\nToday’s question about the SF publishing industry is:
\nWhy do publishers disallow simultaneous submissions?<\/B>\n<\/p>\n
\nAny author or book on writing will say the same thing: don’t do it. \nOther than “we’re the publishers and we say so,” the only reason I’ve read \nQ: What is wrong with simultaneous submissions? Why can’t I send out my manuscript \nA: Some markets allow simultaneous submissions. The Literary Market Place and The <\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/p>\n \nAfter reading this, I actually went back and studied the SFWA acronym. Editor: Tra-la-la-la-la… Say, what do we have here in the slush pile? Graphic Layout All three Author: (pokes head in the door) Ummm… ‘scuse me… but I ah… ummm… Editor: Whaaat! Minions! (claps hands) Pelt this miscreant, this tramp, Author: Aie, curse my impatience! I am undone! (retreats under the barrage)<\/p>\n Editor: Well, the only thing left to do now is to redo our entire layout, (All three burst into tears)<\/p>\n THE END \nWell, perhaps that didn’t help quite as much as I had hoped.\n<\/p>\n \nAnyway, the point is: how the heck \nFrankly, the more I read the FAQ the angrier I get. The sad revelation \nOne more thing: notice how the long lead times are a direct result of \nCompetition? Publishing? Bah, I live in a dream-world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Editor: Whaaat! Minions! (claps hands) Pelt this miscreant, this tramp, with crumpled Coke cans. And blacklist her, post-haste!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goer.org\/Journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goer.org\/Journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goer.org\/Journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goer.org\/Journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goer.org\/Journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.goer.org\/Journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goer.org\/Journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goer.org\/Journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goer.org\/Journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nIf you get caught doing it, you’re in trouble. But the question remains,
\nwhy<\/em>?\n<\/p>\n
\ncomes from SFWA<\/a>, in their
\nFAQ for
\nBeginning Writers<\/a> (scroll down to the middle of the page):\n<\/p>\n\n
\nto all the markets at once, and save years of waiting time?\n<\/p>\n
\nWriter’s Market tell you which markets these are. Other markets do not want
\nsimultaneous submissions. Why? Because too many of them have been burned by authors
\nwho, on being told that their story was accepted and had been put to press, informed
\nthe editors that, “Oh, I sent that to another magazine and it paid more money so I let
\nthem publish it first.” More than one magazine has found itself in the position of
\nhaving to redo its entire layout, at considerable expense, because of such a situation…\n<\/p>\n
\n“Science-Fiction-and-Fantasy-Writers<\/em>-of-America”. Yup.
\nStill says “Writers”.
\nI keep rereading the explanation and it still baffles me. Hmmmm…
\nperhaps we can elicit the Truth by transforming the narrative…\n<\/p>\n
\n PREMATURE PUBLICATION: A PLAY IN ONE ACT<\/p>\n
\n (he fishes a manuscript out of the pile) Why… it’s a story!
\n I like this one! Yes… it’s perfect for this month’s issue!
\n Minions! (claps hands) Start the presses, post-haste!<\/p>\n
\nDesigner: Aye aye, sir!<\/p>\n
\nEditor: Full speed ahead! <\/p>\n
\ntogether: Huzzah!<\/p>\n
\n actually, your competitor down the street secured the rights to my
\n story over a month ago. Terribly sorry about that.<\/p>\n
\n with crumpled Coke cans. And blacklist her, post-haste!<\/p>\n
\n at considerable expense, because of this situation. <\/p>\n
\n<\/PRE><\/p>\n
\ndoes a submission equate to signing a contract<\/em>?
\nI mean it’s one thing if the editor secures publication rights and
\nthen the author tries to renege “because they got a better offer”.
\nBut that’s not what’s happening here. The author hasn’t agreed to
\nanything yet.\n<\/p>\n
\nof all those poor editors getting burned has to be just outright false. What
\nidiot is going to lay out his magazine based on manuscripts that
\nhe hasn’t bothered to acquire yet? The other possibility is that the poor editors
\nreally were<\/em> criminally stupid. Either way, the whole thing stinks.\n<\/p>\n
\nthe no simultaneous submissions rule. If simultaneous submissions were permitted,
\nthen any magazine that could read its slush pile faster would have a significant
\nadvantage, because they could snap up good stories from unknowns long before
\ntheir slower competitors. Competition would force lead times to shrink dramatically.\n<\/p>\n