When a market doesn't list time to respond?

AmberS

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Is there a standard operating procedure when a market doesn't list their time to respond? The only thing they said related to that is that simultaneous submissions are allowed and that anything outside the designated word count won't receive a response. Well, I submitted something a couple of weeks ago (with the correct word count) -- no response, not even an acknowledgement or anything.

I realize a couple weeks is a short timeframe but it still makes me wonder if I'm ever going to hear anything or if it's lost in the ether. Meanwhile there is a March 1 deadline creeping up for another call where an alternate version of this piece would work very well. I'd prefer the first one but my odds at the latter are better. The second one is also a little bit hazy on exclusivity, they've said so before but this call didn't specify, so I'd prefer to submit exclusively with them.

I'm probably making this harder than it needs to be but I wondered if anyone had any thoughts or what would you do in this case? Would it be completely weird to email and ask for a response time on my submission even though it hasn't been that long? (I'm guessing yes.) If someone doesn't specify, is there an industry norm to assume?
 

BenPanced

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Give them enough time to receive your submission, process it through their system, and reply or not. If you don't hear back from them by the end of the 6 weeks, give them a polite nudge. If you don't hear back from them within 2 weeks after that, I'd assume it's a no and move on.
 

Jamesaritchie

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Two months minimum. And even this is pressing it.
 

Debbie V

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I also recommend looking up the market on here and at query tracker, etc. Sometimes you can find info about response times. If others say they received an automated response to their initial submission, you'll know yours may not have gone through.