I just received a detailed email from Michael Wills of Digital Science Fiction in response to the comments I made on the “Schedule A” portion of their writers guidelines.
As has been the case throughout this entire incident, Mike has been extremely professional in dealing with me, and took the time to detail exactly why his document is the way it is, what he is planning to change, and what he is not. His decisions are sound and legitimate even when they do not agree with my suggestions.
Mike didn’t have to interact with me at all. He could have simply turned his back and continued to do things the way they were when I stirred up this hornets nest. But he didn’t do that. He actively sought my opinion, and after I deduced that the document did not accurately reflect the intentions, I was more than happy to provide that feedback.
It should be noted that most of what I fed back was along the lines of ‘have you considered this?’ There were, if I recall, only two real issues I had, and in those cases I offered alternative language that was well received as more accurately reflecting the intention.
I think out of this will be a healthier Digital Science Fiction publication. It’s a publication, I should point out, that already has some top-notch contributors. The result of this exercise will put this publication onto my radar as well as that of other authors who confided with me that they did not submit material here for reasons similar to mine.
While the guidelines have not been changed yet, there are some changes planned after Mike has taken care of more urgent tasks in the short term. Based on the email exchange I had with him, I no longer have any concerns at all with this market and I encourage its support. Digital Science Fiction is a viable market to offer your good stuff. The concerns I had last month just ain’t so, and the language in the guidelines are going to be modified to reflect that.
And as I have already noted, I plan to refrain from submitting to this market for 6 months simply to avoid any residual bias from this incident. After that cooling-off period, Digital Science Fiction is on my list of professional fiction markets.
