By Michael Theroux
Casinos live on a thin margin of success, the ‘house edge’, yet the percentage is lucrative. That ‘casino advantage’ varies by game from less than 0.5 to about 5.25%; games with a low house edge pay out less than do games with a built-in higher advantage for the casino
That’s a lot like odds of acceptance for writers submitting to journals. Big-name publishers accept far fewer pieces than do the younger, hungrier journals. The numbers run the same as for the house edge. Percent acceptance reflects the number of ‘subs’ a publisher receives during an open call. If they get thousands for an upcoming edition, they must be very picky, selecting only what really rings the bell. Their reputation depends on consistently presenting the highest quality gleaned from the incoming slush.
How’s that look from the writer’s perspective? That depends on what you are after at the moment. A newbie like myself wants to rack up wins, er, acceptances, as quickly as possible, so I play the smaller tables. Yet there is the lure of higher stakes. You just have to try for the more austere, more ‘credible’ houses. Try, knowing the odds of getting a piece accepted are about like winning on the roulette table. Darn slim.
I recently I sent that 1,000th submission, after three years of effort. What’s really important?
- Track a whole lot of houses; using details as graciously provided by Authors Publish.
- Watch for open calls, then study their submission guidelines. Then read them again.
- Keep meticulous records of everything (How? perhaps the subject of a different essay).
- Read examples of what the pub’s editors have accepted; it’s their game. If you don’t like what you read, wait six months then look ‘em up again. Editors, and tastes, change.
- Select a long-list of your available pieces that just might fit. Re-read the guidelines (again), cut down to a short list, and select your submission set.
- Build your submission packet – check it, then check it again. It’s their rules!
- Keep cover letters pleasant & brief, ‘just the facts’ unless the editors make it clear they want more. Some simply don’t want any cover letter: if they pick a horse to run, they’ll come back to you for details, maybe a photo – perhaps an audio file (becoming more popular).
- Pay attention to posted wait time, how long a journal expects to be in review. It is also telling when a journal simply doesn’t bother to provide that information. Pick a length of time you can afford to tie up a piece; I suggest one year, then mark as ‘timed out’. If they say ‘query’, do so; if nothing else, that reminds them you are still alive, and more than once a piece simply has fallen through the cracks.
- Work the casino floor: submit to a broad sweep of publishers, then cycle back through perhaps once a quarter, or at least annually.
My own hit rate, after 1K sub? About 2.7 %. That’s an acceptable house edge.
Michael Theroux: I write incessantly from Northern California. My career has spanned > field botanist, environmental health specialist, green energy > developer and resource recovery web site editor. I am shifting from > the scientific and technical environmental field to placing my cache > of creative writing, challenging in my seventh decade, but much more > satisfying. Learn more here.
