Writer's Support Room - Satisfying Editors

Christine Collier's mystery books are available online and can be viewed at www.cozy-mystery.com. Several excerpts from her children’s books are used for school testing and assessment through Measured Progress. Her “life stories” are published in anthology books by Guideposts, Patchwork Path, Adams Media, and HCI Ultimate Books and she’s published in many children’s magazines online and print.

"Leave Your Editor Smiling"

by Christine Collier

ALWAYS BE POLITE

Writers are taught to be polite, in their queries, phone calls, emails, submissions, resumes, or cover letters. This may be difficult if you’ve just received a cold rejection or news that you’ve lost one of your best writing markets. However, nothing positive can come from responding rudely to editors. They will not forget your bad attitude or abrasive personality the next time they are considering your work!

This same theory also applies to your peers. How many times have they led you to potential sales or marketplaces? Fellow writers often remember a friend’s particular style or know of a market that would fit his or her special talent. The best policy is to remain gracious. I found this to be absolutely true recently.

STEADY MARKETS ARE GOOD!

In 2008 I sold to a family newspaper, Prairie Times, in Colorado many times. This newspaper-like magazine is made up mainly of ads and local event announcements. It’s the oldest rural publication in Eastern Colorado with over thirty thousand loyal readers. It’s packed with so many stories and illustrations that the shelf life is much longer than most in the same genre. People save them because they want to read the stories later and also share with others. Thus people have time to look and study the ads for a longer period.

This editor’s policy was that unless you subscribed to this newspaper you didn’t get a contributor’s copy, just a check for payment. It was a nice market though, the editor paid immediately and since a new issue was printed every two weeks she bought often. Right from the start this editor told me she preferred to use local writers but if I had something that caught her eye she was willing to stray outside her state, even to upstate New York where I live. She loves children and family type stories especially. Other loves are pet stories and animals in general. I also sold her articles about tea, household hints and handy recipe tips. At the end of 2008 she emailed me that she was sorry but she could no longer accept any stories from writers outside her state. She hoped I understood. I replied that I certainly did and it had been a pleasure working with her, which it had. I stopped submitting immediately and honored her request completely.

EDITOR NEEDS STORIES

A little over a year ago I received another email from her. She was now publishing a second newspaper for her subscribers and she needed stories! Her policy was still to use only local writers but if she bought from us in the past she’d consider our work again. Did I have something I could send within two days? It just so happened I did! I always have a story sleeping in my computer. Again she wrote she loved animal and family stories, humor, farming and ranching and would take pictures if they added to the story.

This editor’s new policy was to include a contributor’s copy to the writers. The cover of the newspaper (which I’d never seen before) had a list of all the authors inside and the caption, Our Talented Writers, included my name. She bought my fishing story; “Dinosaur Rock” and a thousand-word mystery, “Amanda’s Mysterious Gift”. (An updated version of my first assignment at ICL) My festive story, “Jingle All the Way,” made her second annual Christmas issue and this past December “Rescue in a Snow Cave” was included in a third holiday publication.

DON’T BE ANNOYING

Repeated requests for payments owed can be very annoying to editors. You certainly deserve to be paid but unless your writing market has the policy of avoiding or extended prolonging of payment (if this is the case don’t submit to them anymore) don’t bug your editors about payment. Give them a little grace period. As we all know things are tough out there now!

KNOW YOUR EDITOR

My sales to Prairie Times have already increased for 2011 over last year and while I don’t make a large amount of money it’s steady and always welcome. Because of my long term dealings with this editor I’ve learned her preferences so well that I rarely get rejected. I know she doesn’t want too many submissions close together so I always wait two to three months before sending another one, doesn’t want nonfiction articles or quizzes but loves nostalgia. She has a weakness for many authors which she has shared in her acceptances and the mere mention of them in a storyline usually makes for a sale. A smart writer quickly learns what their editor wants.

If you lose a great market or get a rejection for something you just knew would sell, but somehow didn’t, bite your tongue and leave your editor smiling. You never know when she might need another story or two!

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