You said that the only magazine you would publish with would be Playboy. While it would certainly be nice to publish with Playboy (they're one of the top fiction markets and thoroughly respectable), it's exceedingly difficult to do so. I'm not saying not to try -- for all I know, your work could be exactly what they're looking for, and it doesn't hurt to try the top first (except perhaps for your pride if they reject you). But you might want to at least consider other venues. There are quite a few erotica magazines and anthologies who I consider respectable and serious, and am proud to have my name associated with (I don't use my own name on my down-and-dirty porn). Erotica only pays about a tenth as well as porn, though, so you'd need to think about what your priorities really are. Then go page through my market list on my web page, and consider actually buying a few copies of some of the magazines, or at least paging through them at the bookstore.

You asked about preparing a story for submission. You should contact the editor by phone, e-mail or mail and request their submission guidelines. If they don't have any, just ask what they're looking for. You can also pick up a book such as the Writer's Market, which is a good introduction to submitting material to various markets. It doesn't have much on erotica or porn, but it's a good all-around reference.

And you can certainly publish under a pseudonym if you want, and maintain separate publication lists. The copyright is yours no matter what name you write under. Again, bookstores generally have a whole shelf on writing-related books, some of which deal in detail with the mechanics like these.

You also worried about someone stealing your work -- I recommend you read the sections on my page on copyright. I wouldn't worry about it, though if you do find someone has stolen something of yours, do follow up on it and demand some form of recompense...you have a right to it.

You've put something on the net (in a newsgroup or ezine or website) and now an electronic magazine wants to buy it from you. Hooray! But they want first electronic rights -- oh no! I'm afraid you can't legally or ethically sell them those rights. If you do so, and get caught, you could ruin your career. So even if the money looks sweet, don't do it. Try negotiating reprint rights with them instead, and ask them if they'd be interested in new material from you. You've put something on the net (in a newsgroup or ezine or website) and now a print magazine wants to buy it from you. Hooray! But they want all electronic rights. Should you tell them, or take the money and run? Definitely tell them, talk to them, negotiate. I have had multiple sales recently to print anthologies that asked for electronic rights along with print rights. This is unfortunately becoming standard (whereas what I would like to see happen is that it gets divvied up the way anthology and serial print rights are now, so that first electronic rights and electronic archive rights are separate items, separately negotiated for) for publishers to ask for. When I've talked to publishers about it, they've generally kinda shrugged and said, "Well, the writer doesn't usually know any better, and most of them aren't going to do anything with the electronic rights, and maybe someday we'll want to put their story on a web page..." This is patently unfair, and not worth your time.

(Don't assume maliciousness on the editor/publisher's part, though -- nobody's quite sure what the industry standard should be, so it's understandable that they would try to set it in their favor.)<

On the good side, once you gently point this out to the editor/publisher, "Actually, I was planning on selling the electronic rights separately, and already have someone interested in electronic reprint rights. Of course, I'd wait on that until your magazine was in print and on the stands for a month or two..." they generally back down. In fact, they have every time I've questioned them on this, buying the story without the electronic rights, or with one-time electronic rights -- not exclusive.

This is the crucial time for writers to make it clear that electronic rights do not come gratis with print rights. Separate them out, and decide how much you want for each segment of the rights. If enough of us stick firm on this, we can make it industry standard. Contract negotiations are part of the job, and they're not as scary as they look.

Best of luck!

- Mary Anne