[Cindyb Posts: 312 Status: Offline]

I just received my copy of a magazine that published my poem. It was a limerick- and they left off the last line.!
It does still make some sense, but anyone reading it and recognizing it as a limerick is left hanging. 
I guess they didn't like the last line.

Oh, well.  I will get over it.

[olmue Posts: 3,528 Status: Offline WWW]

Aw, that really stinks! You'd think they'd notice if the last line of a limerick was missing...

[Vijaya Posts: 7,164 Status: Offline Encourage WWW]

Good grief, didn't they notice?

[Hopeful Posts: 226 Status: Offline I love kid books!]

What a disappointment!  That's awful.

[Ev Posts: 3,365 Status: Offline Making learning fun! WWW]

Oh, Cindy! I'm so sorry.     That's just really yucky. A magazine that I used to write a lot of short poems for would often change some of my lines and I wouldn't know it until I opened up my author's copy. Their changes often meant the meter was no longer right and I would cringe. I hated that people reading my poems might think I didn't know better.  So I understand your frustrations.

Hugs to you. 

[217mom Posts: 1,289 Status: Offline "Keep the child in view"- Charles Dickens WWW]

I'm actually surprised this is allowable. In book publishing the editor lets you know and it's a back and forth.

[Debbie Vilardi Posts: 7,000 Status: Offline Language is so cool! WWW]

Are you sure it wasn't a printing error? I might ask. I'm glad the poem does still make sense. But I hear you on limericks being a set thing.

Mirka, some magazines note that they can change work without author approval in their contracts. It's usually because of the rush to go to press and layout space. (I've even had this in work-for-hire books though the effect isn't as damaging to the piece).

[JulieM Posts: 986 Status: Offline WWW]

That's pretty blah. Onward and upward.

[dewsanddamps Posts: 2,302 Status: Offline]

 

[Pons Posts: 2,465 Status: Offline]

I'm so sorry this happened. I feel your pain. Years ago, a local group asked me to contribute to a small booklet they were publishing. I had been burned before in this sort of setting so I politely declined. They kept asking, so I finally gave in and sent them a sonnet. When the booklet was published, the editor had divided my sonnet into three four-line stanzas with a separate rhyming couplet at the end. Great big spaces between the stanzas and couplet. Because I am normally fairly laid back about things like this, I was amazed at my personal indignation at what he had done. I felt humiliated and outraged. I know that sounds so over-the-top, but, really, How Dare He? I'm laughing at myself as I write this, but I can still feel a twinge of humiliation about the whole thing.

 

[Barbara Etlin Posts: 2,257 Status: Offline WWW]

I suspect that was a copy editing error or printing mistake because a magazine that publishes limericks would be aware that yours is incomplete. That's a bummer, though. Probably your poem is missing its most humorous line.

I had a humour contest entry edited into blandness once. I won honorable mention, but the editor apparently didn't get half of the two-joke humour and deleted it. (Do we have a tearing-one's-hair-out emoticon?)

[217mom Posts: 1,289 Status: Offline "Keep the child in view"- Charles Dickens WWW]

 (Do we have a tearing-one's-hair-out emoticon?)

We need that, because the closest is---   

[Gbug Posts: 55 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

That happened to me with a poem I had published in Pockets. Totally removed the first line and made it the poem title. Wasn't the same after that...

I also shudder with what Bumples did to one of my poems (which after about 3 years, I still haven't been paid for). Typos galore and clip art that was clearly lifted off another website (complete with copyright symbols). Never again. I don't ever mention that poem when I list my works published. I'll vent about it here, but otherwise I like to pretend that never happened.

[JFriday Posts: 580 Status: Offline]

It's happened with a couple of my poems in magazines. It changed the imagery in one and ruined the meter in another. I guess it's a fairly common practice when they own the copyright, but it is upsetting. 

[Pons Posts: 2,465 Status: Offline]

It's happened with a couple of my poems in magazines. It changed the imagery in one and ruined the meter in another. I guess it's a fairly common practice when they own the copyright, but it is upsetting. 

It is upsetting. Your name is attached to something you did not write and do not approve of. When it happened to me, I kept thinking What will people think of me? I was embarrassed to have my name attached to something that looked shoddy  and/or ignorant.

