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Topic: Simultaneous fiction submissions okay?
| Author | Message |
| pentup | Posted – 4/26/2007 4:18:17 PM | show profile | email poster I know that, in general, it's not good to submit a pitch for the same article to multiple outlets, but what about short stories? I've finally written one that I'm proud of and thought I'd sent it out. But it seems like all the places that publish fiction take months to get back to you. I'm definitely not making any assumptions that the first place I submit to will take it (or that anyone will for that matter), but am I really going to have to spend a year submitting one story to only a small handful of publications? Thanks for any insight? |
| catlondon | Posted – 4/26/2007 4:32:37 PM | show profile Unless the publication says "No simultaneous submissions" send it everywhere you want. If it does get accepted, just make sure you alert everyone else you are withdrawing it from consideration. Of course, the other side is having it accepted simultaneously and having to turn someone down, but that's more good fortune than bad when you're talking about a field as competitive the short story market. Good luck. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 4/26/2007 6:23:18 PM | show profile Personally, no way am I going to send a short out to one magazine and give them six months to say yeah or nay. I see no drawback at to simulatenous submission and don't care at all what a magazine's guidelines say -- I'd always send a piece out to multiple magazine. If one magazine buys it, I'd just send a card to the others withdrawing it. Look at it this way, if you met an editor at a coffee shop, told him about your story, and he wanted to buy it on the spot, would you really say, "Sorry, but I've submitted the story on spec to an editor I don't know who may or may not read it. But I must give him six months to make a decision before I can let you buy it." |
| JerzyGirl | Posted – 4/27/2007 12:44:40 PM | show profile Yes - go ahead and send it everywhere and anywhere, unless the pub specifically says NO to simsubs. If you are looking to literary journals (best "market" for short stories, but abysmal pay)-- almost all have very clear, specific and helpful guidelines on their websites and many now take e-subs. At a seminar given by a well-published short story writer I recently attended, he said that the average story of his is rejected 22 times before getting accepted; he sends out to 10 or so pubs at a time, and each time one reject comes back, he sends it right back out again that very day to another market. When he gets an acceptance, he sends off an e-mail or postcard, withdrawing the submission from the others. Good luck. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 4/27/2007 2:07:54 PM | show profile Personally, I wouldn't even worry if they specifically say "No simultaneous submissions." If I write a piece of fiction or a humorous essays, generally I am not doing so with a specific pub in mind. So I write it up and send it out, hoping for the best. Since I am not going to change the piece for a specific pub, it doesn't matter what their guidelines say and I don't bother to read their guidelines. They''ll either want it or not. --Yes - go ahead and send it everywhere and anywhere, unless the pub specifically says NO to simsubs. If you are looking to literary journals (best "market" for short stories, but abysmal pay)-- almost all have very clear, specific and helpful guidelines on their websites and many now take e-subs. -- |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 4/27/2007 2:07:57 PM | show profile Personally, I wouldn't even worry if they specifically say "No simultaneous submissions." If I write a piece of fiction or a humorous essays, generally I am not doing so with a specific pub in mind. So I write it up and send it out, hoping for the best. Since I am not going to change the piece for a specific pub, it doesn't matter what their guidelines say and I don't bother to read their guidelines. They''ll either want it or not. --Yes - go ahead and send it everywhere and anywhere, unless the pub specifically says NO to simsubs. If you are looking to literary journals (best "market" for short stories, but abysmal pay)-- almost all have very clear, specific and helpful guidelines on their websites and many now take e-subs. -- |
| pentup | Posted – 4/30/2007 12:31:29 PM | show profile Thanks everyone! This was really helpful! |
| womaninbooks | Posted – 5/1/2007 12:48:39 PM | show profile See the Poets & Writers magazine's forum for more advice on this (pw.org). Or check out duotrope to see which magazines allow sim subs. There's a lot of info in both places. |
