The Time Between an Offer and Finishing the Deal

I recently started submitting short genre pieces, and I just got an acceptance at a nice semi-pro place. But this is my first time getting accepted anywhere, so I have a question.

They sent the contract and said they'd sign it after I emailed it back. So I did. I've heard nothing since--no contract, no acknowledgement that I sent it, nothing. It's been a week.

What should I expect? How long does this usually take? And at what point would you guys check in?

I know every place is different, and I know all these folks are busy. I just don't know when it'd be appropriate to say, "Hi, I'm just checking in and making sure my email wasn't eaten by the spam filter. Is there anything else you need from me?"

Nope, it wasn't anything that fancy! I had a choice between filling it out and mailing two copies to them or scanning and emailing it. So it's all very low tech. (And if they regularly handle contracts by snail-mail, I probably should expect a slower response!)

I'll continue being patient, then.

alexshvartsman said:

It really depends on the market. If you aren't sure, just query after 3 weeks or so with "hey, just wanted to makes sure you received everything fine? I never got a countersigned copy back" type of deal.

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Thank you! This is very helpful. I'm on week #2 now, so I'll hold off until next week before following up. It's good to know this can be a slow process, though!

alexshvartsman said:

If you're comfortable sharing the name of the market you sold to, some of us may have sold to them before and can tell you what to expect.

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Sure! Spellbound Magazine, by Eggplant Literary Productions. Anyone's experiences would be delightful. They seem lovely and I am completely over the moon about them.

Cathy C said:

I've gotten the contract as late as when the publication came out. The good news: they offered and you accepted. It's far more important to keep the editor happy now and not worry about the contract. If it's an established pub, it'll arrive in due course.

That said, if you have any qualms about the pub, send the occasional email, as a separate subject line, while continuing to work with the editor on the story in its own email chain. Don't mix topics. Be cooperative, professional and businesslike.

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Thank you! This is excellent advice. I would be mortified if I was even unintentionally unprofessional, so I'll just file little details like "Different topics in different email threads" away in my brain and hope that keeps me from annoying anyone.

And I'm not even working with an editor, actually! I just got the acceptance email with the contract attached and haven't heard a word since. And that's why this thread is wonderful for my sanity. I was worried about what the silence meant. What if my story was actually incredibly awful and they only realized it later? Or what if the 50-word bio I wrote was bad, or they realized I hadn't published before, and they were suddenly unimpressed with me? I can imagine all sorts of awful scenarios when I don't know any better.

roach said:

Hello! Raechel Henderson here (publisher over at Spellbound). April has been an overwhelming month thanks to multiple deadlines and releases so I'm behind on a lot of my correspondence. To be honest, I'm not the quickest responder anyways since I'm working from home with a toddler underfoot.*

A quick follow up e-mail of "Did you get my contract?" isn't unprofessional (at least with regards to Eggplant).


*When people warn about going with small press/single owner presses, this is one of the things they are getting at. When life, health, other issues come up usually the publishing side of things slow down.

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Eek! Well, you certainly can't top a response directly from the editor. Thank you very much for taking the time to respond! This is all very helpful.

But, well, I do hope it's obvious that I'm not complaining. I'll certainly follow up if or when it's appropriate. But I started this thread because I'm learning how this whole contract process goes and I wasn't sure what to expect.