6 Time Saving Submission Tips
Must Dos When Submitting to Short Story Markets
1. Review a current copy of the Submission Guidelines of the market you intend to approach. Most SFFH markets and their Guidelines are available online through www.Ralan.com and www.duotrope.com.
2. Double check that you submission follows the market’s guidelines as to format, word count, subject tag line; and make sure it fits the genres the market publishes. When no particular format is stipulated, use the Standard Manuscript Format.
Do not use fancy fonts, large bold lettering for you title, colorful backgrounds, or cover letter teasers ~ they won’t get you one iota of special treatment with editors. It will make us editors roll our eyes and consider you hokey. But your story will still end up amid the slush pile with everyone else’s submission. No higher (maybe even a little bit lower).
3. Run Spell Checker on your entire story, then read your story aloud so you can hear if the story drags or falters. Reading your story aloud also helps your visually catch errors you might’ve missed while staring at the story on you pc.
4. Ensure your submission contains the following information:
Your:
Legal Name
Mailing Address
Email Address
Preferred Byline (if different than you legal name)
Story TitleAn if you are mailing your submission, be sure to include a Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope (SASE).
5. Keep a record of your submissions in a notebook or on a spreadsheet on your computer. You should record the following information:
Story Title you submitted
Date Sent
Market Name ~ where you sent your story
Response Time of the market
Response ~ Did the story get accepted or rejected
Response Date
6. Be sure to give the market ample time to review and reply to your submission before you send a query. The customary period to wait before querying is 1 1/2 times the market’s stated response time.
Comments
They do indeed. And I'm glad you mentioned you use both methods, because I caution anyone who uses an external site to monitor their submission records.
Sites like Duotrope and WritersMarket.com function on incoming money from donations and/or subscriptions, so what happens to your records if any of these 3rd party sites shutdown due to lack of funding? Your stuck unless you maintain a backup record of your own.
And record keeping is such an important asset for a writer.
Even at AlienSkin we get resubmissions from writers who've forgotten they already submitted the same story to us before. This wouldn't be a bad thing if the story had been reworked after receiving an initial rejection from us, but most of the resubmissions we get like this haven't even been edited or tweaked at all.
As a writer, receiving one rejection on a tale is plenty for me. I don't need to be told twice by the same market my story needs work. LoL.
Posted by: K. A. Patterson | February 11, 2007 06:05 PM
regarding point 5:
I do that, on my own files, but I also use the Duotrope system to keep track for me. Very handy, since they also give you an indication what the average response times are:
www.duotrope.com
Posted by: David de Beer | February 11, 2007 09:38 AM