Big Sky,
In the outdoor field in general and in the gun magazine business specifically, there are a few magazines that only pay on publication. Frankly, even those that pay on acceptance are sometimes pretty slow in cutting a check. Having said that, in my thirty-two years in this business I think I have only been stiffed once that I can recall and that was many years ago. I have waited a lot longer than necessary often though.
In fairness to the editorial staffs, what sometimes happens, particularly with the bigger publishers, is that the editor tells the finance folks to cut a check and it lays in an accounting in-box until someone, usually the writer, raises hell about it. That, unfortunately, is not an uncommon occurrence. In fact, it seems to me to be more and more common.
You ask if it is acceptable for a magazine to publish an article and then pay for it - it is acceptable if that fact is known up front. I personally don't like working for magazines that pay on publication rather than on acceptance, but have done so in the past. I'm not likely to do so in the future though. Still, I've recently had material published in magazines that supposedly pay on acceptance where I didn't get paid until after publication.
I emphasize that I did get paid though, just later than I should have.
Tom
