Subbing for the first time can be a scary process and I
wonder how many publishing houses/agents have missed the opportunity to sign
the next rising star (not me, not yet, maybe never) because they are unaware
the tone of their Submission Guidelines is off?
I’ve certainly passed by certain houses and taken against certain
agents where the tone has been intimidating, blatantly hostile even. Frankly, if submissions aren’t welcome, don’t
ask for them. Close your doors. Lower your shutters. Flick ‘Open’ to ‘Closed’ -
Sorry to have disturbed you.
Stipulating format, specifying genres of interest and
codifying dos and don’ts, admittedly makes for dry copy. But the funny thing
about words is link enough of them together and personality will out.
Submission Guidelines are an important part of Corporate
Image. They spark a first impression and often, an immediate judgement. Get the tone wrong and the next big opportunity
might just walk straight on passed you and worse, they are likely to share
their first impression, however mistaken, with others they meet.
Why do I care? Because words are supposed to matter in this
industry, a sensitivity to tone is supposed to have currency. I know that SGs
are probably so far down a frantically busy agent’s/publisher’s/editor’s
priority list as to have fallen off the bottom, but making a good impression is
a two way process. Writer to publisher - Publisher to writer.
So don't just proof read your words, feel them.
(That sound you hear is me falling a few rungs further down the ladder on the climb to secure a contract)
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