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This is definitely a newbie author question, but I suspect it’s something just about every short story writer has come across at one time or another. I have several stories that have been languishing at the submission phase for months longer than their due dates or even well after the actual publication date of the target anthology or periodical. Emails to the publishers either go unanswered, or the answer is “I’ll get back to you,” and then they never do.
How long should you wait until you simply announce to the publisher that you’re pulling your submission so you can offer it up to another venue? On the one hand, I do know that indie publishers can sometimes struggle. On the other hand, I don’t want to be gamed.
For those of you “in the know,” what would you suggest?
That’s got to be so frustrating. I feel bad for you, James, but at the same time it makes me glad that I have no ambition to attempt to have any of my flash fiction tales published anywhere other than on my blog.
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I’ve posted a link to this blog post on various writing pages on Facebook and the answer is more or less the same. Yes, it’s common, but the caveat is that so many indie publishers go out of business, so there is that.
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I’m not in the know at all, but this psychology-book author I met said the publisher was a bit upset because he had sent his first book to several at once. He still published it. Just saying.
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Most publishers specify whether or not they permit simultaneous submissions.
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But how will they know?
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I guess it’s called “professional integrity.” Plus it would be embarrassing if your story was accepted by two different publishers who specified they had exclusive rights for six months. 😉
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