Those Poor Editors
A little editor humor from fellow writer Gretchen Jones. I LAUGHED OUT LOUD, literally. http://comics.com/pearls_before_swine/2009-06-09/I really feel for editors sometimes. I know it’s evil of me to side with them on anything, but they really must go through a ton of garbage at times to find that proverbial diamond in the rough. I read a Tweet post by one the other day, and she was fuming because of a writer requesting/demanding to be given a contract based on a partial. Evidently, said writer has a few manuscript problems and can’t get past her own ego to see them. Plus, it's not the publishing house's POLICY to contract on partials. That writer probably took the advice of someone else who suggested she do such a thing. Be careful who you admire - lol. They may talk bigger than they walk.
One thing I’ve noticed is that so many of us (writers) tend to blog about more than we should. I don’t mind copping to doing something stupid or bad occasionally – it’s like going to church and hoping SOMEONE still loves you, even though you’re a complete ass. Sometimes they do…sometimes they don’t. HOWEVER. I refuse to blog about what I have sent in to some publisher and naming names, giving ALL the details and then turning around a saying they rejected me. SURE, I have rejections. But here’s the deal, for those writers who don’t think editors and agents read their blogs (sometimes under assumed names, folks)...think again.
Say you submit Naughty, Naughty Nancy’s Misadventures in Misogyny to St. Martin’s or Dell, Bantam, or Harlequin. The editor there rejects you. I guaran-damn-tee you that after you announce this on your blog, an Ellora’s Cave, Samhain, Loose Id, or other editor at a small press or an e-press is reading your post going “Ah, shit – that means she’ll be sending it via email to me tomorrow.”
Why? Because so many writers don’t see small presses or e-publishers as the professionals they are. Some writers tend to think that if NY won’t buy them, ‘oh, an e-pub will’. Not necessarily. How do you think these businesses stay afloat? For every e-book you show me that is a piece of crap, honey, I can raise you a print book that is equally crappy.
Secondly, and this one is important…if you turn around and submit that manuscript to another publisher within 24 hours, you most likely haven’t taken the time to discover WHY it got rejected in the first place. Maybe there’s something you should DO (yeah, there’s that four-letter word WORK) before you fire it off to someone else. Just sayin’ (as Paul Reiser’s schtick went)…
Anyway. That old saying “don’t shit where you eat” applies to the writing world for sure. If your writing is your bread and butter, give that editor a feast rather than a fast for the day.
On that happy-friggin’-note…I still wish a terrific weekend for all of you. REALLY. And if this post can save one of you from making the mistakes mentioned, then I'll stick my neck out and take the chance it won't get chopped off.
I don’t have a damn thing to send in to an editor right now, just wanted to give a cyber hug to ‘em. Bless their rotten black souls. I mean, sure, they enjoy torturing us writers *snort*, but they still need lovin’.
posted by Bobbie (Sunny) Cole @ 1:25 PM
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