What a friggen ripoff.

I was going through some of my stories and came across a couple that could be sort of chicken soupish if I dumbed them down a bit (and shortened them). So anyway, I'm short on cash and thinking about how to make some bucks and stuff and think about the possibility of going for it -- so I look on their website. They pay $300 on acceptence of a story. $300!!!

Here I was thinking all along that these books sell like $5 bottles of water at the gates of hell and figured they'd spread the wealth to those that contribute. They do too...$300

Think about it. If there are 50 stories or individual peices in there, that means that the publishers put down $15,000 on the content of the book. They put it all together, ship it to the publisher and, bam, sell 50,000 or more copies of Chicken Soup for the Angsty Teenager's Soul© and make a couple million off of the deal -- the next month publishing Chicken Soup for the Gay Pet Owner's Soul© and make a couple more million. What a racket. Sheesh.

So anyway, since the stories have to be true...I have a feeling that I might be able to have a lot of not-so-true-but-go-ahead-and-prove-that-they're-not life experiences that I can put $300 worth of work into (for a writer, what, 6 hours?) and ship 'em all over.

First one's going to be the Chicken Soup for the Widowed One-legged Sea Captain's Soul©. ARRRRRR