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| SFReader Forums > SFReader > Ask The Expert > What makes a great editor? | Forum Quick Jump
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von Darkmoor
Small Press Publisher (and Dancer still)
      
Date Joined Dec 2005
Total Posts : 3120
| Posted 7/5/2007 12:46 AM (GMT -5) |   | crystalwizard said...Howard von Darkmoor said...
*keep an author's story around without telling him anything. I mean, if I'm rejecting it, reject it, but if the story is not just plain old knocking my socks of stunning and I only like it, it could be beaten out by the next submission to hit my in basket - but do I know that? Is there a reason you couldn't send it back with a 'you know, I liked this and while I can't use it right now, would you mind if I contacted you in the future perhaps to see if it's still available?'
At the end of a reading period, no, I don't see a problem with that. It lets the author attempt to sell it elsewhere, frees up a spot in my 'maybe' pile, and possibly puts a story on the backburner for me without me having to worry too much about it.
During a reading period, I would not do this, however, for the same reason I previously stated. I've no idea if another story even of the caliber of the one in question will come in, let alone an even better one. In the nature of all things effected by Murphy's Law (and what isn't?), if I were to release a 'good' story hoping for a 'better' story I would only ever receive 'worse' stories after that. I do not plan to hold a story indefinitely - there are stories that work together better than others, issue 'themes', size matters . . . all sorts of influences on final layout. I've already requested - and been granted - the chance to hold on to a few stories that for some reason or another just didn't make issue one but I sure want them considered for issue two. These authors were very gracious to allow me that, as they are fully aware there is no guarantee of acceptance simply by leaving it with me. We both - author and editor - risk the chance something so beautifully better appears in my slush pile, forcing me to then reject those I'd held onto. Or ask to hang on to them again. Which I think would be wrong, one time being the limit to such a thing.
Remember, too, please, that I am growing into my role and, despite my earnest desire otherwise, there will be some growing pains. I hope to spare any authors from experiencing my pains, but it cannot always be helped.
~~~~~~~~~~
Jason M. Waltz
Fantasy Editor Staffs & Starships Magazine
~~~~~~~~~~
Ever waltz with the Devil? Or devil with a Waltz? Visit von Darkmoor's thoughts to find out (and read a review or two). | | Back to Top | | |
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von Darkmoor
Small Press Publisher (and Dancer still)
Date Joined Dec 2005
Total Posts : 3120
| Posted 7/4/2007 11:57 PM (GMT -5) | | Bitter Hermit said...
We should be accountable for what we write, but we should never be held responsible for how anyone reads and/or reacts to it (that's the reader's responsibility).
For my part, I don't think anyone should keep their reputation in mind ever. They should just do their job to the best of their ability. But I understand that we live in the real world and not an ideal one. Reputation goes under the heading of "marketing", and there's no editor anywhere who can afford not to accept marketing as part of his or her responsibilities as an editor.
Very astute points, David. In so far as reputation is concerned, in regards to myself, perhaps I should clarify: I am concerned about my own before my peers, mostly right here on this board. This is why I eagerly/anxiously look forward to reading/hearing SFReaders' reactions to the first issue of Staffs & Starships. If people here whom I have come to know (several of you better off the forum than on it) and respect appreciate our work, accept my choices and verify their words by further submissions or subscriptions, I will be content. I can ignore the Tangents and the rest of the world with y'all in my corner. If, on the other hand, our premiere issue drops with a resoundingly silent THUD across the forum here, to me, it also no longer matters what anyone else says. I feel I will have failed at my first round.
By no means is this meant to impose any pressure! Not that I believe it would, as part of the reason I respect the lot of ye is due to yer professionalism. I am just responding to the many many points David and Daniel bring up in this thread, and this verbalizing has helped me clarify some of my thoughts.
It has also kept me from doing any profitable writing tonight! 
~~~~~~~~~~
Jason M. Waltz
Fantasy Editor Staffs & Starships Magazine
~~~~~~~~~~
Ever waltz with the Devil? Or devil with a Waltz? Visit von Darkmoor's thoughts to find out (and read a review or two). | | Back to Top | | |
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von Darkmoor
Small Press Publisher (and Dancer still)
Date Joined Dec 2005
Total Posts : 3120
| Posted 7/4/2007 10:53 PM (GMT -5) | | Daniel said...
Even though I am not presently engaged as an editor, I actually still get submissions from people!
This is hilarious! Only in the world of submissions are the people so . . . so . . . wait, I work for a city government . . . they're not that different . . . hmmmm . . . I wonder if they are the same people?
Daniel said...
"Thank you for your submission. We cannot use it at this time."
I, however, have never liked this wording, as to me it implies that 'we' could use the story at another time, so try again. While kindly worded, far too ambiguous. My rejections begin with "Thank you for submitting "XXX" to Staffs & Starships. Unfortunately, I will not be accepting it for publication in our magazine." followed by a comment or two.
