Looking over my list of publications in 2018, I am struck that four out of seven are reprints. Now reprints are great — a second (or sometimes third) sale of a published story ranks up there with royalties as the best passive income ever — but when I’m selling primarily reprints, it makes me wonder if my production of new ideas is down. In the particular case of 2018, I think the reason is Pole to Pole Publishing and the ramping up of their Re-Imagined Series, which aggressively publishes reprints. I sold three stories to them this past year. It is also hard not to wonder if something was off this last year because the number of overall publications was dramatically down. But again, there’s a context. The numbers are down because the previous year had the advantage of bringing to print many of the stories that had been sold during record-breaking 2016 when editors bought twenty-three of my tales. And now, as I look forward to 2019, I can be pleased that one story has already made it to print this January and anticipate more to come.
