Hi everyone -- I'm new here and am looking forward to learning a lot from all of you. I am interested in submitting an essay to a publication that says it receives so many submissions that it cannot acknowledge them. Assuming that this publication does not accept simultaneous submissions, how long is it prudent to wait before submitting to another publication given that I will not receive a rejection email or letter? Thanks in advance.
acknowledge might not be the same thing as responding. I know plenty of magazines that don't tell you when they receive a piece, but they will still respond to a reject. Are you sure which they mean here? If they don't respond to rejects, I'd give them at least 6-8 months.
This is how it is phrased: Due to the multitude of submissions for the xxx column, unsolicited pieces will not be responded to or returned. I believe this column publishes both unsolicited pieces and excerpts from books. 6-8 months is a long time!
Publishing is slow, gotta have patience That's why it is advisable to submit something and then move on to the next piece. Keep busy and those months will fly by
What makes you so sure that the column publishes unsolicited material? If they clearly say that they will not respond to unsolicited pieces, you might end up waiting for nothing.
Because at the bottom of each weekly column, it says to send submissions to xxx@xxx.com. My interpretation is that this means it will consider unsolicited pieces, but will not acknowledge them unless accepted for publication.
Or it could be, that what you're supposed to send to the email address is a pitch? If they like the pitch, they'll ask you to write/send them the piece. I've seen markets before that don't respond to you unless your submission is successful, and I must say my instinct is always to avoid them. It doesn't take 2 minutes to copy and paste a standard rejection note into an email and send it. It's just common bloody courtesy.
If they are email submissions, acknowledging receipt could be easily automated. Still, I do understand the concept of "understaffed and overworked" quite well. They might not be able to go through every submission, but instead plow through until they find a few they like well enough to use. It may not be the ideal approach from the perspective of the submitter, but real world constraints can get in the way of :common courtesy." In that model, the rest of the submissions are not necessarily rejected, but instead are relegated to a pool that is increasingly stagnant.
Why not ring up, and discuss your submission with someone before you send it? Then it's not unsolicited any longer. Make sure you came across as polite and professional and able to deliver exactly what they are looking for. I've spent years working as a freelance journalist for national papers who say they don't accept unsolicited material. I ring up the relevant editor, discuss my idea, and discuss how much they will pay if they accept it. 90% plus of my work is accepted, printed, and paid for.
