Submitting to publications etiquette
Remember you’re submitting to a publication run by another human
Dear hopeful reader,
I used to run a digital publication for almost five years. Before and during that time, I was also a managing editor for another online magazine for three years. When it comes to my interactions with writers—I have experienced and heard it all.
Today I want to share some wisdom to my fellow writers on how to navigate the online submission process with grace, success, and hopefulness.
Read guidelines with care
Make sure to read the submission guidelines carefully. You don’t want your work to be rejected because you copy pasted it in the email instead of having sent it in a Word document. You also don’t want to send your work when the submissions aren’t open and be automatically disqualified.
Other requirements to ensure are the font size and type and the length and quantity of writing pieces dictated by the publication you’re submitting to. Also whether the magazine considers simultaneous submissions and previously published work.
Don’t forget to proofread your work, or it won’t be taken seriously. What’s more, if accepted, it may go live with typos if the editors don’t proofread before publishing. Check on the quality of your work with Grammarly or the Hemingway Editor.
Say hello to the editors, tell them a bit about yourself, type up a nice little cover letter should they need it, and add your third-person biography if they ask for it in the body of the email.
Some publishers can be flexible with their submission guidelines, but don’t count on it. Respect the time of the editors reading your work. Read the instructions with utmost care.
Know whom you’re submitting to
Funnily, I’ve been addressed as sir (the fact that I’m a m’am was made overt on my journal’s site) on several occasions and received irrelevant copy pasted submissions while I was running my publication.
That tells me the writers didn’t take the time to get to know my magazine and me as editor and what I publish and have published. They submitted just for the sake of submitting to whomever.
Such questionable behaviors can be avoided by going over a publication’s masthead, about page, and previously published work.
Address the publication starting with the editor-in-chief and including a few editors who may be reading your work. They may be assistant editor(s), managing editor(s), specific reader(s), and/or editor(s) by genre.
Acceptances can’t be predicted or guaranteed, but make sure what you’re submitting aligns with the publication’s vision and mission. Reading from their roster will guide you on what would be the best fit for what they’re looking for.
Wait patiently but do give a gentle nudge
After submitting comes the waiting. How long until you hear back about your submission varies from publication to publication. Some may respond within days, others within weeks or months.
A submission guidelines page would normally include a brief section on how long you should wait before inquiring about it. Don’t ask sooner to respect the editors’ time, pace, and hard work.
If you’ve been waiting patiently for too long, you can absolutely give the publisher a gentle nudge. Alas, sometimes submissions can get lost or overlooked due to human or technical error. Understand that this wasn’t meant to be deliberate; it just happens sometimes.
Accept rejections gracefully
As stated above, acceptances can’t be predicted or guaranteed. When you work hard on something, feel passionate and good about it, and sense that this is the magazine to publish it, it always hurts to get rejected.
Oftentimes writers don’t get rejection letters because of the quality of their work. More often than not, the material doesn’t quite fit with the publication’s aesthetics. Certain magazines also have a low acceptance rate. Don’t take it personally; see it as you almost making the cut!
If you want to avoid publishers with a low acceptance rate, you can track that, among other criteria, on Chill Subs or Duotrope.
As much as rejections hurt, please don’t take out your upset or anger on the editors who sent you the bad news. They don’t want to be delivering rejections and hurting the writers either.
You don’t have to respond to the rejection email. If you feel like you must, politely thank the editors for their time and hard work, mention that you look forward to reading their upcoming issue.
Keep working on and reworking your craft. Keep submitting too, even to the same publication you got rejected by. What if the next submission gets an acceptance? I’ve seen it happen!
Interesting publications to submit to
Finding publications is easier than ever nowadays. Chill Subs keeps a database of over 3000 wonderful magazines you can submit to. You can discover more submission opportunities on Submittable. If you’re on Twitter and/or Instagram, use the hashtag #callsforsubmission to search for publications currently open for reading.
I also handpicked a few interesting publications you should check out. The magazines consider simultaneous submissions and reprints and pay their contributors. They are:
After Dinner Conversations - “If you love reading imaginative short stories on hot topics that make your brain think deeply but also have you laughing out loud... then this magazine is for you!”
L’Esprit Literary Review - “Interior-focused, character-driven, language-first work is core to our aesthetic principles, writing that eschews convention and experiments at both the technical and formal levels.”
Flash Fiction Podcast - “The Flash Fiction Podcast is just what it sounds like. Most weeks, a new short-short story is put out in podcast form by Manawaker Studio, produced and hosted by CB Droege.”
Scrawl Place - “Scrawl Place is part visitor’s guide, part travelogue, part literary journal. It’s meant for readers who prefer Bashō to Lonely Planet.”
Story Unlikely - “Whatever happened to the art of storytelling? It's become a lost relic, along with our identities. But here, we’re revitalizing this great craft. Don't worry, you're in good hands. After all, if laughter is medicine, then Story Unlikely is therapy for broken souls.”
PS: Look out for Swamp Rat Books
Our fellow Substacker
of recently launched a publishing company titled Swamp Rat Books. Congratulations, Felix! Go check it out here.Here’s what Swamp Rat Books is all about:
Swamp Rat Books exists in the Wilderness of the art world. As well as being the main outlet for author Felix Purat and his other authorial friends, Swamp Rat Books believes in literature’s ability to be more than just words printed on a sheet of paper. We believe the art world has become corrupted by tameness, theory and the whims of a self-centered elite.
In any case, our books shall speak for themselves. Welcome to the swamp. If you’re looking for a literary adventure, you’ve come to the right place.
Remember you’re submitting to a publication run by another human (or humans) with a busy life of their own and stresses and struggles they have to deal with as well. Respect their time and hard work and treat them with humanity.
On the other side of the coin, I know editors and publishers don’t always treat writers and their contributors fairly. Sometimes they even cross ethical lines. So on my next post, I’ll be addressing how online publications can be better too.
If you have any further questions or concerns, please leave a comment below. I’ll be delighted to assist you as best as I can.
Yours hopefully,
Nadia
Thanks for the shoutout! Very kind of you. I love the enthusiasm! :-D
It's interesting to reflect back on all those years of poetry submissions. Fortunately I learned early on to follow the guidelines: that can't be stressed enough. I guess I should be glad that they took the time to write rejections almost every time (excepting those who said they don't send them out to anybody) though I got the sense that more than a few of them were templates they had on hand to copy and paste. I could tell the difference between a "meh" rejection and a genuinely heartfelt or sympathetic one very easily.
Good to know I wasn't committing a faux pas by not responding to the rejection letters. The only thing I can complain about is that like a heap of sand, it all collects over time. I'm glad I managed to get as many poems published as I did, but when I began writing short stories I just didn't have the heart to repeat the process.
The elephant in the room is: we are too oversaturated with both writers and journals. It's difficult to know what to do about it. On the macro scale, if all us writers and the editors are living their true professions it's nobody's fault. Unfortunately, though, it will mean that a "survival of the fittest" struggle could happen.
"If you’ve been waiting patiently for too long, you can absolutely give the publisher a gentle nudge." -- this is good news!