Calls for submissions
Berlin Lit are looking for poems for which they'll pay €20 – but the closing date is Monday 15th.
The opportunity for horror short stories has the same deadline and pays $20.
Free entry competition news
Thanks to Marguerite for this link. which asks for 750 words on why a particular book is your favourite and offers a £300 prize. There are junior classes as well as one for those of us over 20.
Thanks to Alyson for sending the link to this free 'prescription' competition for prose, poetry or hybrid writing. There's a £100 prize in each category - just what the doctor ordered!
womag news
Thanks to Liz who posted this link in her comment to last week's post. It's the Society of Author's proposed code of practice for magazine submissions.
What do you think - does it sound like a good idea, and do you think publishers would adopt it?
11 comments:
Thanks for the competitions, Patsy and for updating the blog.
Re the SOA article. It would be lovely if publishers/magazines were more responsive to authors but I honestly don't see how they could be. Their numbers have been so so cut back they barely have time to get through their work. But, having said that, some are much better than others at letting you know things.
On another point, does anybody on here use Press Reader? I believe I should be able to sign in with my library card but when I go to sign in I don't get given this option. Do you have to be in a library to do it? Any help gratefully received...
Thanks
Alyson
It would be very helpful if all publishers signed up to the SOA guidelines. I don't mind so much not hearing back as long as their is a definitive cut off point as with Woman's Weekly (16 weeks). I understand that magazines may be overwhelmed but there must be better ways to manage that than no cut off point & no response after a year or so where you're just left to draw your own conclusions.
Sorry Alyson I don't use press reader so can't help there.
Ideally I would like to see the publishers adopt these guidelines. However, I recognise the pressure they are under. For me the minimum requirements would be an acknowledgement of receipt of the work (auto-response is fine - just so long as we know it hasn't got lost), and ideally, if the work is rejected, an email to say so. Standard rejection emails can sound harsh, but at least you know where you stand and can re-submit elsewhere. Failing that, I agree with Sheelagh - there should be a very clear time limit after which writers know that their work has not been accepted.
Sorry - I don't use Press Reader either.
I would imagine that it is almost impossible for a publisher to determine whether, or at what point, something has been 'rejected'. Submissions go into a big pile from which things are pulled when time is available or when something is needed to fill a slot. Submissions still in the pile have neither been accepted nor rejected, and may not even have been read.
An industry standard cut-off time would certainly be very useful to authors, but would add the burden of checking submission dates to already busy editors, so there are bound to be occasions when things go wrong, regardless.
The one about why you like a book is interesting!
Thank you Patsy for sharing competitions, lots to think about.
The proposed SOA guidelines are very interesting but I wonder how practical they will turn out to be for magazines in the current climate. Having this week had a rejection for a story subbed in 2020 it would be great if a work around solution could be found.
I'm not sure if Frank is 100% correct about womag fiction rejects and acceptances.
Maybe this is how it works with non- fiction pieces, though.
Short stories may go into a big online pile, but work for the women's magazine market isn't looked at simply when time is available and when it's needed to fill a slot.
Fiction is not chosen by a publisher, but by a fiction ed based at the magazine.
MW, Yours mag, Woman's weekly and TPF have the most regular slots for fiction, so it's an ongoing process.
There's no set time allocated to look at submitted work, as it's considered on a rolling basis Mon- Friday.
This is what TPF tell us they do in their fiction ed's blog anyway!
Stories are accepted because the fiction ed likes them, it will appeal to the readers and it suits the magazine's in-house style and tone.
Some of us have had acceptances within 24 hours of subbing, so having a set time to look at work doesn't add up!
As for the SOC guidelines - personally, I don't think magazine publishers will take a blind bit of notice!
I love the way your idea of updating this blog every two weeks is working out, Patsy ;) Still, I think you know we are all appreciative.
The SOA code of practice looks as though it is something which should be aspired to... maybe, as several people have said above, unlikely to happen in the current economic climate. We are, I'm sorry to say, seeing the impact filtering through to every part of our lives. (Sorry!) Yes, I, too, appreciate, 16 weeks and that's it - even without a further email - some sort of cut-off point. Some of us who are older ;) certainly don't have the time (or patience!) to wait 3 years!
The SOA proposal is worthy and well-intentioned but will be most difficult for the small number of magazines still accepting open submissions, maybe, and not operating from a closed list of authors. I would hate to see them change policy. With the market situation being what it is, I now make fewer womag submissíons and am switching focus to comps and other writing opportunities.
It's great that the Society of Authors is trying to help magazine fiction writers, but I'm not sure that the guidelines will be practical for the womags to follow.
I've only been submitting since 2019 and the womag market has changed considerably in that time.
I haven't been submitting over the past few months (work, overseas trip), but am starting to write again, and will just accept it might be a very long time before I hear anything. After my Derringer Award shortlisting, I've been looking at waiting times for specialist crime magazines like Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and they too are over a year.
I thought the SOA guidelines interesting and as a writer wish they would be adopted everywhere but I do see the issues also. I do think subs should be acknowledged and I would much prefer a firm rejection than a void.
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