Is there anything that throws the balance of power between editor and writer out of whack more decisively than submitting a manuscript on an exclusive and open-ended basis?
No? So why do we do it? Why do so many of us let our manuscripts linger with individual editors for longer than the gestational periods of our larger mammals?
I think it’s because we buy into the notion that children’s publishing is always a buyer’s market. While that may be true in a general sense — the law of supply and demand ensures that publishers are never hurting for submissions — I think we’ve got it backwards when it comes to individual manuscripts. When you or I write something, it’s a unique organic compound of our own sweat and imagination. It also happens to be a product, and if it’s a good one, then the law of supply and demand swings in our favor — we control an extremely tight supply of something valuable.
But that advantage goes POOF! if we artificially limit the demand by letting an individual editor have that manuscript for as long as she pleases. I also know from personal experience and from e-mails from various friends that it also makes us cranky and frustrated and bitter. We shouldn’t do that to ourselves. It’s completely avoidable.
(If we’re actively working pre-contract with an editor on a manuscript they’ve got exclusively and have had for some time, that’s different. In those cases, we’re getting something useful that will be of benefit to us whether the manuscript eventually sells to that editor or not.)
At the annual SCBWI conference in L.A. a couple of years ago, Arthur Levine told a crowd of us something that really clicked for me. He said we each need to figure out for ourselves how long we’re comfortable with an editor having a manuscript exclusively. “If it’s six weeks, it’s six weeks,” he said. No need to be antagonistic or emotional about it — it’s purely professional. Made sense to me.
Not that I’ve stuck to that ever since. Not that I’m sticking to it at this very writing, even. But it’s what I shoot for.
Hey, Chris,
I see you’re getting a pb published by Charlesbridge, too. Great!
Hey, Chris,
I see you’re getting a pb published by Charlesbridge, too. Great!
Hey, Chris,
I see you’re getting a pb published by Charlesbridge, too. Great!
Hi, Chris,
Thanks for the nice comment in my blog, and for linking to me! Good to see you online. And regarding your upcoming book…I actually dreamed last night that I had dyed my hair some sort of Day-Glo greenish color! (Or rather, Day-Glo®?) Maybe you could do that to promote your book. ;-) Orange is cheery, too.
Hi, Chris,
Thanks for the nice comment in my blog, and for linking to me! Good to see you online. And regarding your upcoming book…I actually dreamed last night that I had dyed my hair some sort of Day-Glo greenish color! (Or rather, Day-Glo®?) Maybe you could do that to promote your book. ;-) Orange is cheery, too.
Hi, Chris,
Thanks for the nice comment in my blog, and for linking to me! Good to see you online. And regarding your upcoming book…I actually dreamed last night that I had dyed my hair some sort of Day-Glo greenish color! (Or rather, Day-Glo®?) Maybe you could do that to promote your book. ;-) Orange is cheery, too.
Wanted to comment on this:
So you let people have your ms exclusively for 6 weeks? I’ve thrown in the towel entirely and won’t send it exclusive unless it’s my publisher or they don’t accept exclusives. I’ve been burned so many times with waiting over 6 months only to get formed. Yes, formed! That’s a verb now!!!
I’ve been waiting on Bloomsbury for over a year. At 9 months I gave up and started sending it out to other places. They did tell me they were considering but why does it take over a year to decide something?
Wanted to comment on this:
So you let people have your ms exclusively for 6 weeks? I’ve thrown in the towel entirely and won’t send it exclusive unless it’s my publisher or they don’t accept exclusives. I’ve been burned so many times with waiting over 6 months only to get formed. Yes, formed! That’s a verb now!!!
I’ve been waiting on Bloomsbury for over a year. At 9 months I gave up and started sending it out to other places. They did tell me they were considering but why does it take over a year to decide something?
Wanted to comment on this:
So you let people have your ms exclusively for 6 weeks? I’ve thrown in the towel entirely and won’t send it exclusive unless it’s my publisher or they don’t accept exclusives. I’ve been burned so many times with waiting over 6 months only to get formed. Yes, formed! That’s a verb now!!!
I’ve been waiting on Bloomsbury for over a year. At 9 months I gave up and started sending it out to other places. They did tell me they were considering but why does it take over a year to decide something?
Pam, I typically say in my cover letters that I’m letting the editor have the manuscript exclusively for six weeks. That keeps my options open — maybe I’m comfortable letting the editor have it for longer, though nothing’s been promised, or maybe there’s another editor I want to send the manuscript to after six weeks and a day, which I’m free to do.
Pam, I typically say in my cover letters that I’m letting the editor have the manuscript exclusively for six weeks. That keeps my options open — maybe I’m comfortable letting the editor have it for longer, though nothing’s been promised, or maybe there’s another editor I want to send the manuscript to after six weeks and a day, which I’m free to do.
Pam, I typically say in my cover letters that I’m letting the editor have the manuscript exclusively for six weeks. That keeps my options open — maybe I’m comfortable letting the editor have it for longer, though nothing’s been promised, or maybe there’s another editor I want to send the manuscript to after six weeks and a day, which I’m free to do.
You said it, bro…
Why be cranky when we needn’t be?
I, for one, am packing my little stories and movin’ on…
You said it, bro…
Why be cranky when we needn’t be?
I, for one, am packing my little stories and movin’ on…
You said it, bro…
Why be cranky when we needn’t be?
I, for one, am packing my little stories and movin’ on…
I agree. They shouldn’t be able to hold them for so long. There’s nothing worse than having a ms tied up for months only to have it rejected.
I agree. They shouldn’t be able to hold them for so long. There’s nothing worse than having a ms tied up for months only to have it rejected.
I agree. They shouldn’t be able to hold them for so long. There’s nothing worse than having a ms tied up for months only to have it rejected.