I was asked to help compile an anthology of short stories for a South African publisher a couple years ago. I’d never done anything like it before so was very excited. As the process got underway, I realised quite quickly that I was about to learn a lot more than I expected I would, and I thought now that the process is over I might share some of my insights with you in a list of the 10 Things Not To Do When Submitting Your Short Story.
It's All Write
In the occasional blind contest the guidelines might instruct you to do this, but otherwise don’t. I downloaded all the stories from the gmail account we used so that I could read them off line. I was shocked when I realised some stories had no name or contact details. When it came time to get back to the writer it was a serious slog to go back to gmail to find the information.
2. Go with the first thing in your head
Our anthology had a theme. Themes are good and bad. It’s bad if everyone rushes for the first idea that enters their head and, surprisingly, it seems most writers do this. If that happens, then you have two hundred stories that sound like school essays. It is unlikely if you confront the topic dead on you’ll end up with a unique story that will be among the chosen. Blind side the topic and you’ll have a better chance.
3. Mention your pets and hobbies in the cover letter.
I’m sure Fluffy’s a real gem, but she will not increase your chance of having your story chosen. Honestly. Nor will the fact that you have climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. Impressed I was, but it’s not going to sway me. Keep it professional; publishing credits and little more. No personal information.
4. Use SMS language
I know I am BBC (born before computers), but I want a capital I. 8,4,2. These are not words; they are numbers. @ is a symbol in an email address. Just as houses are made of bricks, short stories are made of words- not symbols and numbers. It’s just the way it is. If you are a writer, use words or else find a different profession.
5. Go under or over the word count
I’ll admit sometimes I read long complicated submission guidelines about margins, style, and types of quotation marks they want and think – what? But word count? Never. Easy to read, easy to understand, easy to follow. So why give someone 5000 words when they’ve asked for 2000? Why?
6. Send a poem for a short story anthology and then ask why the publisher is so rigid
There are many poetry markets. There are combined short story and poetry markets. Why on God’s earth would you want to send a poem to a short story market and then get pissed off when you’re told no thanks?
7. Scan your story and send it as a big, fat, heavy useless JPEG
I have painfully slow internet. A heavy JPEG file is not going to put me in an accommodating frame of mind. Besides, no one can do anything with it. It’s a big, fat unyielding block that for me goes straight into the trash.
8. Ask for a critique of your story
I was surprised at the number of people who asked if I might give them a critique of their story if it was not chosen. There were over 300 stories I had to read in a relatively short period of time. Please, writers, let’s be fair. There are editors that you can hire to do that job. It is astonishingly bad manners to ask a writer or a judge to critique your story – for free.
9. Undermine yourself by revealing this is your first story ever
Why say, “This is the first short story I’ve ever written and submitted”? Do you expect the reader will give you a few points for your newbie status? Likely the opposite. Don’t do it. It looks unprofessional and, frankly, desperate.
10. Write after two weeks…. then three weeks…. then four weeks, etc. asking if your story has been chosen.
Either you want the reader to take their time and consider your story and every other submission or you don’t. Over three hundred submissions and a week after the deadline you want to know if your story has been chosen? By the third week you are insinuating that the publisher is using your masterpiece without your permission. Have some empathy for the task at hand, folks. It is not easy. Also, accusing a reputable publisher or editor of using your writing illegally is showing your newbie status in the most unflattering of lights.
Well, that’s a bit of what I learned in the process. Educating for this writer, hope it helps a few of you too.
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