short story submission -- no reply in 2x the stated time, is it acceptable to submit to another publication?

April 1, 2006 6:40 PM

This is for the authors and/or editors of mefi. I submitted a story to a publication that claims a 5 week turn around. That was just over 9 weeks ago. They also ask that authors not inquire about submissions. Am I obligated to wait any longer before submitting to another magazine or can I assume the rejection was lost in the mail and submit elsewhere?
posted by Grod to media & arts (9 comments total)

No. They have broken a written provisional contract . Publishers act poorly because they can. Don't take it personally.

They would have to contact you before publishing your work, anyway, and this would give you time to withdrawl other submissions.
posted by gesamtkunstwerk at 7:14 PM on April 1, 2006

Nope, feel free to submit it elsewhere. Also speaking as an editor, when I worked for a publishing house and received a brief, polite inquiry AFTER the turn around time stated by my house, it never irked me and I would check into the status of the submission and send a quick email to the author.
posted by meerkatty at 7:37 PM on April 1, 2006

They're probably just backed up. It happens. I would feel free to submit it elsewhere. Just remember to notify them if it does get picked up.
posted by BackwardsCity at 7:56 PM on April 1, 2006

Most publications' turnaround claims are highly exaggerated, especially so if it's an academic publication. However, do follow the advice about informing them if it's picked up elsewhere; most submission guidelines specify that by submitting you are tacitly agreeing not to do so elsewhere, and you will engender a lot of unnecessary ill will if you don't keep them in the loop.

I'm also in agreement that it's okay to send a quick, polite e-mail asking about it.
posted by melissa may at 8:03 PM on April 1, 2006

Send an email inquiring. If you don't hear back within a few days, send them another email withdrawing your story, and submit it elsewhere.
posted by jellicle at 8:16 PM on April 1, 2006

The whole "no simultaneous submissions" thing is BS. I've even heard editors of literary magazines say this. If you're not a well known writer, the odds of anything being accepted by one publication are small enough, even if the piece you write is good. The odds of it being accepted by more than one -- miniscule.

If you waited around for editors to turnaround a piece before you sent it out elsewhere, it could be years before it anyone accepts it. I just had response to a story that took six months. The next day I sent it out to three other magazines, two of them with "no simultaneous submissions" in their guidelines. The odds are none of them will acceot it, so it's no big deal that I made simultaneous submissions.

Of course, keep records of where you have sent out your piece, and if it's accepted somewhere immediately inform everyone else that you're withdrawing your manuscript from their consideration.

And if it's actually accepted by more than one publication before you have the chance to withdraw it, as I heard one editor say in response to a question about what happens in that situation, "You should be so lucky." (He also said the editors usually work it out between themselves, the rare times it happens),
posted by ShooBoo at 8:59 PM on April 1, 2006

Speaking as an author, I encourage you to ignore any "no simultaneous submissions" requirements.

Speaking as a submissions editor, I also encourage you to ignore any "no simultaneous submissions" requirements.

Such requirements are idiotic. If an author told me, "You guys took so long that someone else snapped it up," my response would be, "Good for you!"
posted by kyrademon at 11:54 PM on April 1, 2006

I agree with the others. I see no reason why you shouldn't have originally submitted it to a few select pubs in the first place. Obviously you shouldn't canvas, but there's no reason for exclusive submissions these days, unless maybe you have a special relationship with a company.

As for your actual submission, it could be lost, they could be backed up, or they could be holding on to it because they're considering it but aren't sure. I don't think it's really possible to have a standard response time, especially one that short--that's probably just to keep some authors off their backs by letting them assume a "no" if it takes longer.
posted by lampoil at 9:57 AM on April 2, 2006

Thanks, everyone. I'm an unpublished occasional author. One of the universally consistent messages I've received from several workshops and the usual assortment of guidebooks and websites is that simultaneous submissions are not accepted. The manuscript submission guidelines all echo this. There are really only three monthly publications left in the US dedicated to this genre so the chance that one would pick up my story is slim. They all state that they do not consider simultaneous submissions or multiple submissions from the same author (the latter isn't an issue since I'm not very prolific) and I didn't want to reduce my chances further through a breach of etiquette.
posted by Grod at 10:49 AM on April 2, 2006