To submit or not

DeneBebbo

Recently I emailed the editor of a magazine to ask if he'd be interested in an article. While waiting for his response I decided to work on it anyway and nearly finished it. Unfortunately he came back and said the idea is on his to do list, but would have to wait until he has a holiday in a certain destination so he can write about the subject.

As I've almost finished the article do you think I should submit it anyway just in case he'll read it, or are editors likely to be precious about writing certain pieces themselves?

Carol

Did he give you any idea whether the holiday was imminent, because it could be one or two or more years away?
Do you have a possible market for it elsewhere that you could query in the meantime?

dorothyd

I would look somewhere else, DB, if I were you. It looks very much as if this editor is saying 'I'm going to do this one'.

collide-o-scope

I sent the outline of an article to Best of British magazine which I thought would stand a good chance of being taken up (it was a remarkable tale from WW2 - right up their street). They did not furnish me with a reply or even an acknowledgement. I'm as thick skinned as they come (I support Newcastle ;-)) so it didn't bother me - I moved on, but I know that some aspiring writers are seriously disheartened when their efforts go ignored.

heather

Sorry, but if he's keen to write it himself, I wouldn't think he would want yours.

Try to find somewhere else to send it - and be quick, just in case his holiday is imminent!

At least you know it's a good idea.

DeneBebbo

Hi Carol, it sounded like it could be months or longer until he has that holiday and can write the piece, whereas I could give him the article ready to publish whenever he wants. I wonder how much editors are likely to think some subjects are their "baby".

dorothyd

some do, DB, if it means a lot to them. Seriously, send it somewhere else. What you don't want to do,under any circumstances, is upset the editor. You'd be saying, look, I did it better than you could ...

COS, I recently sent a piece to Best of British which they acknowledged immediately and are going to use as a letter, too short for anything else but I wanted to say it, so find out whether your article actually arrived. They don't ignore people usually.

Carol

Yes, it sounds like this editor probably won't use yours, so look for another outlet for it.

collide-o-scope

dorothy I didn't send them the article but just an outline. It was a tale of a submariner who won a bottle of whisky in a Christmas raffle at the pub they had adpopted as their local (Christmas Eve 1939). He left it behind the bar to be opened when his sub returned from patrols, but of course the sub was lost with all hands. The bottle stayed behind the bar until the landlady retired in the 1960s, and it now stands in the Royal Submarine Museum in Gosport. Interesting human story, but they didn't bother getting back to me. Of course after I'd given them details it would be pretty easy to research the incident online so there would be nothing to stop them writing article themselves.

dorothyd

write the article and send it in! I get the impression they have a lot of material, a query might not be as good as sending the complete thing. If you ask, they are prepared to accept articles by email.

pbw

[quote=collide-o-scope]so there would be nothing to stop them writing article themselves. [/quote]
no but you have a good chance of winning them over with style and structure and also if they're very busy and it lands on their desk as the deadline is looming, you could get lucky.

Red

I've never had problems with Best of British either, get very quick email responses, but I always send the complete article with pics. I have an article with them about WW2 as well, which they accepted straight away.

collide-o-scope

Ta for that Red - I'll look into what I have. Were there any specifications on the pics you sent?

Red

[quote=collide-o-scope]Were there any specifications on the pics you sent? [/quote]

No, I simply formatted them as jpegs files on a CD.

collide-o-scope

Thanks for that :-)

*gets snapping*

Wordy

Best of British are generally very good about getting back to people quickly but they don't seem to do queries. The guidelines are here and no longer mention email submissions but you could try emailing to ask.

http://www.bestofbritishmag.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=52&Itemid=68

I generally post the text letting them know pics are available and then send the pics on CD when requested. They do use a lot of material but the emphasis has shifted a little in recent months so check out recent issues if you haven't done so already. They actually returned a few pieces recently that they had hung on to for possible publication. Looking at them they would no longer fit the style and I am looking for new markets for them.

Good luck with your story. It sounds just right for them.

dorothyd

I found if you ask them to accept by email, they will, pre-warned as it were. It's a good market if you get it right.

DeneBebbo

Don't know if it's still true, but someone on this forum said they can hang on to articles for a couple of years before publishing.

On a side note about BoB, I wonder if they will have to change focus as the readership with living memory of the periods they cover dwindles over time.

dorothyd

not sure that matters, the magazine will continue to promote Best of British and if it shows younger people how things were, and in some instances how much better it is now, it can't be a bad thing.
They have been known to hold on to something for a couple of years, but then I know at one time This England held on to something for over five years, so ...

DeneBebbo

But how many younger people read BoB is what I'm wondering.

Claudia

[quote=DeneBebbo]Unfortunately he came back and said the idea is on his to do list[/quote]

I agree with the other posts on this. If the editor has said it's on his 'to do list' I'd interpret that as his way of saying 'no thanks'. I would definitely, definitely NOT send my article to him after that reply. At best he'd think it was pretty cheeky of you.

dorothyd

oddly, when 'young ones' reach a certain age, they start taking an interest in their past. Teens and early 20s, no, after that, definitely. In my experience, anyway.

DeneBebbo

Ah well, it seems that editors probably are precious about writing certain pieces themselves :-( Unfortunately there aren't any other UK magazines this piece would be suitable for, but I have found an American magazine to check out as a possibility.

Wordy

DB When Best of British first started out they asked for items on the 20s to 40s and now they say up to the 70s so they are definitely moving on in that respect even though there is is still a strong 40s element, largely due to the number of people enjoying re-enactments of the times. Recent history seems to have followers of all ages and as Dorothy says, as you get older the past takes on a different meaning for us all. Think of the great interest in Family History studies today for example.

Dorothy, I read your letter about the steam railway on the Isle of Wight in the current (November) issue of Best of British. Last time I travelled that line was in the 1960s. I wonder how often the person who made the comment about being able to put men on the moon but not run trains to time has made that comment since!

dorothyd

thanks! I will go get a copy!
that guy has probably said it many times since ...

Wordy

That's OK, Dorothy. Thought I would mention it as you don't get told when letters are being used.

dorothyd

great tip off, thank you. I got the last copy in Smiths, and have sent them a) a note saying how nice my letter looked and b) would you be interested in ... a lengthy article I have had in mind for an age. See what I get back.