On Sunday, I wrote my daily writing tip about submission guidelines, and felt as I did that it’s probably worth spending more time with it than the couple of short paragraphs allowed in a Facebook update.
Here’s the point of it all: when a publisher posts submission guidelines, they’re not suggestions. They’re not something you might try if you’re not feeling particularly creative today. They’re not even something the publisher dreamed up solely to make your life difficult. There’s actually a pretty good reason that they were written as they were, and following them shows the publisher a number of things:
- you’re bright enough to follow directions
- you know how to read
- you won’t be troublesome down the line as you’re willing to enter the publisher’s turf and play by the publisher’s rules.
Don’t like the guidelines? That’s your right. But move on. Find someone else whose guidelines you do like.
A couple of months ago a colleague and I decided to create a couple of anthologies. Here are the guidelines that we sent out:
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS FOR A HOLIDAY ANTHOLOGY
Imagine your favorite holiday stories. Chances are good the protagonists are a man and a woman, possibly even with children. But where are the stories that feature men together, or women together, that will also warm our hearts at this special season?
That’s where you come in. We’re collecting holiday stories for two anthologies, one featuring male protagonists/couples/families, the other featuring female protagonists/couples/families, and we’d like to hear from you!
Your story should run between 2,000 and 4,000 words, contain no erotica, and be in a winter holiday setting. The only requirement is that it be historical fiction. We’re looking for tomorrow’s classics in time for next year’s holiday season!
Pay will depend on securing a publisher and will be negotiated at that time for accepted stories. Deadline is June 15, 2012, but the earlier, the better. Send Word docs to Jeannine Allard at jeannine@jeannineallard.com.
If you were reading that, you may have picked up on three relevant points. We’re looking for:
- LGBT stories
- historical fiction
- winter themes
I didn’t think it was that difficult to read. But I got deluged with stories about cousins, pets, grandmothers, and straight couples. Stories that were situated in the future or on another planet. Stories written by people who clearly hadn’t even bothered to read the entire call for submissions, but who just sent whatever they had on hand.
It was all a little insulting. A waste of my time (because I am courteous enough to read the stuff and respond to it) and a waste of the writer’s time, as well.
So that was me, one time. I can only imagine what acquisitions editors or literary journal editors must be thinking when these things cross their desks day after day after day. And I can guarantee that none of it is complimentary to the writer.
Do you really want to shoot your literary career in its metaphorical foot? Do you really want your name to be associated with slapdash work, with not being cooperative, with being difficult? Listen, it’s hard enough to get published as it is. Do you really want to make it that much harder?
Trust me: they’re not going to discover your fine literary talent hidden in the midst of your inappropriate submission. It isn’t going to happen. So consider going back to basics: read the call for submissions, submit exactly what they ask you for, no more and no less, and behave like a professional. And then you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!
