Markets for Articles

Ioannes

I thought I'd start a thread on markets for articles and any problems with specific market you have had.
To start this of I would like to know if other have had the same problem I have had submitting articles to The Oldie by email. I submitted an article to them several months ago without so much as an acknowledgment or notice of rejection. This is the first time I have submitted by email instead of the post and it would be interesting to know if others have submitted articles this way and how you found it worked with other publishers.
When you submit be the traditional method you got some kind of feedback but my experience so far has been to see work disappear into a cyber-hole never to be heard of again.

collide-o-scope

I know this feeling.

As I have reported on here I sent the outline for an article to Best of British and I never received so much as an acknowledgement, although I know that some people on here have had quick responses from that publication. I also sent three unpublished humorous articles to my local paper with the suggestion I write a weekly column but I heard nothing at all and an article I submitted to FQ magazine met with the same silent fate. I know that people are busy and maybe FQ don't use outside contributors but where is the courtsesy? It doesn't take long to click on reply and type 'thanks but no thanks'. It has put me off even looking for places to submit work so I just plod on with my regular commissions.

Mary22

I gave up on Best of british a few years ago. On two occasions they scheduled my aritcles for publication on a particular month and it didn't happen. I sent an article to the Church Times - thought they'd send at least an acknowledgement -but no even after an ask 'did you get it?' And it makes me smile when I see the Scottish Memories that advertise on this web sit esometimes asking for contributions. I wrote to the Editor about submitting my article -again no reply even after a second request.

Is this now 'par for the course?' Has manners gone? Am I wrong to expect better?
ps Yours Mag -excellent
Saga Mag-excellent
Down your way -excellent

Phots Moll

[quote=Mary22]Is this now 'par for the course?' [/quote] It's the same for a lot of fiction mags, too.

[quote=Mary22] Has manners gone? [/quote] I don't think it's really a case of manners - it's a lack of time and money.

[quote=Mary22] Am I wrong to expect better?[/quote] That depends. If you were asked to submit work, or asked to make changes etc, then the submissions should be acknowledged. If we weren't asked to submit the work, then maybe it's wrong of us to expect editors to always take the time and trouble to reply - although many of them do.

Red

We all seem to have varied experiences with magazines. I don't have the time to chase my tail when it comes to articles, I'm too long in the tooth to know how they work. If I haven't heard anything after a certain number of months, I resubmit elsewhere and get on with it. As with anything in the world of writing, some can be as finicky as hell...some you just won't crack.

Courtesy has vanished, but that's down to the huge amount of submissions they receive. They don't have the time to respond to each and every one. It is par for the course, unfortunately, and we have to accept that.

Just some I never heard a peep out of was Yours, MSlexia and even our own WN.

dorothyd

Best of British have been fantastic, quick decisions on queries and then on the completed article, The Oldie seems to ignore writers, Yours ignored me, MsLexia only answered me when I told them I was not renewing my sub because they depressed me horribly with their downbeat stuff ... WN respond fast. Others, I have been looking to place a lengthy article on 1920s butchers, so far everyone has responded within a day. I do tend, though, to send queries out and if they don't get a response, move on to someone else.

Mary22

Thank you for your responses. So do you think the best thing to do, if no response [sometimes Magazines request articles I.e Scottish Memories] is to presume after say 8 weeks sub it somewhere else?

Sorry I can't agree that 3/4 seconds to say 'sorry but not this time' is too much to ask no matter how busy they are. Surely most people who work these days are too busy not just editors.Tis the world we live in.

dorothyd

It depends on the office, Mary. It takes longer than 3/4 seconds, you have to call up the address, be polite, type something, send it, file it (archive it). I do it because my company is very small but if I was being inundated, then I would find things slip past me. As in the letter I got today about the subs for readers to my magazine who live in Spain, some confusion there because of paperwork overload.

I would leave any article out there for three months, and get busy with the next one. Meantime, you could send it out somewhere else, overseas? with second british serial rights on the cover sheet.

Mary22

Thanks for the advice Dorothy I was thinking more like how Jill of The Weekly News works and I was referring to articles via email. Cheers Mary

dorothyd

yes, articles by email still need archiving for the future. All my submissions to Best of British have been emailed.

Best of luck, there are still magazines out there looking for articles.

collide-o-scope

This is where the difference lies. The old slush pile of hard copy is a different kettle of fish to emailed submissions.

It would be very easy to set up an email address specifically for submissions and to create an auto-reply so that everyone who submits receives an email of acknowledgement possibly with the message that if they have not heard any more within six weeks then their submission has been unsuccessful.

This would keep everyone in the picture without requiring any effort from the recipient of the submissions.

dorothyd

I've done that in my new role as editor of an anthology for Static Movement. It does work well, but surprisingly, a lot of people are not yet in the 21st century. I just received a handwritten letter from someone I went to school with ... she has never got the hang of computers. Come to think of it, neither has the third member of our trio. She admits this, too.

collide-o-scope

I do understand that Dorothy and that literary gem has just as much chance of arriving through a letterbox as an inbox. But surely it makes sense for anyone running a publication to take advantage of any available technology that will save them time. If the auto-reply takes care of electronic submissions for the time being then that frees up more time for sifting through the slush pile. I'm surprised that some of the work I have submitted has not been met with an auto-reply mail as these bigger magazines are the ones most pressed for time.

dorothyd

perhaps we should suggest it to them? I wonder if they simply hadn't/haven't thought about it.

