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rynling“The Case of the Phantom Portrait” is a fun short story with an interesting conceit and a satisfying resolution. It’s also quite original, I think. How many stories have you read about wizard detectives?
Still, the fiction market isn’t great, and I’m afraid this story might be a tough sell. Five years ago, there were a dozen fiction magazines that would have snapped it up, but all of them have closed. There are still a few magazines I can send the story to, the last of which opens to submissions on March 1. If nobody accepts it by the end of April, though, I think it might be interesting to try to publish this story as Kindle Single.
I already have artwork I can use for the cover, and it’s fantastic. I’d also like to commission someone to draw a black-and-white insert illustration of the type published with the Sherlock Holmes stories in The Strand Magazine, and I already have a dream artist in mind – someone who loves The Name of the Rose as much as I do. I also have a friend who could create a very cool Edward Gorey style author portrait, which I might just ask them to do anyway.
In addition, I know two published authors who would absolutely agree to write blurbs, plus another two published authors who would probably agree to write blurbs. I’d need to do research on ARCs – and I don’t think a short story from an unknown author would go anywhere in any case – but why not, you know?
On top of that, I have a local Philly friend who’s a professional sound designer and makes dungeon synth on the side, and it might be cool to commission him to create music to accompany my social media promo posts. Not that I have an audience on social media, but how sick would it be for my wizard detective to have his own theme song?
Is there a market for this? No. Is it likely that anyone will buy it? Also no.
But is it good and noble and worthwhile to put art into the world? Hell yeah brother.
Still, the fiction market isn’t great, and I’m afraid this story might be a tough sell. Five years ago, there were a dozen fiction magazines that would have snapped it up, but all of them have closed. There are still a few magazines I can send the story to, the last of which opens to submissions on March 1. If nobody accepts it by the end of April, though, I think it might be interesting to try to publish this story as Kindle Single.
I already have artwork I can use for the cover, and it’s fantastic. I’d also like to commission someone to draw a black-and-white insert illustration of the type published with the Sherlock Holmes stories in The Strand Magazine, and I already have a dream artist in mind – someone who loves The Name of the Rose as much as I do. I also have a friend who could create a very cool Edward Gorey style author portrait, which I might just ask them to do anyway.
In addition, I know two published authors who would absolutely agree to write blurbs, plus another two published authors who would probably agree to write blurbs. I’d need to do research on ARCs – and I don’t think a short story from an unknown author would go anywhere in any case – but why not, you know?
On top of that, I have a local Philly friend who’s a professional sound designer and makes dungeon synth on the side, and it might be cool to commission him to create music to accompany my social media promo posts. Not that I have an audience on social media, but how sick would it be for my wizard detective to have his own theme song?
Is there a market for this? No. Is it likely that anyone will buy it? Also no.
But is it good and noble and worthwhile to put art into the world? Hell yeah brother.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-17 06:05 pm (UTC)