There’s a very interesting post at Making Light. If you’re thinking of getting into writing for the big guys, it’s certainly worth having a look at what the folks over there have got to say.
The thing I found most interesting about the post was in the latter paragraphs:
“And while we’re agreeing with John Scalzi, let’s also note that yes, honestly, the attitudes of the “big three” toward electronic submission really have, over the last decade, gone from “practical response to unsolved problems of electronic mail and text” to “old man yelling at clouds.” I mean, sure, it’s their business and they can do as they like—refuse to read email, or for that matter demand that aspiring writers wear plaid pants.”
It’s one of my pet peeves that big houses that do accept unsolicited and unagented manuscripts still demand paper submissions. Sending, as DAW requires, an entire manuscript through the post (or even Tor’s less weighty 3 chapters) is an environmentally irresponsible way to do business, but worse, it’s unbelievably expensive.
I have a hunch the logic that leads big publishers (who receive piles and piles and piles of manuscripts) to ask for snail-mail submissions is a desire to stop people sending unpolished manuscripts. To fork out the twenty some dollars it could cost you to ship your behemoth manuscript to the New York publisher of your choice, you probably need to be sure about the content.
If this is indeed the assumption the big houses are operating under, I have to say, it’s faulty logic. Sure, with electronic submissions you can send a crappy manuscript with the click of a mouse, but if you’ve got disposable income, you can send a crappy manuscript through the mail too. I’m sure lots of people do. Heck, I did.
When I was 14, I was writing novels. My mom had a “you write them, I’ll post them” policy, so when I wanted to submit a story, I gave it to her and she would mail them off to me. I sent, oh, I dunno, three or four novels a year, each of which was… well… lets just say they weren’t gems. DAW got flooded by my stuff. Sorry, Mr Stampfel and associates.
Anyway, that postage policy lasted almost until I moved out of my parents house. After that I started going to school and, six years later, I’m in the position that a lot of humanities graduates find themselves in: Broke. Now I’m writing at something approaching a professional level, and I can’t afford to send a manuscript to a publisher. No, really. Anne McCaffrey talked about living through the pancake years. I used to laugh at that. I don’t any more.
It makes way more sense for me to submit to publishers who accept electronic submissions. It costs me nothing, so when I get a bounce (and I get a lot of them), I haven’t paid out of pocket to get a little blue slip of paper back in the mail. And, it seems particularly backward to send a hard copy manuscript to a publisher only to then be asked for an electronic file, for editing purposes, and so the work can be turned into, say, an ebook.
I’m not saying, ooh, big publishers, you’re going to be sorry when I don’t submit my novels to you! I’m saying, rather than forcing people to be more polished and sure of their novels before they submit them, big publishers might be starting to miss out on good books that get submitted elsewhere, electronically. Maybe that’s part of why small presses are doing so well these days.
Your thoughts?