I've noticed that the people who respond automatically are the online zines. Best of British responds by email but not auto-reply.

Dave-Clark

Hi There
Yes, simply have not thought about it.
I edit three magazines in every four week period and do the odd special as well.
I try to acknowledge by email but some do slip through the net and are still on my hard drive.

dorothyd

Hi Dave-clark and welcome to TB.
Why not introduce yourself in the Welcome Writers category so we can all say hi and get to know you?
Thanks for the input.

Dave-Clark

Hi There
I have done a short introduction in the Welcome Writers thread no 1.

dorothyd

good one!

Dave, start a new one, I left a few instructions on the thread you picked up on, an old one.

cath

Ive had no-thanks letters and my work returned to me very promtly from Take a Break, Pick-me-up and Saga. With each submission, I included an S.A.E so this is probably why they were returned to me so promptly. Coming from a nursing backgound, I have been very cross with the Nursing Times, who have never replied to the three articles that I sent to them, all including an S.A.E.

For me, this is all still a massive learning curve and all the comments I've seen so far, are very informative.

dorothyd

not everyone responds, even with SAEs. I once did a Happy New Year list for editors (published!)- in which I asked if they would tell us what they did with all the unused SAES, did they stick labels on them and use them for their own personal mail? I cannot count how much money I have lost over the 30+ years I've been writing with people who never answered, despite large or small SAEs.

lexia

I don't bother with anywhere that wants submissions of hardcopy in the post. Maybe I am missing opportunitys here but as has been said, surely the most efficient method of submission and rejection/acceptance is by email.
Saves on printing too and as there are fewer and fewer post offices I can't see how it's time or cost effective to use ordinary mail.

I also think that not getting an acknowledgement is bad mannered but alas, a sign of our busy, busy times.

Viv

[quote=Mary22]I was thinking more like how Jill of The Weekly News works [/quote]

The difference here is that Jill is dealing with fiction. It is very rare indeed for a fiction story to be ignored. You always get a response eventually, even if a rejection, but most fiction is still submitted via the post and we supply the sae, so we make it easier for them to respond. We all know how easy it is to get flooded by emails and not manage to keep up with replies. And the non-fiction market is so much bigger than fiction, and editors receive so much unsuitable ansd rubblish stuff amongst the few gems. I don't blame editors at all - they didn't ask for these unsiolicited subs. Just chase once after a certain amount of waiting, then assume it's not required, move on and try elsewhere. If they like it and want it, they will tell you.

Claudia

This is an interesting thread. I'm not a short story writer so my experience is with non-fiction articles. If I don't hear from an editor after a couple of months I assume they're not interested. Sometimes I've had a nice surprise after many many months that something's been accepted. But I rarely send an article out before pitching to an editor first anyway.

collide-o-scope

I was out with a friend earlier and he said that when he advertises a new job it is email applications only and he sets up an Auto Response that replies to each application to acknowledge receipt and to inform them of when they can consider their application to have been unsuccessful. This is common sense as it allows him to sift through the applications without the hindrance of applicants ringing up to ask if the position has been filled yet or when a short list will be announced etc.

So surely the same should go for submitting to an editor. An Auto Response email to inform the sender that their submission has been received and that they can consider it unsuccessful if they have not heard within two months. As I have said, this keeps the writer in the picture and at zero effort from the editor apart from the five minutes or so it takes to set the Auto Response up.

Yes we know that editors are busy people but there is positively no need to leave someone who has submitted work in the dark. And it is in their best interests to create an Auto Response too. Imagine the frustration of an editor, who is waiting for a VERY important phone call, picking up the receiver only to hear a voice at the other end asking about the article he submitted several weeks earlier. An Auto Response would do away with this completely.

I know that I have banged on about this a bit but it is a bugbear to me because, as I'm sure most of you would agree, a straight rejection is preferable to simply not knowing.

Phots Moll

Some fiction editors send an auto response e-mail stating that if you've not heard in a set period then the piece won't be used. If they don't have the time for a proper acknowledgement and then rejection then this is (I think) an acceptable alternative. At least you know the piece was recieved and when to try it elsewhere.

In my experience, those markets which insist on postal subs will always reply provided they get an sae.

DeneBebbo

[quote=Ioannes]I thought I'd start a thread on markets for articles and any problems with specific market you have had.
To start this of I would like to know if other have had the same problem I have had submitting articles to The Oldie by email. I submitted an article to them several months ago without so much as an acknowledgment or notice of rejection.[/quote]

I had the same problem emailing The Oldie. It's best to send them your article by post and enclose an SAE, Jeremy Lewis always replies quickly to these in my experience.

dorothyd

not all respond with the SAE, PM. as I said, and at least one TBer complained that Nursing Times ignored THREE SAEs! Editors are diabolical at not responding to paper, they have got better with email, but still have a long, long way to go.

Static Movement have an auto response set up for their editor, but few others do. It is a puzzle as to why they don't, but COS, tis the way of the publishing world and nothing we can do about it.