Jul 25 2010
Submitting – Always have a second publisher in mind.
I broke one of my rules last month – when you’re sending out work to an editor/publisher always always have a second editor/publisher selected to send your work to, no matter how well-targeted your first is.
We all know that when we submit our work for publication there is a high chance of it being sent back to us. We also know that most publishers/publications take around 3 months to let us know if they are interested in our submission. As a writer, both of these (in most cases) are a given.
For this reason I usually spend the 3 month wait hunting out a new publisher to submit my work to, that way if I get a rejection I can re-submit my work immediately and avoid wasting time swearing and researching.
However, when I sent out my mid-grade novel many months back, I missed this vital step in my usual process. As a consequence, since its return a month ago, my manuscript has be slowing disappearing under a wash of papers on my desk. Now, though, I am delighted to say that it is once again on a desk somewhere, eagerly waiting for to be selected and contracted.
Just wanted to share that with you.
Thank you for posting info on the publishing process. I think it’s very positive to have alternatives in case of rejection – keeps the optimism levels elevated.
I’m all for keeping my optimism elevated, as you have probably guessed. In the world of the writing and publishing it’s way to easy to take things personally and get disheartened, even though it is, like most things, just business.