Barry Alpert wrote:
> My experience argues that rejection letters themselves are old-fashioned,
> replaced by no response at all. When at the suggestion of the founding
> editor I queried the current editor-in-chief of a hard-copy magazine in
> which I had previously appeared about the fate of my current submission, he
> responded that he was unaware of any editor who wasted valuable time on
> rejected material. Subsequently, having had no response from equally young
> editors to perfectly appropriate contributions to themed issues accompanied
> by a leading cover letter, I assume that my work will not be appearing in
> those two magazines. Barry Alpert
>
If this is so, and I have no reason to think otherwise, it precisely
duplicates my experience looking for work in the non-academic business
world over the last 30 years. Maybe once in several months you will
receive a brief form letter. I appreciate these because they take away
the *l'espoir sale* attendant on standing by the mailbox because you
just *know* you wowed them in that interview and they didn't notice your
10-year-old samples or gray hair.
As far as writing, I was lucky when I submitted work to paper
publications with their precious SASE's and "read our Christlike
publication before submitting": I always got a perfunctory response
(even if I did read the journal first) and my poems were returned
("Canwehaveourballback?"). Two publications, The Paterson Literary
Review and Poetry (itself) actually had hand-written comments. It's
nice to know that Joseph Parisi could waste *his* valuable time writing
to a nobody in Jersey.
One place to which I submitted--if I remembered, I'd name it--even held
my submissions together by thoughtfully driving a straight pin into the
manuscript, ensuring I could never use those copies again: a nicety
that reminded me of Luca Brazi's hand being impaled on a spike in *The
Godfather*.
Ken
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Ken Wolman rainermaria.typepad.com
There's a lot of wisdom here among the employees,
Some of us have street smarts and some have Ph.Ds.
We're all bored and tired but we've all learned ways to cope
Some of us drink after work, the rest of us smoke dope.
--Austin Lounge Lizards, "Industrial Strength Tranquilizers"
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