Young aspiring author alert!
I have been building up a folder of short fiction suitable for the literary magazine market.
I currently have a story out at a publication; they respond in 6-8 weeks. It has been 10 weeks and no word.
I plan on writing an e-mail after one more week (if not sooner).
My concern is how should I approach this. I think we all know the life of an editor is a busy one, and I would hate for a poorly timed e-mail to have some effect on my work or future works.
Any suggestions or, better yet, experiences?
Thanks all. I appreciate it.
Last Rogue, do you have a current copy of the Writer's Market? In addition to helpful listings, they also fill the book with lots of good advice for submitting manuscripts and how to follow up on them in the proper way.
Last Rogue, do you have a current copy of the Writer's Market? In addition to helpful listings, they also fill the book with lots of good advice for submitting manuscripts and how to follow up on them in the proper way.
I own and you are correct. Thanks kind sir.
There are a lot of other books, too. If you are a young writer, as I am, then I reccomend 2 books: Writing Magic, and So You Want to be a Writer? Sorry, cant remember the authors.
How do you approach an editor? Let me tell you!
With a bottle of alcohol in one hand and a bag of cookies in the other. :D
Nah. You use a BAT!!! ~swings~ And there he goes!
Nah. You use a BAT!!! ~swings~ And there he goes!ACK! What the?
Traitor! I thought we was friends! :(
He's white ... your bronze ... it'd never have worked out ... and you have a better hoard than he ...
How do you approach an editor? Let me tell you!
With a bottle of alcohol in one hand and a bag of cookies in the other. :D
Just make sure you have pants on.
;)
GGG
....mm......BRAINS!.........
Hardy har har ;)
In all seriousness, the magazine in questioned as still not responded to me (well past due now). I politely thanked them for their time, and informed them of my decision to continue shopping my story around (multiple/simultaneous submissions).
Of course in private I shake my fist at them. And I'll tell you what, I can shake a mean fist.
Last Rogue...
Typically in a situation like this you want to write a letter thanking them for their time, and noting that you are withdrawing your submission from consideration in order to submit elsewhere based on it having sat for so long after their posted response times.
Simultaneous/multiple submissions are a bad thing because IF something gets accepted in two places, unless they both openly accept multiple/simultaneous submissions, the editors are likely to make sure no other editor they know ever publishes your stuff.
Editors talk to each other... A LOT, and such an event could easily kill or significantly delay a career.
- Ashavan
EDIT: I should note that your solution works fine, provided you are open and up front about it being a multiple/simultaneous submission to all the parties involved. (this is what I get for not reading the whole thread) Note that an awful lot of places will not accept multiple/simultaneous submissions.
Last Rogue...
Typically in a situation like this you want to write a letter thanking them for their time, and noting that you are withdrawing your submission from consideration in order to submit elsewhere based on it having sat for so long after their posted response times.
Simultaneous/multiple submissions are a bad thing because IF something gets accepted in two places, unless they both openly accept multiple/simultaneous submissions, the editors are likely to make sure no other editor they know ever publishes your stuff.
Editors talk to each other... A LOT, and such an event could easily kill or significantly delay a career.
- Ashavan
EDIT: I should note that your solution works fine, provided you are open and up front about it being a multiple/simultaneous submission to all the parties involved. (this is what I get for not reading the whole thread) Note that an awful lot of places will not accept multiple/simultaneous submissions.
Thanks for the notice Ashavan. I guess I should have been more clear -- I am sending them to magazines that openly state they allow for multiple and simultaneous submissions. I guess you could say I am limiting my search for a place to be published to these locations currently in hopes of expediting the process.
If I recall, didn't you say you often write for the November Novel Month-thing (I know not the technical term)? Have you written short fiction before? Been published in that format?
I ask out of curiosity. I am always on the lookout for people with a literary and creative bent as I find that those who pursue a level of writing in any serious form greatly benefit from the presence of similarly-minded people.
