Submission Etiquette with Publications
What do you do when you hear nothing at all?
Echo…Echo….Echo….!
That is how I feel sometimes when I submit an article to a publication and I hear absolutely nothing! Its kind of frustrating because I have no idea if my writing was good, bad, or indifferent. Was it not the right fit for the publication? Did I write crap, and someone is trying to be nice by not saying anything? I would rather know than have the silence.
What is the etiquette of submission with regarding to publications? I don’t really know and haven’t found a concrete list anywhere on the do’s and don’t. I know not all articles are the right fit for publications that go a certain direction. But how can writers know what a publication is looking for and not looking for if you write for them, and they leave your work hanging in limbo with no feedback? I guess my take away, since I started a publication focused on Creative Art through photography and other mediums, is to make sure I lay out what I am looking for. What is my etiquette so writers there know what they can expect from me.
I wonder, how long should an article be left with a publication when you hear nothing from them for days. I have pulled back a few articles here since I started writing. I did it in on one article because I wanted to submit a different article I felt was a better fit. I took the first one, and submitted it elsewhere, and it worked well because I called it right on where they needed to go for people to see their relevance. I pulled back a couple of others because they just sat there with no response. I published them anyway, but just not under a publication. What is my etiquette on pulling back submissions? What is a publication’s etiquette on giving a reasonable response on whether they want it?
Sometimes the learning curve on things like this is pretty frustrating. I want to improve my skills, and to have my writing be beneficial to others. I know that, while my writing itself is about me, really its about building a relationship with my readers. I love writing, but I do want it to be with a purpose. Learning the etiquette for all of this is challenging. Its worth it, but I sure do wish it all came with a simple manual so that I would know what is expected of me, and what I can expect from publications. I rarely think of these articles as topic threads with the intent of seeking a response, but in this case, I am putting this out there to the community at large. What is your rule of thumb regarding submissions and when to pull back articles if you get no feedback?
