Tweet
I have been in the fiction submission game a long time. I know how it works. It takes weeks, sometimes months, to receive replies. It's annoying but I accept it...as long as the guidelines tell you it's going to be weeks or months, or if they alert you to a possible delay.
What I can't stand is places that don't get back to you within the stated time period, don't answer queries and otherwise ignore you.
The other day I received a rejection from a journal I submitted to 8 months ago. Their stated turnaround time? 2-3 months. I queried twice, per their guidelines, and received no response. So I said, "Fuck it." and sent the story elsewhere. I am sure glad I didn't wait on their slow asses to reject me, because I think it's a pretty decent story and will do well if I can find the right market.
I submitted a novella to an e-publishing place and received a reply stating, "We are backlogged so please give us until the end of March to reply." (longer than their stated 6 week turnaround time) Nothing by the end of March. I queried in the middle of April. No reply. I queried AGAIN in May. Finally they got back to me and said they hadn't even read it yet. I left it in their hands because I don't think there are too many other markets for it, but if I had other options I would have yanked it.
I applied to be a paid blogger on a website. In their guidelines, they state, "We get back to everyone in a week. If you don't hear from us, query because you might have gotten stuck in our spam folder." On day 8, I queried. Nothing. I am going to query at the 14 day mark. And then at the 21 day mark. And again and again until they give me a reply.
Writers are expected to follow every detail of a journal's submission guidelines; I understand that following the guidelines to the letter makes it easier on them and I always, always do that. And many journals are run by unpaid volunteers who have their own lives, so I give them some slack. But I am not getting any younger here, and I don't have time to waste letting a story languish in some slush pile when I could be submitting elsewhere.
If we're expected to play by the rules, I think journals should be expected to honor their own guidelines.
What I can't stand is places that don't get back to you within the stated time period, don't answer queries and otherwise ignore you.
The other day I received a rejection from a journal I submitted to 8 months ago. Their stated turnaround time? 2-3 months. I queried twice, per their guidelines, and received no response. So I said, "Fuck it." and sent the story elsewhere. I am sure glad I didn't wait on their slow asses to reject me, because I think it's a pretty decent story and will do well if I can find the right market.
I submitted a novella to an e-publishing place and received a reply stating, "We are backlogged so please give us until the end of March to reply." (longer than their stated 6 week turnaround time) Nothing by the end of March. I queried in the middle of April. No reply. I queried AGAIN in May. Finally they got back to me and said they hadn't even read it yet. I left it in their hands because I don't think there are too many other markets for it, but if I had other options I would have yanked it.
I applied to be a paid blogger on a website. In their guidelines, they state, "We get back to everyone in a week. If you don't hear from us, query because you might have gotten stuck in our spam folder." On day 8, I queried. Nothing. I am going to query at the 14 day mark. And then at the 21 day mark. And again and again until they give me a reply.
Writers are expected to follow every detail of a journal's submission guidelines; I understand that following the guidelines to the letter makes it easier on them and I always, always do that. And many journals are run by unpaid volunteers who have their own lives, so I give them some slack. But I am not getting any younger here, and I don't have time to waste letting a story languish in some slush pile when I could be submitting elsewhere.
If we're expected to play by the rules, I think journals should be expected to honor their own guidelines.
Comment