Multiple Submission Etiquette: How I Flirted with Disaster

I just received a rejection slip in the mail yesterday. Here’s the kicker; I’m rather surprised I even got a reply. I suppose that requires a little bit of background.

A while ago—a looooong while ago—I submitted a story to a certain fiction journal. This journal isn’t anywhere near what I’d call top-tier, but it appears to be fairly respectable. It's listed on Duotrope’s Digest (where I seem to recall finding it) and I think my writing in general matches their general aesthetic—generally—but apparently not this time, which is fine.

No, really, it is fine, because the story in question is forthcoming elsewhere. Yup, it was accepted and has already been through the proofing edits in preparation for an issue either later this year or early next. Anyone familiar with submitting their work knows that not informing the first journal immediately of acceptance elsewhere is bad form on my part. But wait, there’s more.

What if I told you that I contacted that journal (many) months ago to inquire about the status of my submission? What if I also told you that not only did I received no response to my polite inquiry, but their website sat unchanged since my original submission and they didn’t have a new issue that entire time either? As far as I was concerned, that journal had gone defunct and I wasn’t going to waste my time waiting for a response. The rejection slip proves my assumption to be 100% wrong, but even if I think the editor’s actions at the journal are grossly unprofessional, I still feel like I dodged a bullet. Here’s why: if that rejection slip had been an acceptance letter, I would’ve been stuck in a position in which I would have to explain how I failed to follow protocol and contact them to withdraw my submission—and it would have been entirely my fault. When it comes right down to it, I’m the starving artist eager for my story to appear in their fine publication, and I’m certain they have a hefty slush pile from countless people like me they’ll never see the end of unless they reject them all en masse and start from scratch.

Best case scenario in that situation is that I could sweet-talk (read: kiss some major ass) and explain it away as a simple mix-up, and worst case would probably be that I pissed them off royally, resulting in me being black-listed from their journal no matter what quality work I send their way (chances are they’d never know one way or another because they’d see my name and not even bother reading it). As I said, my personal opinion is that this particular journal’s behavior has been unprofessional—and I’ll stand by that—but even so, I’m not eager to burn that bridge because there’s a chance I may feel like submitting there again.

One thing I should stress about all this is that I made it a point to read and follow their submission guidelines. Always follow the guidelines. In fact, don’t even think about submitting without consulting the guidelines (not every place is the same), because even though you may not hurt anyone’s feelings by not being thorough enough to research their journal, you will almost definitely give the impression that you don’t care enough to have done so, which is probably just as bad. Congratulations! I hope you wrote one hell of story, because it’ll have to be in order to pull you out of the hole you just dug yourself.

Bottom line, as ugly as this may sound, your fate rests in the subjectively whimsical hands of each and every editor you submit to, and unless you have even a fraction of Joyce Carol Oates’ clout or own a printer that only prints gold*, no one’s going to put up with your crap. I know I’m a nobody, and luckily I learned this lesson painlessly. Even if my email floats off into the ether as soon as I hit the send button, my ass will always be covered by the formal (and time-stamped) withdrawal sitting in my ‘sent items’ folder.

Now I if only I had the problem of being accepted so often that sending withdrawals are necessary.

*I can’t take credit for the quip about the golden printer. Others may have said it, but I heard it first in a conversation with Ryan. Possibly accompanied by profanity.