Hi! The mead mixture is boiling on the stove and needs half an hour, so lets talk a little about submitting manuscripts again. We covered how to know where to send you story, and how to write a cover letter, and now let’s talk about some other stuff like when it’s OK to email an editor and how to do it when you must.
Editors are busy people, that’s probably the first and most important piece of information I can think of. There are a few kinds of editors. There are copy editors (the guys who have a look at your work and spot mistakes), there are acquisitions editors (the ones who have the final say about what to buy), there are coordinating editors (the ones who, well, coordinate what needs to be coordinated) and slush pile readers (who are kind of editors).
The editors I know work in small publishing houses or edit small magazines. This means they are all the kinds of editor, rolled into one. They’re constantly working against a deadline, trying to coordinate writers, publicists, printers and the budget, fielding emails and phone calls, promoting their magazines and, oh yeah, sometimes they offer editing suggestions and catching up on the slush, too. Editor, in fact, is a deceptively short word for a very big job.
So, editors are busy. This means they get mad when people waste their time. There are a few legitimate reasons to contact an editor when you’re submitting, but only three.
1. To submit a manuscript. When you do this, be sure to send the sub to the right editor (some magazines have a fiction editor and a non fiction editor) according to the submission guidelines. (Often this actually doesn’t spend much time on the editor’s desk, rather, it gets shopped out to slush readers).
2. To inquire about a manuscript. Do this only under exceptional circumstances. If they’ve had your story for six months and their guidelines say it takes three to six months to get round to reading, wait another month at least before you contact them. If they’ve had it a year and they say three to six months, then yep, go ahead and contact them.
Be as brief as possible when you contact the editor. Make your email about as long as a haiku and give all the information the editor might need to be able to answer your question. Here’s a sample.
“Dear Ed the Editor,
I submitted my story short fantasy story “Mon Dieu” to your magazine on October 17 and have not heard back. Could you tell me the status of my submission?
Thanks for your time!
Hopeful Writer
Hopefulwriter@writersemail.com or anotheremail@otherplace.com”
So, the email has the date I sent the story (in case things are filed by date received), the title of the story (in case things are filed by title), my full name (in case things are filed by author name) and an alternative address in case technology has for some reason taken against the editor’s emails (or they’ve lost your addy). If you don’t hear back from this, it’s up to you if you try again, or withdraw the manuscript.
Be aware that sometimes slush pile readers are swamped with submissions. Later summer early autumn seems to be a busy time. Maybe it’s because people who have been in University all year long are on vacation, I dunno. Anyway, if the slush reader asks for more time to read your manuscript, you’re suddenly in a pickle. Do you want to wait in the hopes of an acceptance, do you think they’ve had the manuscript quite long enough or are you happy with waiting. Give yourself a day to think through your response before you reply. Once you’ve told them they can keep the story for another six weeks or no, you want it back, you can’t change your mind.
3. To withdraw a manuscript. Occasionally, something happens and you want to withdraw the story from the slush. Maybe you submitted the manuscript to two places at once (simultaneous submission) and someone snapped it up. Maybe you heard the publisher doesn’t honour its contracts, and want to try your luck elsewhere. Maybe they’ve had your manuscript for a year and said it would only take two months to get back to you and, damn it, you’re ready to have that story back (you should always inquire before you get to this point – it’s possible the internet or the mail ate your story).
When withdrawing a manuscript, the regular rules apply: You want to be brief and courteous.
“Dear Ed the Editor,
I submitted my story “Mon Dieu” to your magazine in October. I inquired about its status in January but heard nothing back. I’m going to assume you’d like to pass on the manuscript and withdraw it from submission.
Thanks for the chance to submit!
Hopeful Writer
Hopefulwriter@writersemail.com”
The most important info is the name of the story, the date sent, the date inquired about and the withdraw from submission.
