Fenland Woman: E-mailing Editors
Claire offers advice on contacting editors by e-mail.
Before the invention of e-mail, freelance writers used to send their manuscripts out by post. If they wanted to contact a publisher or editor they had to make a phone call or write a letter.
These days with e-mail it is easier to get in touch with the people who publish our work. It is also easier to goof up. E-mail is such an instant medium that it makes us all prone to dashing off a message and pressing send without double checking whether or not our words can be misinterpreted.
I had a horrible misunderstanding not so long ago. I thought that I didn’t need to say that I knew my work could either be accepted or rejected. The recipient of my e-mail didn’t know that I knew that, and assumed that I had taken it for granted that my work would be accepted.
When I read my e-mail back I realised that because I didn’t write “I fully understand that my work may be rejected,” my message did have the potential to be misinterpreted by someone didn’t know me. It was entirely my fault because I forgot to be careful.
E-mails to editors and publishers should be like legal documents. Keep them as concise as possible and leave no room whatsoever for your motives to be misinterpreted. Rule number one should be:
1. Don’t forget that the recipient doesn’t know you and therefore won’t know to excuse you if you write something ambigious.
I used to be an editor for a very nice website. A large part of my job was sending e-mails to writers to give feedback on stories. It was a valuable experience because it taught me some things that writers should never ever do to editors. Here are some more rules:
2. The editor’s decision is final. It doesn’t matter if you think your story is wonderful, debating an editorial decision won’t get you anywhere. It shows a lack of respect for the editor and makes you look like trouble.
3. Don’t be paranoid. The editor bases his or her decision on the merits of the story. They see large numbers of stories everyday and have no time to develop a personal vendetta against you. However, they may make an exception if you start sending them rude e-mails.
4. Don’t tell the editor that you worked really really hard. Does the editor care about the amount of effort you put in? No. He or she is only interested in the final product.
5. Don’t use emotional blackmail. Your puppy died? Doesn’t matter if your story isn’t up to scratch.
6. Don’t fib about the amount of work you did. The editor sees a lot of stories everyday and will know.
7. Don’t send your story unless it’s completely finished. The editor has a lot of work to do and doesn’t have time to make additions to a story that may already have been edited.
8. If a story needs additions, put all your instructions in one email. Don’t stagger them over 24 hours.
9. Asking for feedback is ok, but don’t be cross if you don’t get it.
10. The editor is god. So there.
