There’s a saying that writers love to write, but hate to edit. There are reasons for that, and I covered them in my previous post on Feedback. This month, we’ll be looking at what possibly goes on at the Editorial Table, instead. A Huge Mess If the place you’re submitting to has any form of reputation, you’re looking at an average of hundreds of submissions coming in a day. That also means a huge mess in the Editor’s inbox and on their table. Remember this? It’s not an exaggeration. So do cut your editors a little slack, especially if they’re not handling the publication full-time. At the same time, I’d say this gives all storytellers more incentive to submit their best work, correctly formatted - making your editor’s life a little easier goes a slightly longer way (after good content), trust me. Tight Deadlines We can say and fantasize all we like, but deadlines are a reality of life - whether you’re a creative genius or not. Same thing goes with your Editors. With tight deadlines and book launches looming, Editors have a load of responsibility to get content out on schedule. Content will keep coming, but books need to be released to make pay and rent. At the same time, Editors are usually at this in-between situation where they want to spend time to make creator’s stories the best they can be, but also have to cater to the people who sign their paychecks - the publisher or clients. Therefore, when your Editors give you a deadline, chances are, it’s the best date they can think of so that the project’s schedule won’t be thrown off too much. The Better Between Two Choices Oftentimes, Editors find themselves in an unenviable position of having to choose the better between two greats. It can be due to the publisher’s budgets, market information, or just which one fits the anthology or collection better and it only had one slot left. Putting aside the fact of some manuscripts really not making the cut due to the quality of writing, disregard of the publisher’s format criteria, or stories that are not aligned with the anthology’s theme, the Editor can be left with a case where you only have 12 story slots in this anthology, but 16 stories that made the cut. That’s when it gets really down to the wire - Editors will be looking out for silly mistakes, the slightest loophole, or even which story seems to fit best so they can trim out the duplicates. Therefore, it is common for Editors to say, “Sometimes, it’s not about the quality of the work. It’s about which work ended up becoming the best fit, instead of the best.” Follow-Up? Depends As I’ve mentioned earlier, Editors have many deadlines to adhere to - on top of their daily work and follow-ups with more authors than they can handle. So to be brutally honest, many “can you please tell me why my manuscript has been rejected?” emails can go unanswered just because the Editor literally have no time to craft something more nuanced than the rejection letter received. Regardless, do send in your queries - politely, please - if you have a burning desire to know how your manuscript did. Just don’t feel entitled to an answer, and keep creating. # And that’ll be all from the Editorial Office (at least, some part of it)! Stay tuned next month for the next stage - Mediums (and no, not the ones you use to communicate with spirits).
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