[Vijaya Posts: 7,164 Status: Offline Encourage WWW]

It's happened with a couple of my poems in magazines. It changed the imagery in one and ruined the meter in another. I guess it's a fairly common practice when they own the copyright, but it is upsetting. 

This. I think in this day and age of emails and pdfs it's not a hardship to send a galley proof, even if you sell all rights. It's courtesy. And helpful to catch errors.

[Hopeful Posts: 226 Status: Offline I love kid books!]

I actually had an editor change my poem AFTER they had sent me the galley proofs.  The galley proofs were great, but then someone decided to change my verse in the published version.

[Cindyb Posts: 312 Status: Offline]

Thank you all for commiserating with me! It's so nice to have understanding fellow writers.

[brian-olson Posts: 16 Status: Offline WWW]

I also shudder with what Bumples did to one of my poems (which after about 3 years, I still haven't been paid for). Typos galore and clip art that was clearly lifted off another website (complete with copyright symbols). Never again. I don't ever mention that poem when I list my works published. I'll vent about it here, but otherwise I like to pretend that never happened.

Bumples was a big ol' bag of weird. On the one hand, they paid top pro rates, attracted some poets I admired, and the interactive element of the magazine was really clever. On the other hand, it looked like a horrific train wreck, the editor would stop talking to people for months or years at a time, the website layout made no sense, and the issues would just stop being produced for prolonged periods--an annoyance, I'm sure, to those who'd purchased a yearly subscription.

I've been lucky so far. The worst changes to my pieces have been minor annoyances, such as the addition of a comma where one didn't need to be.

[DianaM Posts: 971 Status: Offline Writer, rhymer, runner, punner. WWW]

Ugh! That stinks!

I've occasionally had magazine poems published with text changes I didn't approve. Usually, I'm fine with it and they're quite minor. But a couple of times it was upsetting because the meter got messed up. It's MY name on the poem, so I feel it makes me look bad when the meter is off.

If I were you, I'd write a polite note to the editor. Especially if you're a regular contributor. That's what I did. I complimented the illustration and the magazine in general, but mentioned that I was slightly upset about the edit (I forget how I phrased it. I think I said "concerned".) and asked them to please let me know next time (if at all possible) so that I could help them think of solutions for any problems they might have. I so appreciate it when they ask first! They usually do. And I'm more than happy to provide them with options.

But leaving off  an entire line? Of a limerick, no less? Wow. I'd be pretty livid. Could it have been an error?

If they don't give you some sort of reason and apologize, I don't think you should sub there again.

[Hopeful Posts: 226 Status: Offline I love kid books!]

Personally, I'd be really hesitant about making waves.  There are so few children's magazines that accept unagented poetry submissions, I would be really afraid of getting on an editor's bad side.  I wouldn't want to cut off one of the few options there is in the children's magazine market particularly if it's a reputable magazine and it pays.

[DianaM Posts: 971 Status: Offline Writer, rhymer, runner, punner. WWW]

I haven't heard of any magazines that only accept agented submissions. I have an agent but I always submit poems on my own.

Also, I think inquiring about such a major omission is pretty reasonable. I don't think any reputable magazine publisher would be angry at a writer for that. If anything, maybe you wouldn't get a reply, but I can't see them blacklisting you.

But anyway, it depends on the situation. You'd have to be careful with your wording . And I can certainly understand being hesitant. Esp. if you're not a regular contributor.

And I agree that there are so few options for subbing poems to kids' mags. Ugh. It's such a shame.

[Hopeful Posts: 226 Status: Offline I love kid books!]

I guess what I meant to say is that there are very few children's magazines that are open to freelance writers.  Many have their own staffs and don't accept unsolicited submissions.

[Vijaya Posts: 7,164 Status: Offline Encourage WWW]

It's not about making waves, rather highlighting a perfectly avoidable mistake. If a house won't do the right thing, I wouldn't want to work with them anyway.

[DianaM Posts: 971 Status: Offline Writer, rhymer, runner, punner. WWW]

It's not about making waves, rather highlighting a perfectly avoidable mistake. If a house won't do the right thing, I wouldn't want to work with them anyway.

 

[Debbie Vilardi Posts: 7,000 Status: Offline Language is so cool! WWW]

It's not about making waves, rather highlighting a perfectly avoidable mistake. If a house won't do the right thing, I wouldn't want to work with them anyway.

Double . Unless the contract stated work could be changed without the author's approval, this should not happen.