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I sent out the final emails for the Broken Sleep collection submission window last night, after a 3 hour long meeting with the tremendous board of advisors.
Here& #39;s 10 bits of advice I want to share about submitting to presses:
Here& #39;s 10 bits of advice I want to share about submitting to presses:
1. If you& #39;re rejected, please don& #39;t send a nasty or mean email. I can& #39;t express how tough these decisions are, we could only accept 1% (5) of submissions (500). I had to turn down people I love. A spiteful response will linger longer than just this submission window.
2. Either address the editor by name, or just put & #39;hey,& #39; - don& #39;t misgender, don& #39;t write a different editor at a different presses& #39; name, etc.
I will not reject you because you just put & #39;hey& #39;
I will not reject you because you just put & #39;hey& #39;
3. Learn about the press. For example, if you& #39;re submitting somewhere that the covers are minimalist and have a defined style (like BSB), don& #39;t send a cover design you want used. It shows you don& #39;t know/care where you& #39;re submitting.
4. Don& #39;t send a blank email with an attachment. It& #39;s kinda rude. Reading submissions is a long task, make it easier by writing something at least.
5. Don& #39;t send each individual poem in a 100-poem collection as seperate attachments. That& #39;s a bizarre technique and is frustrating.
6. Read the guidelines. If they want a doc or a pdf it& #39;s for a good reason. If they want it A5 it& #39;s because A4 won& #39;t format properly to their book size. You& #39;re MS sized to their standard looks hella professional.
7. Publishers know about other submission windows. So if you send an MS and write that it is not a simultaneous submission, but the structure of the document is clearly designed for another press, that& #39;s a red flag. Also, I don& #39;t care about simultaneous, so weird lie.
8. It really doesn& #39;t matter that much if you have just discovered a press via submissions. What matters is you do your homework then. Whether you read up on us and loved us an hour ago or 2 years ago doesn& #39;t matter. Not caring to check us out at all does matter.