Last Rogue -
I do indeed write during National Novel Writing Month every year. This is my third year and I'm actually writing a sequel to the novel I wrote during the first year I participated.
Short fiction has never been my forte. I want to get too involved in the story, which is fine in a novel, but in short fiction there isn't usually enough room for investigating the characters. You might say that prefer novels because I'm reluctant to limit my scope enough to be successful in the short story format.
I also write poetry, and (obviously) gaming material.
While I've been somewhat successful in rpg writing, I have not managed more than a box full of rejection letters in my novel writing. It's a tough business.
- Ashavan
Last Rogue -
I do indeed write during National Novel Writing Month every year. This is my third year and I'm actually writing a sequel to the novel I wrote during the first year I participated.
Short fiction has never been my forte. I want to get too involved in the story, which is fine in a novel, but in short fiction there isn't usually enough room for investigating the characters. You might say that prefer novels because I'm reluctant to limit my scope enough to be successful in the short story format.
I also write poetry, and (obviously) gaming material.
While I've been somewhat successful in rpg writing, I have not managed more than a box full of rejection letters in my novel writing. It's a tough business.
- Ashavan
Same here -- I have written poetry (my only published credit) but have gathered nothing more than a rejections in regards to short stories so far. My tentative goal is to get 3 published short stories before I attempt to graduate to writing a novel (though I am tempted to try and write a novel for WoTC as they have an open call through February.) Really between this Open Call for GameMastery and a few queries to the latest incarnation of Dragon I have just begun to look into RPG writing -- I don't know why I waited so long, as it is a natural thing for me to try as I love to write and I love to game.
Excuse my lack of knowledge, I knew you had published some RPG stuff . . .could you point me in a direction? I'd love to check some of it out.
Thanks.
Dungeon Magazine
Issue #139 "Campaign Workbook - The City: Merchant Madness II"
Issue #136 "Campaign Workbook - The Cast: Company of Thieves: The Order of the Lavender Rose", "Critical Threat: Countess Vita Al-Adora"
Issue #130 "Campaign Workbook - The Dungeon: Swords of Legend"
Issue #128 "Campaign Workbook - The City: Wet Your Whistle"
Issue #126 "Campaign Workbook - The City: Merchant Madness"
PDF Publications
Folkloric: Baba Yaga, Dog Soul Publishing, 2005 (editor) Winner: Gold ENnie 2006, Best Electronic Book
Folkloric: Niflheim, Dog Soul Publishing, 2005 (editor)
Seeds of Sehan Campaign Arc (with Tom Ganz, Steve Greer, Matt Conklin III, and Stefan Happ)
Dungeon Magazine #145, Paizo Publishing, Mar 2007
Dungeon Magazine #146, Paizo Publishing, Apr 2007
Dungeon Magazine #147, Paizo Publishing, May 2007
It's worth it to try Nano.... it's not too late, I started five days late my first year!
- Ashavan
Same here -- I have written poetry (my only published credit) but have gathered nothing more than a rejections in regards to short stories so far. My tentative goal is to get 3 published short stories before I attempt to graduate to writing a novel (though I am tempted to try and write a novel for WoTC as they have an open call through February.) Really between this Open Call for GameMastery and a few queries to the latest incarnation of Dragon I have just begun to look into RPG writing -- I don't know why I waited so long, as it is a natural thing for me to try as I love to write and I love to game.Excuse my lack of knowledge, I knew you had published some RPG stuff . . .could you point me in a direction? I'd love to check some of it out.
Thanks.
I listed my credits in a separate post, but I thought I'd note that I have participated in the Open Call at wizards for the past two years. While any submission of that sort is hard (it's not unusual to go over a year to hear on a slushpile submission to Tor, for instance), I will say that Wizards have responded within six months both years that I've submitted something. Even better, I did get some quick jotted down handwritten comments both years, so I can say fairly confidently that they DO actually read the submissions enough to get something from them.
- Ashavan