Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education alone will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
Re:Questions about submissions
Posted: 2006/12/03 14:55
Fred Duran wrote: My first question is should I have gotten this story drawn? Would that have made them more inclined to look at/consider the story? If so, should I get it drawn and re-submit?
For someone starting out and trying to get a few stories in print, I think it's always a wise idea. The stories, completed, are much easier to place, I've found.
For my first published story, I was paired with an artist by the publisher, but the only reason I got that gig in the first place was because an artist I had developed a relationship with and written a script for had become that series' penciller, so when they decided to do back-ups I got to be first at bat. So develop those relationships with artists. They can benefit you even if it's not the way you think.
I recently spoke with an intern at Marvel who said he heard the five editors he worked with asking about freelance writers all the time. But they asked around for recommendations from the people they were already working with and pretty much never touched the submission pile.
Re-submission is a trickier question. Some print magazines I've dealt with and film studios, etc. won't even open a submission from the same person with the same title. And if they discover it's the same submission, just with a few changes and a new title, they will also discard it...and probably be mad at you for wasting their time.
On the other hand, I heard a Fantagraphics editor tell the story of how they had the "proposal package" for Night Fisher sent to them by the creator and they rejected it. But he went ahead and finished making it, and when he re-submitted the completed work this time they saw the full vision and loved it and published it.
Fred Duran wrote: My second question is after how long of no responses from the publisher do I understand them to be not interested, and try to take the story someplace else?
I would look at length of time it takes them to put out each Event Horizon (I think there's two so far?), and give them at least that much time. If it's 6 months, then 6 months...if it's a year then a year. In the meantime, forget about it and write other things and send them out. Before you know it, that submission time will be up, at which point I usually send a polite e-mail to whoever has my story, give them my name and the name of my story and when I submitted and let them know I assume they passed and I will be sending it to another publisher, just as a courtesy thing.
These are just based on my personal experiences...some of the other writers here may have different advice. This article on proposal etiquette is not about short stories, really, more about series proposals, but would probably still be a good read on the subject.
Post edited by: Caleb Monroe, at: 2006/12/04 05:43
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