Do you ever wonder when you're submitting a story to an anthology, or even a zine, if you're dealing with editors and publishers who actually know what they're doing? Many of them don't offer you a reference of where they've worked or even if they have a publisher lined up. Always proceed with caution when you're checking out the guidelines.
There are some basic questions you need to ask as you're reading. Do they have a publisher? Does the editor give you his/her credentials, such as, has he ever edited before and how successful was his past work? And as you read the guidelines, check for mistakes. This person is going to be editing your work, if he doesn't care about his own words, will he care about yours?
So what brought this post about? I just found an interesting zombie anthology call that I was going to link to. The deadline for submissions was December 31, 2010 for a publication date of Spring 2010. Could be a simple mistake...but this was a non-paying market with no publisher listed. I passed on the linkage. As Monk's theme song says, "Its a jungle out there". Watch you backs, and arm yourself with caution.
3 comments:
Becoming an editor is like parenting. No training is required. No thought really has to go into it. And sometimes it happens by accident. Fortunately, most editors I've worked with have been good anyway.
I was one of those "accidental" editors, Charles. I helped a friend edit a flash magazine and you're very right about it being like parenting. You're always hoping you're killing someone's dreams by rejecting their story or telling them how to change it to make it better.
I think most writers could step into an editor's shoes without a problem because they know about writing. If an editor lists his writing credits instead of saying, "Hey, I've got this great idea for an anthology, let's do it." I tend to have more faith in them.
and that's hoping you're NOT killing. I really need to proof-read my posts better!
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