Did you send off a work to a magazine and never receive a response? Maybe you failed to follow the submission guidelines. I have occasionally flipped through my file of works on hold, only to discover that a particular work of interest contained no mailing address. I always ask authors to include a name and address on each submission, in case they become separated or in the event that I only wish to hold one poem. If that information is missing, I have no way to contact the author. Other editors may assign numbers to submissions and prefer that you not include a name and address. Always be sure to read each publication's guidelines. Guidelines will tell you how to format your manuscript, how many works to send at once, whether or not a publication considers reprints and simultaneous submissions, and what topics and genres to avoid. No editor wants to receive poetry when his or her publication contains nothing but short stories.
Now that you know the top ten pet peeves of editors, dust off your manuscript, read through some guidelines, grab some envelopes, and…watch your step!