alg | (no subject)

These posts don't really do much for me right now, other than making me aware, or reiterating things I already know, but I'm loving the fact that it's you writing them. Maybe it's a trust thing since I've known you for so long, who cares. I'm putting them in my memories for when they will actively mean something to/for me.

xoxoxoxo!

Well, I figure that eventually they will be of use to lots of people, even if immediately no one really cares. Plus, you know, this whole demystifying publishing thing is actually really important to me. I want people to understand what goes on here, that it's not a gaggle of well-coiffed people casually making career-or-death decisions for no accountable reason. We're a bunch of nerds in jeans and t-shirts, or whatever, trying to find and publish good books that will sell to the general public! It's harder than people think, and there's a lot more to it than anyone realizes.

I'm loving the fact that it's you writing them.

You know, it's probably the trust thing, PLUS you're generalizing some things, but giving examples for Tor. So it reads universal, and I can take a good bit of this with me anywhere, as long as I double-check the guidelines of other houses. Also, your humor never fails to amuse me, and having that addition WITH the important information, helps it stick in my head.

...and now I'm done kissing ass.

Hahahahaha.

BOW BEFORE MISS KNOW IT ALL!!!

I figure that eventually they will be of use to lots of people, even if immediately no one really cares.

I see that too, though I don't think it's a "no one really cares" issue, so much as it's not relevant to where they are with their writing and experience at this moment. Because I care, I just don't have an immediate use for it.

Plus, you know, this whole demystifying publishing thing is actually really important to me.

It shows, it really does. I find that aspect to be great. It's not an inside scoop, per se, but it is revealing in a way that matters. It's not reading parties, pizza and coffee; there's a business side that needs addressing every day, I'm sure, and that isn't typically seen (or thought of) often.

Talk about service!

It's also good to see that the method I used to get my ms out of solitary pretty much matches up with what you said here. It is an incredibly uncomfortable situation, and remarkably awkward in places. I'm just glad I could pull out of the relationship with some element of grace.

-Dthon

If you did something similar to what I suggested, then you win. Seriously.

The only thing an editor will hold against you in a situation like that is if you bring it up in public. Saying, "It's been my experience that sometimes Anna Genoese takes a while to respond to emails," when chatting casually on the internet or with your friends or whatever is totally different from bringing it up in public *to* the editor -- "You know, bitch, you ain't never got back to me, I'ma smack you down."

Which I know you would never do, but I am saying it anyway, cause I might as well. *g*

yessssssssssssssssss mistressssssssssssssssssssss...

I am commenting about the cream cheese. My best friend is Lactose Intolerant, and she asks for a lot of stuff without cheese. The looks people give her piss me off. "No cheese on your quesadilla? Are you sure?" "No cheese on the pizza? Did I hear you right?" I almost hit some lady when she gave her a mean look when she ordered something without cheese... she gets it. there is cheese on it. UGH.

sooooo.. I feel for you about this cream cheese thing, and thanks again for all of this info. It may seem basic, but it's nice to be like "oh yeah, I know" to "Finally Getting It". I'm glad someone out there is pounding it into my brain.

I've been doing this for unsolicited periodical submissions, too, but I usually give them a deadline, like, "if I haven't heard back from you in sixty days, I'll assume you aren't interested," just in case.

Giving a deadline only makes editors annoyed. You don't get to give deadlines. We give you a deadline. We say, "Our turnaround time is usually six months," or whatever it is that we say. Then, if you haven't heard from us in six months and you want to know where your unsolicited submission is, you can say, "Your turnaround time on your website is listed as six months. Are you up to date? Do you have a revised date?"

When authors sending me unsolicited submissions give me a deadline, they get a form rejection the day I open the work.

Maybe it works differently in periodicals? I don't know.

Periodical editors have given me a whole range of opinions on this, from "that's a great letter, send it" to what you've said above. I remain confuzzled about what the right thing to do is - but I do think, if the magazine's posted guidelines say three months, and after six months I send a letter asking about my ms's status, and there's no reply, and then the one year mark goes by, then I need to be able to withdraw the material. I thought giving them an extra 60 days was nicer than pulling it immediately, on the off chance they were considering it.

This has happened to me four times (out of literally thousands of submissions, so it's not like it's common) and two of those times, the editor emailed me and asked me to resubmit. The other times I got no reply at all (one of those magazines turned out to have gone out of business; never did find out what happened with the other one, maybe I pissed them off).

