From the Archive – Newbie Mistakes Still Happen
I apologize for not getting an archive post up last week. I thought about it – for about 10 seconds in the car with Robert J. Sawyer…then FenCon Happened. So, here’s this week’s archive Post…
Newbie Mistakes Still Happen
When it comes to the writing industry, there’s a lot of advice on how to avoid making newbie mistakes. There are Top 10 lists of what those mistakes are and what to do to not make them.
Writers spend a lot of time figuring out how to format their manuscript into that elusive thing called Standard Manuscript Format. There are workshops on how to craft a brilliant story. Websites are dedicated to researching the best markets. Panels at conventions provide advice for approaching editors and publishers so writers can avoid the fine line between “networking” and “stalking”.
Then it happens. The writer has been in the industry for a while. They may even write articles about some of the process of writing. And before they know what’s happened. They’ve committed – years into their career – a Newbie Mistake. It happens to every writer at some point, and for the most part is completely survivable – if embarrassing.
One of the Most Common Newbie Mistakes made by “pros” even years into their careers is the Unintentional Simultaneous Submission. The Simultaneous Submission (Sim Sub) is where a story is sent to more than one market at the same time. Most markets don’t allow for sim subs for the simple reason that if they offer to buy the story, they want to know it’s available. It doesn’t look good for the young author to have to turn down a sale. Some markets do allow sim subs, as long as they know about when you sub – but the writer needs to make sure all markets involved allow sim subs.
The unintentional part is the kicker. Unintentional Sim Subs come about for two primary reasons:
1. Lack of Communication
2. Miscommunication
Lack of communication is when the writer updates their submission log and discovers a story that’s been out at a market for a long time. The writer, very politely, queries the submission and then waits for a respectable amount of time. These time frames vary from market to market. If after the second amount of waiting, there is no response, many move on to another market.
The problem then comes if/when the writer chalks up Market #1 as a “no response” and sends the story to Market #2 THEN Market #1 responds. If the response is a rejection, there are no worries. However, sometimes the response is a “hold” or even an acceptance. That’s when a decision has to be made. If it’s an acceptance, the writer should politely and respectfully inform Market #2 of the error and withdraw the story.
The “Hold” situation is more complicated. The writer must decide whether or not to wait out the response times. Wait and see if one or the other market will reject the story before the other makes a decision one way or the other. The other option is to choose which market to pull the story from immediately.
Miscommunication comes in a couple of forms. The first being that some major markets allow the writer to send in multiple submissions (more than one story at a time) but when these markets send out their stock rejections, the forms are just that – forms. There are no story titles to identify which submission is being rejected, and many times there is no way to ask.
The other is organizational confusion. Though many writers want to be super organized, turn stories around the second they come back from a market, and keep excellent submission logs – sometimes being human gets in the way. Life hits. A response is misfiled or eaten by a computer SPAM filter. The writer gets busy and waits until they have several submissions needing to go out and does one big blitz. At this point, anything can and will happen. A log entry will be missed, so the writer forgets they sent something out again, when it’s already out. Or a finger slips on the attachment button and the wrong story gets attached to a submission.
Stuff happens. It’s a fact of life. How does the writer deal with it whether they’re shiny new or a seasoned professional? Much like with rejections. Take a moment – a second, minute, or hour – to mentally butt kick, rage against the machine, whatever privately – then move on. Make the decisions, stick with them, and move on. It happens. As long as the writer is honest and professional in dealing with the publishers and editors, it will not come back to bite them in the long run. In fact, it can become a learning experience for others.