I was very surprised that SpoonRivers' request for SASEs
was greeted with such derision
and am pleased to note the editor has responded to say (s)he
will consider email subs from overseas.
In pre-internet days
the use of IRCs and SAEs was always deemed essential
when submitting work to magazines.
Of course IRCs are a rip-off as they cost 60p
and are redeemable for 47p
I used to save the IRCs sent to me and re-used them
when submitting my own work to overseas magazines,
and I know I'm not the only editor to do that
since I often got IRCs that were up to four years old.
I think their official life is ten years
I've only once had a problem cashing them in for postage
when an ignorant clerk at my local PO [since closed]
wouldn't accept them.
I later telephoned some customer support line
who subsequently phoned the post office and put him straight.
Yes it IS a hassle but as Roger Collett {I think}
pointed out email submissions are a hassle for editors.
Do writers think editors spend all day in front of the computer reading MSS
online?
Most editors will pour over submitted MSS whilst sitting in a comfortable
chair with a drink of their choice beside them. To do so with email
submission you have to print them out first.
That is OK if you are considering work for a special edition but not for a
general magazine.
There is a growing trend for the use of disposable MSS now it is so easy to
print a new page from a computer rather than retyping {something I always
hated}
and so most people just send a single IRC for a reply, and some Americans
will send a dollar bill or two in lieu of an IRC which most editors find
acceptable -- not so easy the other way as the smallest note in the UK is
five pounds.
And most editors [at least those who are online -- there are still quite a
lot who are not] are quite OK with the practice of replying to snail-mail
submissions by email, thereby not requiring SAE or IRC.
But submissions sent to editors without a ready means of reply are generally
destined straight for the bin.
Mind you, it is true that a lot of Americans [not all I know] are pretty
thick as I've frequently had submissions from people who sent an SASE but,
of course, put US postage stamps thereon -- whether they thought UK was the
53rd State or that US postage was universally accepted, I never found out
since their work too found its way into the WPB.
For most general small-press magazines I think snail-mail submission will
remain the norm. Editors distrust unsolicited email submissions because
unless it is clearly stated otherwise, they are often multiple simultaneous
submissions. Once an initial contact has been made though, many editors will
request an electronic copy of accepted material as this avoids typesetting
errors. A lot of editors WILL consider email submissions when a writer
contacts them with a query first, rather than just emailing an unsolicited
submission.
All it really needs is for the writers to understand the reasons behind the
requests editors make in their submission guidelines, rather thank making
rash assumptions.
yours
Gerald England
Gerald, Christine and Craig England,
New Hope International. Haiku Talk.
Reviews, poetry, travel photography & more.
http://www.nhi.clara.net/index.htm
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