Blogroll Me!
Are there any literary folks out there who read this (yes, InkAsRain, I know you do)? If so, I'd like to ask a question: Do any of you who write, as I do, and want to submit your work to competitions pay for the privilege of doing so? There are competitions that say entry fee for 1st item is $15, subsequent items are $10.
Of course, the monies collected end up being the prize winnings for the winners, but I do not like to submit my writing anywhere that I have to pay. I would like the judges to pay ME for the privilege of reading my essays or my poetry.
These aren't necessarily little-known literary magazines that request money up front, either. Some major writers' organizations and well-respected publications ask for entry fees, too. But I'm sorry -- I just can't write a check for that. I might as well throw those U.S. or Canadian dollars down the toilet...not to say that I can't win a competition, just that I don't want to sign my name on the dotted line in order to do so!
1 comment:
And you're not the only one that feels that way. So that the entries to said contests are skewed: they don't receive a fair representation of work. They probably don't receive a lot of really good work because a lot of people won't or can't pay entry fees. Is that fair?
BTW, on a related note, the Supreme Court also charges an application fee, if you will, for you to submit a case for review. Now, they will waive that fee if you tell them you can't pay, but they also take far fewer of the cases which waived that fee. Fairly ironic that the foundation of American justice does something that seems inherently unjust, no?
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