Since more and more journals are accepting online submissions (and many are now asking for them exclusively) I have a question in regard to formatting.
Unfortunately, many journals that ask for online submissions refuse to accept attachments, and will ask that your story be pasted or typed into the body of your email. The problem with this is that it tends to mess up your manuscript's formatting. I have sent out at least three submissions, not to mention an article for an online writing zine, this way. Each time, the same thing has happened: The copy will look fine, until I hit the "Send" button. Then, when I go back and look at the "Sent" copy (which my program enables me to do) the story will be absolutely crazy looking, with all kinds of weird line breaks, wrapped lines, etc. Although it doesn't make the stories unreadable, it makes it more difficult, for example, to tell where paragraph breaks are supposed to be, and is just plain harder to read because it looks strange.
In every case, it has been a frustrating situation because, as I've said, the copy looked fine when I sent it. There was nothing I could have done manually to prevent this from happening. I recently read the guidelines submission for one online journal that specifically asked for attachments because, as the editor acknowledged, pasting in the email body causes format problems.
I have since come across a few guidelines that will say something like "Don't worry about the formatting" or "Format will be verified upon acceptance."
So it seems to me that editors are aware of this problem. However, I have to ask, why would they intentionally make their job harder by asking writers to submit via a format that they know is going to cause problems?
Granted, I know they are taking a risk by opening attachments, but if they are going to tell us not to submit attachments, and not to submit a hardcopy, and then our stories come to them in such a weird looking format, how do they get around this situation? Do they have some method for being able to "fix" this? Do they just get used to reading manuscripts this way?
The editor of the newsletter I submitted to was certainly quite grateful when I offered to re-send my article via attachment (which she said was fine). But this isn't an option for journals that do not accept them.
My main concern is that a weirdly formatted manuscript will prejudice editors against it. They may look at it and automatically reject it because their reaction will be "I can't read this." But if they give us no other option for submitting, and there is nothing that can be done to "correct" the problem, what are we to do? Just assume they know how to correct it, or that they are willing to read it anyway?
I'm concerned because I recently sent a story to "The New Yorker" this way (again, they accept online submissions but not attachments). This is a difficult and prestigious market, anyway, and I want to have all the odds in my favor. They may or may not like the story, but I would hate to know it was rejected just because of the format. I am thinking of resubmitting a hardcopy, with a note explaining about what happened with the online submission, but I don't know if this would be acceptable. Or, again, if it even matters.
And unfortunately many journals are no longer making hardcopy an option at all. Fortunately, most of the pieces I have sent out via this method have been short, but "The New Yorker" submission was a 30+ page story.
In the future I am seriously considering limiting my submissions only to journals that accept hardcopy or attachments--unless these editors demanding cut and paste submissions are willing to do the work. Anyone have any insight into this? How do these editors deal with these cut and paste submissions when the format is screwed, or do they bother at all?
And is there anything I could do on my end to prevent this from happening?
Unfortunately, many journals that ask for online submissions refuse to accept attachments, and will ask that your story be pasted or typed into the body of your email. The problem with this is that it tends to mess up your manuscript's formatting. I have sent out at least three submissions, not to mention an article for an online writing zine, this way. Each time, the same thing has happened: The copy will look fine, until I hit the "Send" button. Then, when I go back and look at the "Sent" copy (which my program enables me to do) the story will be absolutely crazy looking, with all kinds of weird line breaks, wrapped lines, etc. Although it doesn't make the stories unreadable, it makes it more difficult, for example, to tell where paragraph breaks are supposed to be, and is just plain harder to read because it looks strange.
In every case, it has been a frustrating situation because, as I've said, the copy looked fine when I sent it. There was nothing I could have done manually to prevent this from happening. I recently read the guidelines submission for one online journal that specifically asked for attachments because, as the editor acknowledged, pasting in the email body causes format problems.
I have since come across a few guidelines that will say something like "Don't worry about the formatting" or "Format will be verified upon acceptance."
So it seems to me that editors are aware of this problem. However, I have to ask, why would they intentionally make their job harder by asking writers to submit via a format that they know is going to cause problems?
Granted, I know they are taking a risk by opening attachments, but if they are going to tell us not to submit attachments, and not to submit a hardcopy, and then our stories come to them in such a weird looking format, how do they get around this situation? Do they have some method for being able to "fix" this? Do they just get used to reading manuscripts this way?
The editor of the newsletter I submitted to was certainly quite grateful when I offered to re-send my article via attachment (which she said was fine). But this isn't an option for journals that do not accept them.
My main concern is that a weirdly formatted manuscript will prejudice editors against it. They may look at it and automatically reject it because their reaction will be "I can't read this." But if they give us no other option for submitting, and there is nothing that can be done to "correct" the problem, what are we to do? Just assume they know how to correct it, or that they are willing to read it anyway?
I'm concerned because I recently sent a story to "The New Yorker" this way (again, they accept online submissions but not attachments). This is a difficult and prestigious market, anyway, and I want to have all the odds in my favor. They may or may not like the story, but I would hate to know it was rejected just because of the format. I am thinking of resubmitting a hardcopy, with a note explaining about what happened with the online submission, but I don't know if this would be acceptable. Or, again, if it even matters.
And unfortunately many journals are no longer making hardcopy an option at all. Fortunately, most of the pieces I have sent out via this method have been short, but "The New Yorker" submission was a 30+ page story.
In the future I am seriously considering limiting my submissions only to journals that accept hardcopy or attachments--unless these editors demanding cut and paste submissions are willing to do the work. Anyone have any insight into this? How do these editors deal with these cut and paste submissions when the format is screwed, or do they bother at all?
And is there anything I could do on my end to prevent this from happening?
