Submitting 101: Waiting & Queries
I’ve been editing The Harrow for over ten years, and this series will summarize the advice I’d give a beginning writer.
A lot of publishing is “hurry up and wait.” In many cases you rushed to write and submit a story or poem for a contest, special issue, or anthology deadline, and then … everything stops, and you’re stuck in limbo for months or, in academic publishing, maybe even a year.
A good electronic magazine will send an acknowledgment of manuscript receipt; this is becoming more common as the submission process becomes automated. Otherwise, you may get an email from the editor in a few days, or in the case of print magazines, it’s likely you’ll get no acknowledgment at all. That’s frustrating, because sometimes manuscripts do get lost, but there’s nothing polite that you can do about it. I’d be annoyed if writers emailed me immediately to ask, “hey, did you get my manuscript?”
Many, but by no means all, magazines will provide an estimated response time in their submission guidelines. Market sites like Ralan.Com and Duotrope also provide response times — Ralan’s data is provided by the publication and Duotrope’s is provided by authors who take the time to go to the website and report how long it took between submission and decision.
You will often find that response time is longer than estimated, usually due to the perennial zine problem of high submission volume and low staffing. In the case of contests and anthologies, a slow response time tends to be a good sign; it suggests you made the first cut and the editors are hanging on to your work for a later decision. Rejection is easy; acceptance takes more time.
So, at what point should you send a query? If the magazine lists a response time, wait for that amount of time, plus a week or two, and then query. Your query should be something along the lines of
Dear [Editor Name]:
I’m writing to query about the status of my manuscript, “[Story Name”], which I submitted on [date]. Could you let me know if it’s still being evaluated?
Thank you,
[Your Name]
[Your Contact Information]
I’ve been sent, and used, the “just checking to make sure it wasn’t lost in email” line, too, which works if you didn’t get an acknowledgment — and, in fact, sometimes I’ve discovered that manuscripts have been lost in cyberspace, which is annoying to discover after one has waited three months for a decision. That’s why I think it’s important for zines to send an acknowledgments of receipt.
Sending a query scares many beginning writers who feel that queries are intrusive or fear that by querying they run the risk of an editor glancing at the manuscript, deciding it’s not worth the time, and immediately sending back a rejection.
As an editor, however, I don’t mind queries if they come in after the manuscript’s been sitting around longer than The Harrow’s stated response time. When I handled fiction, I never immediately read and evaluated the work. I researched the problem — was the manuscript lost? are the reviewers late? am I behind schedule? — emailed a response describing the manuscript’s status, and then moved forward on evaluating it as soon as possible afterward, whether it meant kicking a reviewer or myself into gear. Now that I’m one step removed from manuscripts, I simply check my zine’s database for a manuscript’s status and forward the query on to the section editor if the review process has stalled out for some reason.
A quick “thanks!” email in response to the editor’s update is polite, although I didn’t care one way or the other if I received a thank-you. Still, it can’t hurt.
A few magazines state in their submission guidelines that they will not send decision letters unless they accept the manuscript. No answer equals rejection. That’s awful — you would never know whether your work has been rejected or is still being evaluated. I don’t know why they think this is an acceptable policy, I don’t condone it, and I don’t recommend you submit to any magazine using it. You worked hard on your story, and you deserve to receive a decision letter.
It’s what to do once you’ve received that letter that we’ll tackle next.
drupagliassotti @ February 21, 2008