DeScribe

Full entry available here: http://www.meanjin.com.au/spike-the-meanjin-blog

1. Read the submission guidelines.

2. Read the submission guidelines
For many, this will seem obvious, but you’d be surprised by how many people forget to do this. The guidelines are not there because publishers want to toy with you – in actual fact they help us read and process submissions a lot faster. The more you help us, the faster we can get back to you and the happier we will be to receive your work. Remember, editors are a strange species of human who love wide margins, double-spacing, paper clips, east-on-the-eye fonts and bright yellow SSAEs (indeed we get tingles just thinking about these things, we would give them as Christmas presents if we could).

3. Know the publication and what they like
This is basically about finding the right place for your work. You are 10 times more likely to place a genre short story (such as sci-fi or fantasy) in say a publication that specialises in that field, than you are if you submit it to a journal that has an express interest in contemporary politics.

4. Be nice
This is because we’d like to be nice to you and it’s very difficult to do that in the face of angry emails or outraged phone calls.

5. Be patient
I know that it can be nerve-wracking waiting to hear back from a publisher, but we receive hundreds of submissions each week and are a very small team. If we were like Hermione in Harry Potter and had that hour-glass time-turner thingy, life would be a lot easier, but we don’t and it’s not. We will get back to you as soon as we can. If you’re ever anxious or feel you’ve waited longer than usual, send a polite email and we’ll follow up.

6. Keep it simple
At the end of the day, your writing will speak for itself. Don’t feel you need to dress up your submission with fancy paper, long publications histories or outrageous bios. As Chris Flynn from Torpedo said on the weekend, all you really need to say is: ‘Hello. Here I am. I’m submitting this story, I hope you like it. Thank you’.

7. Don’t serially submit
Of course we love writing, and your work is what we thrive on. But don’t send 6 pieces every fortnight – just send one, once in a while, and make it your best one. This just shows that you’re savvy to the fact that it’s not about churning out oodles of words, but about that 1 great story or essay that will really count.