When I receive an e-mail submission, and the CC: line is littered with scores of addresses, I can’t help but groan. An e-mail sent to several editors at once sends a signal that you may have simply harvested a slew of magazine’s addresses without taking the time to read their guidelines. If you are sending a simultaneous submission, send a separate e-mail to each magazine, with an appropriate cover letter revised for each market (if a cover letter is required). Many editors consider simultaneous submissions, but if you are submitting a work to more than one magazine, do so in a courteous manner. First, ensure that the magazine considers simultaneous submissions. Next, notify the editor that your work is a simultaneous submission in the cover letter, but you need not list the publications you have sent it to. Finally, if you work is accepted elsewhere, notify the editor immediately. It’s very frustrating for an editor to send out an acceptance letter and reserve space in an upcoming issue, only to find that the author has already sold all rights to his work elsewhere.
9. Requests to Choose a Work
When I see a large, fully stuffed envelope in my PO box, I know what’s in store for me. An author has sent me an entire manuscript of poems or short stories and has affixed a post-it note asking me to “choose a work” from among his or her entire collection. The e-mail version of this involves sending an editor a URL link and asking him or her to read the works on your website. Editors simply do not have time to wade through a website or an entire collection of writings. It is your job as an author to choose which of your works you think are most appropriate for the market in question and to send only those works. Most editors have a limit as to the number of works they will consider at a time, usually averaging around three to five. Consult the publication’s guidelines to determine how many works you may send at once.