightforward (and justifiably ignorable): The Cult of Odin

 

[Napftor]

Waitaminnit. Hamburg, PA? As in "Cabella's"? We were just through there yesterday on the way to and from Knoebels. Freaky.

You got it. Feel free to drop by next time you're around if your mom/wife/female acquaintance needs sewing supplies. Here's a map: http://www.happysewingroom.com/Map.htm

This is my mom's fabric store. I live in the attic (don't all writers live in the attic?!), quietly doing my thing and avoiding Cabela's.