Writer Alert: New Dragon Magazine Guidelines

As most gamers or fantasy writers know, Dungeon and Dragon magazines were phased out this year to make way for WoTC's Digital initiative.  Dragon is moving to a digital zine format.  WoTC posted their submission guidelines for the new magazine.  While many aspiring gamer/writers will surely want to jump on board for a chance to be published with WoTC, PLEASE think twice before doing so.

From their submission guidelines page:

In the event we buy your manuscript, you must assign your rights to us. That means that once your contract is signed, we’ll own all rights in your submission. The assignment contract (as well as applicable tax forms) will be sent out shortly after an article has been accepted. You’ll receive the contract by email, and you’ll be asked to sign a hard copy and return it to us, along with an invoice form.

Now I want to clarify a few things about the RPG industry before I continue.  Work-for-hire deals, where all rights are assigned to the publisher, are common for game mechanics and setting-specific stories.  If an author creates a short story for my Neiyar setting, they are using my company's intellectual property to do so.  Thus, it is within my rights as the owner of said property to ask for all rights to the actual story.  If someone creates a product for our Nemesis series of game supplements, it's normal to expect that all rights belong to the publisher, as the work was created specifically for the series. 

However, the WoTC requirement goes beyond this.  If you write a short fantasy story using your own setting and your own characters, and then submit it to WoTC, you must turn over ALL RIGHTS to the story.  That means you cannot republish that story elsewhere...ever...without WoTC consent.  That means you can't publish a sequel elsewhere, as you gave up the IP rights to WoTC.  That means if WoTC decides to make a movie of your story, you get zero for it.  That means if Hasbro (the company that owns WoTC) decides to market a series of action figures using your characters, you get nothing.

 They are paying 6 cents a word up to 5,000 words.  After that they offer between $300-$450 for up to 10,000 words. 

I'm not concerned about the pay rate in and of itself.  Its a decent rate for the RPG industry...so long as the writer keeps the rights to their work.  But this is not a good deal for writers, since for 6 cents a word you must sell ALL rights to your work, never to be able to use it again.

But it's a publishing credit!

There are plenty of publishers that are interested in short stories and game related articles that won't require all rights.  Some pay less than 6 cents a word.  Some actually pay more.  If all you are concerned about is getting a publishing credit, there are much better offers.  And if the story is publishable by WoTC, chances are it is publishable by a host of other publishers as well.

But this could be a foot in the door to WIZARDS!

Yes, Wizards HAS launched a lot of careers.  I won't deny that.  But many of those careers were launched when writers were using WoTC intellectual property, too.  The writers didn't risk anything, as they were working with material with an existing fan base.  Wizards, like most publishers, gets thousands of submissions a year for its various projects.  Risking all rights to your story for a chance to maybe possibly be given another chance to...well...sell all rights to another story isn't exactly a smart career move.

I could use $300 though...

Keep in mind that even though they are demanding all rights, there isn't even a guarantee your work will be accepted.  There are plenty of publishers of fantasy fiction, and while some will pay less that WoTC, others pay more.  Plus, you keep the rights to your work, which means you can RE-SELL the same story later.  So even if you only sell it the first time for $150, you can then resell it later to other publishers that are interested in reprints.  Or you can write other stories in your same setting with your same characters and continue to publish them.

I feel this is a bad deal for writers.  I hope writers will think long and hard about the implications before submitting work.  Many writers are so desperate to get publish, or get star struck by the chance to publish with a "big publisher," that they don't always think through to the logical conclusion.

Sci-fi author John Scalzi recently blogged about this whole situation as well, providing some additional insight into why this is a bad deal for writers. 

Writers should always be leery when they are asked to give up all rights to their own original work.  If you are writing game mechanic articles or WoTC setting specific stories, this is a nice opportunity.  But when it comes to your own original work, go elsewhere.