Having some trouble withdrawing a piece from a market

I'm thinking you resend, with a reference to their latest letter. You know, thanking them for their kind consideration, yadda yadda...

I suspect it's just a matter of miscommunication. I'd resend, responding to the email.

I'd respond to the email they sent.

"Dear Editor,

You are a moron. Your parents obviously had odd numbers of chromosomes. I can see that you have the mental acuity of a creosoted fence post. I would be ashamed to tell my dog that a piece I had written had been published in your magazine.

Thank you.

Regards,"


That oughtta do it.

caw

blacbird said:

"Dear Editor,

You are a moron. Your parents obviously had odd numbers of chromosomes. I can see that you have the mental acuity of a creosoted fence post. I would be ashamed to tell my dog that a piece I had written had been published in your magazine.

Thank you.

Regards,"


That oughtta do it.

caw

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OOh, nice! I like the restraint - no mention of parasites, IQ, personal hygiene or marital state of the parents. Good one!

I think they were politely asking you to reconsider because they liked it. I agree with politely sending another email saying in essence. "That's so sweet. Thank you, honey. Now CUT IT OUT!"

You weren’t unclear at all. I suspect, though, that what the editor told you is probably true: they like the story and are considering it for purchase. Depending on the market, five months really doesn’t seem like a long wait.

But since you say you still want to withdraw the story, it seems then that you should contact them with a, “Thanks for your time and consideration, but I’m still withdrawing the story,” letter.

Unfortunately, that likely will mean you will never sell a future story to that market.

Let us know how it turned out.

It might just be an automatic reply. I get them all the time from one of my Australian magazines - even when I'm sending back stories they've asked me to shorten for publication.

The editor usually contacts me properly a wee while later.

Maybe they'd be interested in reprint rights?

Shweta said:

Actually, could you guys please take my name off that? (blacbird, in your original post, and Kate, in your quote?) I realize it's a joke, but it could very easily be quoted out of context*. I worry that it will not do me any good at all to have my name associated with that kind of rudeness on a public site.

Thanks


* A certain individual has previously quoted me (and other AWers) badly out of context, thus making it look as though we said terrible things. So I'm not just being paranoid. I do not want to give such people ammo, please.

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I agree with Shweta, this would be a good idea. The post itself was humourous, but try not to put in other members names to these just in case, as you never know who they may be quoted by in an open forum.

Shweta:

Withdrawing a story may not put you on the bad-kid list, but if an editor has just spent a lot of time putting a story through the editorial hoops, believing with increasing likelihood that he'll buy it, then a message arrives from the author, withdrawing the story, the editor is very likely to feel as if he's just wasted his time, of which there is not an abundance. Probably won’t be too happy about that.

Depending on the market, though, the editor may be groovy with that. The markets that are okay with such things usually tell you up front that there may be a long wait and, if during that long wait, you find other markets, feel free to try the story elsewhere -- just let them know. These usually aren’t top-tier markets, by the way (at least not ones I’m familiar with).

If by your question you mean, “Have I screwed my chances of selling anything elsewhere?” the answers are likely these: “yes” and “no.” Kind of depends, once again, upon the market. Also depends upon the circumstances. There are a gazillion markets, especially internet ones, that don’t pay anything at all, and though your interactions with any market should be up front and courteous, worrying about potential repercussions from one of these freebie markets is probably overkill. Now, if you just did this to, take-your-pick of favorite national magazines, then, yes, there are likely going to be other places you’ll not be able to sell to, and those will be places where the chapped editor has friends.

Bad example:

Had a remotely similar experience (remotely) while editing a small magazine. An author pulled the plug on a story we were serializing, causing much chagrin among the editorial staff and readers. Now, some readers may recognize his name in future publications and say -- "Screw you, Jack, I'm not buying!" -- and a great many more may shrug, buy, and read. I told a friend of mine, though, who was editing another magazine at the time, that serializing anything by this fellow in the future was probably going to be a bad, bad idea. That's as far as it went. Not sure what the writer is up to now.

My .59-cents. (Inflation.)

Why are you withdrawing the story? Did it get picked up by another magazine?

If there's no exclusivity period for the first sale, you could see if this mag would be willing to take the story as a reprint. I resold "The Darkmount Trilogy" about a month after first publication, so...

Summonere said:

An author pulled the plug on a story we were serializing, causing much chagrin among the editorial staff and readers.

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The heck?! Did he go and sell the story to another pub when it was already being published in serial form, or did he just decide to give up on continuing it? If the former, . That would definitely put him on the shit-list, if I was the editor who got that treatment.

Have no idea what he did with the story after he pulled the plug on it, but his reason for doing so wasn't because he'd already sold it elsewhere, but because he wanted to. This was a tiny little magazine, mind, so he wanted more than we were paying. Perhaps because we found the story entertaining enough to publish, he figured he stood a good chance of placing it in a better market. As far as I know, that hasn't happened. (I probably had nothing to do with that.)

...that is just awful and unprofessional.

Yup, he would definitely go on the shit-list.

Story

If I say "no simultaneous submissions," then a writer is on my "never will buy from list" the moment he pulls a story out from under me.

The story was not pulled due to simultaneous submissions. Shweta is away writing her thesis so I thought I would reply. It was pulled for totally different reasons.