I had recently a chat with the owner and Editor-in-Chief of an award-winning, independent Scottish press, Luna Press Publishing. I asked a few questions regarding the recent open submission they held specifically for science-fiction, from 1 to 6 January 2019. The reason: I was curious to have a glimpse at their submission process, figures, and anything that could help prospective authors. This is what I found out:
- There were many submissions even for such a short submission window: 255, as a matter of fact. And that was during a week where everybody was (supposedly) thinking about holidays.
- Here’s a breakdown of the submissions received: about 10% of them were women. Overall 1/3 of them were space operas, while the rest was divided into near-future stories, dystopian, and science fantasy.
- Guidelines, gosh, read the goddamn guidelines, people! Many submissions were straight fantasy (the call was for science fiction ONLY), others went overboard because they didn’t understand the difference between a blurb and a synopsis, and a few didn’t even bother with a cover letter. Rude, isn’t it?
On the other hand, the publisher confirmed that the majority of the submissions were good to read, and this made me think speculative fiction writers are generally skilled and know their field.
I’d be interested in knowing more about others’ experience with open calls, especially (but not necessarily) from the editors/publishers point of view. Feel free to contact me in private to share your views or post your comments below.
What a fascinating article, Steph. Thank you for going to the trouble to drilling down and finding out the facts behind a particular submission call – and I can only echo your timely advice – READ THE SUBMISSION DETAILS!
Thanks Sarah, and yes, it is amazing how something so critical is often overlooked by authors. Oh well 🙂
Yes… I can only think that submission nerves overtake them!
Yes 😀