We Love Your Work and Never want to See It Again

Photo by Ga on Unsplash

Looking again at publishers' guidelines, I see that many seek to limit the number of submissions and/or the frequency with which one may submit work to them. I get it: They don't want to be flooded with more than they can possibly read. Many are already flooded, and may take months to accept or reject (more often, reject) a manuscript.

I can understand why they tell authors who've been declined to wait a month or two months (or six months) before submitting again.They are gently (or not so gently) trying to avoid being relentlessly bombarded with manuscripts from the ultra-determined.

It's a little harder to understand discouraging authors who have been accepted. I've seen a couple of zines that tell accepted authors to wait TWO YEARS before submitting again. Yikes! As an editor myself, I welcome new submissions from my favorite authors. I want really good stories to publish, and I also know that stories by oustanding authors will attract more readers. Telling those top-quality authors to go away forever (and, really, two years might as well be forever) is counterproductive.

The great zines are known for regularly publishing works by the readers' and editors' favorites. Some even brag about having monthly stories from a particularly well-loved author. Of course, publishers should be open to work by new or lesser-known writers, but many would see a real decline in overall quality and readership if they adopted the two-year rule.

At this, point, though, I don't have to worry, since none of the zines with a two-year (or one-year or never-again) rule have accepted any of my work.