Here we are, folks. Issue one is in print, on shelves, and out in the wider world. If you have already bought a copy or supported us in some other way: Thank you. I mean it. You took a chance on a new, unestablished publication and that takes a special kind of faith which I am confident Gwyllion will live up to.
Notes on submissions
We accepted roughly 10% of all submissions. The vast majority of submissions we received were horror. This means that for issue 2, I’m going to re-evaluate our horror submission guidelines to be a little more selective. Expect this to mean that we prioritise supernatural, gothic and cosmic horror in future. Sci-fi was the most underrepresented genre among the submissions we received. We also didn’t get a single story featuring a dragon, which is such a shame for a Welsh magazine. Please, send us your dragons.
We didn’t receive any submissions in Cymraeg. I want to encourage this more in the future, so that we can end up a truly bi-lingual magazine.
We were able to give personalised feedback to all submissions, some more than others. In a few cases, the story simply didn’t work for us, and while we tried to be as specific as possible sometimes it just comes down to a matter of taste. As always: A rejection is never personal.
We do not collect data on our applicants, and in fact we do not even read the cover letter until after we’ve read the story, so I have nothing to share regarding the gender breakdown and so on of folks who submitted. We do, however, pro-actively encourage a diverse range of writers to submit their work for consideration.
Notes on issue 2
Gwyllion is a bi-annual publication. I would like it to become quarterly. It’s not going to become quarterly until I can be confident that sales will at least be enough to cover writer’s rates and print costs. This is simply because I don’t have the funds to bail out four issues a year if things go wrong. The good news is, judging by the sales of issue 1 so far (the first day of preorders alone covered our current writer’s rates), that Gwyllion seems to be well on the way to becoming self-sustainable for the foreseeable future.
Issue 2 is likely to be out May 2021, so keep an eye out February/March time for the next submission period.
What now?
We have a wide variety of blogs written by issue 1 authors which will be hosted on the website over the coming weeks.
Covid permitting, I hope you will see us at conventions and events running next year.
For now, though: Enjoy issue 1, please leave a review if possible, take care and stay safe.