I guess the difference between unsolicited novel submissions and unsolicited periodical submissions is that you can, presumably, submit your partial elsewhere while you're waiting for a request for the full (can't you? I've never submitted a novel), whereas I can't submit my poem/short story elsewhere until I hear back from them.

...WHAT?

You've always been well-coiffed when I've seen you.

M

Hi, Lady!

Well, I finally succumbed to your suggestion to get a username (instead of continuing to quip off-blog...heh.) Since I also write for periodicals (several major ones), I'd say your advice holds there too. The turn-around can be just as long as books, because mags have "seasons" and the lead time can be from six-nine months. Send in a cool Christmas suggestion to a major monthly in October, and you're just about *guaranteed* not to hear back until the following August. Just last June I finally got an acceptance on a query I sent 21 months before. Yes, that's TWENTY-ONE---nearly two years. It's why I've always advised to send out a query and let it go. Just walk away and work on the next thing. My ideas file bulges. I have no shortage of ideas and having one sitting out there with the right editor for months and months doesn't harm me in the least. Heck, I'm STILL sitting on a poor lonely fan-fic novel that no one will ever buy because the series closed. Sigh...

Nice to be here, BTW. I've been spreading the word on your great insights! :)

I'd rather read the same advice 10000 times than have editors/agents/authors NOT post this stuff. I may seek it out, but there are otherse who might just stumble across it once and then it is LOVELY.

And there are 10000 different ways of saying it and only 1 might resonate with a given author.

Zhaneel

So you're saying you sent the 60 day deadline AFTER you've let it sit for the specified deadline?

That's a lot better than what I thought you meant by just saying 60 days for all unsolicted material.

And I can see that it would get a lot more positive responses.

Zhaneel

Oh, jeez, no, I don't specify a deadline in my cover letter.

In all cases the journal in question was at least nine months past their specified response time, and hadn't responded to a previous query about my ms status.

I'm so glad you're going to write about sending things out to readers. I won't ask now--I'll just note that I've been keeping an eye out for the next industry professional's blog that invited questions, to ask about exactly that.

Thanks for another lively, informative post!

I think a lot of reactions that you are seeing from writers, is due to the fact that each individual writer can only see the "I" - the "me" in the big picture.

Most of us do not realize that it takes a gaggle of people to create one published novel.

So, for that individual writer, who is sitting on his/her hands, counting the seconds as they go by, hoping that you've reached their own MS - those months seem an eternity.

The seconds turn to months... then a year - and for writer, that is forever as they hope for some news of what has happened to their story.

Hope becomes lost, dreams crash. The demons of "no one likes my writing" echo through our heads.

We don't see that you have literally hundreds of other writers who are doing exactly the same thing - and there are only a few of you to make the process happen, one MS at a time.

We don't see the horrible stories that are sent in.

We don't know the truth about the unsolicited projects shipped to you.

We don't know about the constant irritation of buzzing bees calling you to check on their one little, itsy-bitsy MS in your empire building tall stack of Stories.

All we know is, that like a dog, we are waiting obediently for someone to take us for a ride in the car. Or like a cat, waiting for the catnip to be brought down from the shelves.

So - thank you for posting this. It (the publishing industry) makes more sense, the more I learn about every facet. And I'm glad you're taking the demystification seriously. It gives me hope that one day, I will see my creativity in print - and that I will make it through the system with as much knowledge as possible, giving me a leg up on the competition... *g*

You're a pretty awesome person for taking the time to do this for everyone - and I hope that somehow you're rewarded for it. For all of the agents/editors/publishers taking the time to do it - it is very much appreciated.

Lady M

Thanks for answering at least part of a question for me. I have, alas, a manuscript there at Tor that you guys asked for. My problem is that the request was signed "the editors" so I can't even address my queries (3 in 18 months) to anyone in particular. So, they get dropped on poor Patrick Nielson Hayden as the guy who got the proposal way back in Nov '03, and, after 21 months since the MS went out, still no answer. Is it possible to find out if it's even still there? My mailman is a cretin and it's truly possible he just lost the damned thing. Can you tell us the best procedure to find out such things without having to bug the editors to death? I was so excited to get a request that I forgot my usual procedure of putting a "we got it" postcard in with the MS. Yeah, writers get buck fever too!

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A Cheesey Post

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I think...

Stuck in the requested slush