You might want to tell the editor he’s being an idiot, and not getting back to you about this story is going to hurt the magazine in the long run, but don’t. Being polite will help you down the line. No matter how mad you are, or how rude the bastard has been, writing is a business and you absolutely must be professional. You don’t want your furious email posted up somewhere as a grand example of how not to woo a publisher, or how not to write a withdraw. You do not want to become an infamous case because people will talk about you, and that’s not the sort of attention from publishers you’re looking for. Remember: Irritation lasts a little while, but the internet lasts forever. If the company has been really irresponsible, or lied to you, or asked for money from you, you know what to do.
OK, mead’s ready to go into jars so I’ve got to go. Please feel free to ask questions, refute claims and demand more specifics in the comments. The first person to post a question will win a copy of either Handbook or Tenth Man.
This is . . . not actually a question about how to submit a manuscript, but rather an expression of interest on being on the other side of the equation? Would you know of any good resources I could look at/people I could get in contact with if I’m looking at going into the publishing field as an editor upon graduation?
Y’know, I’m not sure I’m the person to answer that. I suspect each genre in the industry has different on-ramps, and magazines is different from book publishing. I will do my best, but take everything I say with a grain of salt (oh, and it’ll all be SF-centric. Sorry.)
I have a hunch that your best bet might be to try to mentor with someone. The reason I think that is because I heard a really interesting Adventures in SciFi Publishing podcast not that long ago (Number 77) with John Kilma, who runs Electric Velocipede. He talked a lot about how he got into book publishing and then moved into running his own magazine, all through mentoring. It sounds like mentoring is the way to go. In that case, I’d talk to university profs, who would be able to help you get into a co-op or mentoring program, or go to industry events like conventions and try to make some contacts.
It probably wouldn’t hurt to volunteer a little time as a slush reader at a magazine too. This is really micro-editing. Some places, like BWS, ask slush readers to provide explanations for rejections, which really helps critical skills (and feeds back rather nicely into writing).
Depending where you are in life you could apply at your university’s magazines or printing press, or apply at publishing houses and magazines when they’re hiring (usually in the FAQ or the Careers section of the house’s web page).
If you want experience for your resume but you’re still going through school and don’t have time for a full time job, lots of places need volunteer slush readers. If there’s a magazine you like, email them and ask if you can read slush. The worst thing they can do is say “nope, we want to keep all that lovely pain for ourselves”. In that case they are jerks. Erm… that last statement may not be true. But really, the worst thing they can say is “Nope, full up.”
That’s all I know from working this end of the business, but I do know a few people who are magazine or freelance editors. I’ll ask them and try to get more info for you, probably next weekish.
…oh, and you win! Yay! Did you want a book?
Thanks! That’s pretty much the advice I’ve gotten everywhere, which is why I wanted to ask on the offhand chance you might know someone I could get in contact with (re: the mentoring, etc). The volunteering for slush-pile reading sounds like a really good idea; I’ve done that sort of thing for my school’s lit mag before and am currently signed up to help with verb_noire, but I’ll definitely look around for more opportunities in my area. If you have any recommendations for awesome places that might need help, you should totally send them my way, especially if they do YA.
And thanks for asking around! You are awesome.
OF COURSE I WANT A BOOK.
I do know Bewildering Stories is on the hunt for readers. I love BWS, but the magazine is non-paying and that means it’s pretty low-status in the publishing world, so while you might email Bill and ask him (email me if you want his address), you also might not. I read slush for them and have found some real gems, and read some serious stinkers. I’ve learned a lot about writing through critiquing, and I’ve made some good friends over there. They’re not YA centric, but they do publish everything they like and sometimes that means YA.
What book do you want?
Thanks, I’ll e-mail you as soon as I get through this giant pile of other obligations.
And the Handbook! I already have your Tenth Man book, which I really enjoyed. My only complaint about it would be that it was too short. *shakes you*
I will try to make future novels longer, promise.
I’ll send you yer winnins as soon as I get my copies (shouldn’t be too terribly long).