The Polyphony anthology series, published by Wheatland Press, is asking for people to pre-order the seventh volume in their acclaimed cross-genre short fiction series. If they can land 225 pre-orders, then they'll bring out the new volume. If they don't, they'll refund the money and close the anthology series.
Even though Wheatland Press has been beating the drums about this since November, they have sold less than half the needed pre-orders to publish the anthology. And as Deborah Layne stated today, this is shocking because in "a typical submission period of 45 days we receive 650 submissions. During a last gasp desperation sales period of over three months, we received fewer than one fourth that many orders."
WTF? I mean, come on you author-type people. I have long heard that writers constantly submit to places they don't even bother to read, but this is ridiculous. If even a quarter of the authors who submitted to Polyphony pre-ordered a copy, they'd be set.
And don't give me that BS about writers shouldn't be the only ones to support a market. Of course not. But if writers don't read the markets they're writing for, why would you expect non-writers to bother?
Even though I haven't submitted to Polyphony, I just pre-ordered a copy. Please do the same before this Friday on the Wheatland Press home page. Otherwise, don't whine when there's one less short story market looking to publish your precious little stories.