There it was, staring me down on the About the Editors page: one of the poetry editors at this newly chosen publication happens to have another job--as a poetry editor at the publication I just received the rejection from. What now? This little surprise changes my whole perception of the world of literary publications. Does this happen often? How many times have I unknowingly sent the same submission into the hands of the same editor without knowing it? And seriously, when it is a non-paying publication and these are most likely volunteer positions... how does this person have time to be an editor at two of them??
Now I'm left with a decision that I have to make quickly, if I want to meet the deadline of this new publication. I could go ahead and still submit to this publication, knowing that there's a good chance it will be rejected once again (though I wouldn't send the same poems, like I had originally intended). Both publications work on a blind submission basis, so unless I have a truly distinct literary voice, they wouldn't be able to tell it was me. Both publications also have multiple editors listed for poetry, so there's a small chance that it would never end up in the hands of the overlapping editor. Then again, I don't know if it's a collaborative decision or first come, first reject.
Or, I could just move on and find another publication. It would make it easier for me to think I had a better shot at getting accepted, but it would take more time to find the right one to submit to.
The life of a writer is certainly full of plot twists!
2 comments:
If you have a submission that's almost ready to go, I think you should send it.
If it is rejected, you haven't lost a lot of time and you may get some idea from the rejection notice if it is the same people/person rejecting it.
On the other hand, perhaps your poetry will be a better match for this other publisher. Or the reviewer might think so on this particular day. Or maybe it will be accepted by a different reviewer. You can win if you don't try.
I have noticed this situation in some of the smaller sci-fi publishers around the mid-Atlantic region. The editors/reviewers overlap from publication to publication - they all seem to be buddies. And, no, I don't know how they have time to read as much as they do since they all seem to have other jobs or responsibilities.
And rejections - well, we've all been there - more often than I'd like to admit. At least they told you. I've had a few submissions that have just disappeared into the ether which, oddly enough, seems worse somehow.
Yeah, I'm going to go ahead with it. I've got about 10 poems that I've been sending out since August, so I'm just going to make sure the four I send aren't the same ones that I sent off last month.
I have quite a few of those disappearing submissions too, but the submissions themselves didn't disappear. The journal usually did. Just poof! and it's like it never existed.
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