- Joined
- Aug 27, 2005
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- 13
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This is the start of my list of pet peeves about agents' and publishers' rules for submissions. Sorry if it overlaps what others have said.
1. "No simultaneous submissions."
Let me start by stating that I understand this rule. No one wants to find themselves in a bidding war on a manuscript. Got it. But with the thousands (?) of queries that go out in a day or a week, the odds of a bidding war for a particular manuscript is ridiculously high.
Okay, the first and most obvious point is- How the hell will they know? I mean, seriously. It's a silly demand. And it seems to be a demand. What are they going to do? Turn you down because they get a call from their source in another agency referencing the query they just fell in love with? It's almost insulting because it's so unrealistic.
Second, think what it says about what they think of writers. They think I am going to sit around and wait the requisite 2-4 weeks for each individual query response before mailing out the next one. And my life expectancy is steadily increasing to 200, and I don't mind waiting until I'm 150 before my first acceptance.
Third, as usual, those who follow the rules are penalized. There are those exceptionally good-hearted and polite folks who will hate to think they are violating the rules (so earnestly stipulated by every agent and publisher) and will do the 2-4 week (or greater) wait. It is a shame to insist on a rule that they KNOW they cannot in any way, shape or form verify, just to punish the virtuous. (I do not include myself in that group.)
And last(ly), there is the most subtle and insidious group of all, those who "accept simultaneous submissions" if they're notified. So, here we have a little honesty test for us would-be's. They know full well we are sending simultaneously, but they want to hear us say it. Except this is a very small % of the total, so if we're notifying them, we're either sending to the others who accept simultaneous subs, OR we are obviously breaking the rules of the vast majority who don't want them, meaning we are almost definitely dishonest in some fashion. And then when all the agents and publishers get together for the Tuesday meetings, this small, elite group can share this information with the others and unmask us, and blacklist us, keep us down, stop us criticizing their cabal. This is my first pet peeve...
1. "No simultaneous submissions."
Let me start by stating that I understand this rule. No one wants to find themselves in a bidding war on a manuscript. Got it. But with the thousands (?) of queries that go out in a day or a week, the odds of a bidding war for a particular manuscript is ridiculously high.
Okay, the first and most obvious point is- How the hell will they know? I mean, seriously. It's a silly demand. And it seems to be a demand. What are they going to do? Turn you down because they get a call from their source in another agency referencing the query they just fell in love with? It's almost insulting because it's so unrealistic.
Second, think what it says about what they think of writers. They think I am going to sit around and wait the requisite 2-4 weeks for each individual query response before mailing out the next one. And my life expectancy is steadily increasing to 200, and I don't mind waiting until I'm 150 before my first acceptance.
Third, as usual, those who follow the rules are penalized. There are those exceptionally good-hearted and polite folks who will hate to think they are violating the rules (so earnestly stipulated by every agent and publisher) and will do the 2-4 week (or greater) wait. It is a shame to insist on a rule that they KNOW they cannot in any way, shape or form verify, just to punish the virtuous. (I do not include myself in that group.)
And last(ly), there is the most subtle and insidious group of all, those who "accept simultaneous submissions" if they're notified. So, here we have a little honesty test for us would-be's. They know full well we are sending simultaneously, but they want to hear us say it. Except this is a very small % of the total, so if we're notifying them, we're either sending to the others who accept simultaneous subs, OR we are obviously breaking the rules of the vast majority who don't want them, meaning we are almost definitely dishonest in some fashion. And then when all the agents and publishers get together for the Tuesday meetings, this small, elite group can share this information with the others and unmask us, and blacklist us, keep us down, stop us criticizing their cabal. This is my first pet peeve...