What a hassle today, so this is a writer’s rant.
I have work I have slaved over, polished and refined. And I also need to get on with creating new work, not just spending my life finding a home for what I’ve already written, so this is for you, yes, you, editors of literary journals with confusing submissions pages, or you, editors who have discovered Submittable and Mishmash, or whatever.
You must realize that you have contradictory guidelines EVERYWHERE! Not only with various databases but often within your own websites, from one page to another. First I find that you take submissions year round. Okay, that’s good. Then I go to your submissions page or electronic manager and find that you are not accepting submissions at this time AT ALL.
So I sadly leave your website and search for another publication. Then I find you, editor of another journal accepting my genre. But when I get to your submissions page I find that no, you’re NOT accepting my genre at this time, AT ALL. I go back and have this scenario play out many times over many different categories. Is it too much to ask that your requirements be in sync with literary databases in which you are listed and more importantly—within YOU OWN WEBSITE?
And then there are the ridiculous, yes REDICULOUS rules you put out there: 1.) include your name, don’t include your name, put your name at the bottom, change your name, give up your name, etc. 2.) Use PDF, never use it; use doc., never use it; use Times New Roman, use Courier, or never use Courier because, yes, because you “Hate it.” (I’m not making this up!) Include a bio, don’t. Make it short, make it long. FOLLOW ALL OUR RULES TO THE LETTER OR YOU WILL BE SUMMARILY SHOT…well, not that, but IMMEDIATELY DELETED, for sure.
Then there are your other demands. I can understand your wanting a writer to “familiarize yourself with our content,” but to demand a subscription…or to buy a book from your press, just to show allegiance? My personal favorite, “Please take out a subscription so we will know you didn’t come upon us just to submit your work.” And oh by the way, “WE DON’T PAY FOR WORK ACCEPTED.”
We writers dutifully follow your reasonable requests, your not so reasonable requests, and even your whimsical requests only to find that you may take months to respond. Or NEVER respond, or worse, NEVER acknowledge receipt of submissions. (!!!)
Please stop the lunacy! YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE.
And please take a hint from those editors out there (bless you!) who still find the time to be encouraging, who with respect and awareness, invite writers to submit their work because they “look forward to reading it” and because they recognize “the effort and love” it takes to create a work of fiction, or poetry, or non-fiction. These are the editors who recognize that we’re all in this together. We are all promoting words attached to ideas seeking an appreciative audience. And what’s more, we need each other.