I guess I've been blessed with mostly personal rejections, (granted, my submission numbers are not high), so that combined with years of critique group memberships has influenced me to try to be helpful if I am able. But, in my short time and limited experience as an editor, Daniel's statements are - and can be - only correct. Daniel's and David's and Howard's and countless others in comments across the internet.
I'm just learning how hard it is to
- reject a friend (whether because the story wasn't what I looked for or wasn't of a quality I deemed good enough doesn't ultimately matter, does it?);
- NOT get overly excited over a story and shoot off early emails of congratulations;
- ESPECIALLY NOT get overly excited over a friend's story and shoot off early emails of congratulations;
- find the words (when the reason is not blatantly obvious) to properly explain my suggestion/reasoning - did you know more people read more nonexistent meanings into email words than they do into spoken? is it because they can sit there and reread them and ponder them to no end?;
- reject a story I really like but doesn't meet our criteria;
- keep an author's story around without telling him anything. I mean, if I'm rejecting it, reject it, but if the story is not just plain old knocking my socks of stunning and I only like it, it could be beaten out by the next submission to hit my in basket - but do I know that? NO! Shoot, I ran off half-cocked at the onset of open reading for our first issue - you can ask a few of the members here. They've all been gracious thus far, but I would not have blamed them for becoming angry with me. I was like a kid in a candy store as these subs came in - Ooh! I like that one! And that one. Gimme that one. Wow, I want that one. Oooh, look at this one! Hot damn, this is the best one yet! Shit, what do I do now, I've already sent happy emails to these other ones?! -;
- find the words to tell an author that, despite the fact I personally can find nothing wrong with his story just the fact that I plain old don't like it is reason enough I don't want my name attached to it;
- not believe that every story MUST have something to do with the stated intentions of the magazine and if I keep on reading I will find it sooner or later;
- how to tell an author enough is enough and if you can't submit stories that at least somewhat follow what we desire STOP submitting!
I've not had to
- exchange emails with an author over a rejection - yet (I know it's coming);
- so far argue with anyone (other than my boss over one story
 );
- do countless of those other dreary but oh so important things Daniel listed (but I know I will be).
It's no wonder response times are slow and answers are usually form or cryptic. Rob's performance has been stunning, but then again, if you knew Rob or understood his work ethic, you wouldn't have been surprised. Rob's also been writing far longer than I and has displayed a fine eye for material, so I fully expect him to be - and to be able to be - more helpful than newbie I. I also - and I may be wrong - believe he has a small advantage in selecting for an anthology versus my accepting for a new magazine. He's looking for a specific theme and when stories containing that theme cross his desk, if they meet what he desires and strike his fancy, he has no reason to pass on them. He accepts stories he wants until his anthology is full.
I've no 'theme' per se, that each story must adhere to; I've a genre within which to select works I believe will (a) best reflect the stated aim of our magazine and (b) best identify what sort of an editor I am (at this stage, to become). One could say the side of my building is larger, thus offering the artists I've hired far more opportunity to vary the paint hurled at it, and the finished product better damn well look at least half respectable if I want anyone to visit my fine establishment.
Due to several reasons (like a lack of anything published, for one), it is my belief that the fantasy stories I've picked for this inaugural issue of Staffs & Starships will long be associated with my name, and both the quality of the magazine and my abilities, as they are, will be judged by the same. So all I've been trying to do is choose the stories that I believe best address these issues. Beside, of course, being damn fine stories in their own right.
My apologies for the long(ish) post.
~~~~~~~~~~
Jason M. Waltz
Fantasy Editor Staffs & Starships Magazine
~~~~~~~~~~
Ever waltz with the Devil? Or devil with a Waltz? Visit von Darkmoor's thoughts to find out (and read a review or two). | | Back to Top | | |
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Hermit
Diavhrati Luminary
Date Joined May 2007
Total Posts : 1785
| Posted 7/3/2007 3:58 PM (GMT -5) | |
crystalwizard said...
Bitter Hermit said...
And an editor can afford to take into account what others will say of him/her no more than an author can bother with the notion of whether a reader will like or hate him/her personally after reading his/her work.
When the editor's hat is on, the personality should be in the backseat gazing out the west-facing window! And the ego should be busy with a crossword - preferably in pen! That depends. He certainly does need to think about his reputation, at least as far as how he interfaces with authors goes. If you don't think that's necessary, go read the threads around this forum and other sites. How many publications are seeing their submissions drop because the editors are xxxxx to deal with?
I was talking about during the process of selecting content. Being a concept-to-bookshelf editor, I sometimes forget that others break it down into separate categories. What I mean is that an acquisitions editor has to work by meritocracy of the work and not be a respecter of persons. To crawfish on that, though, let me say that some peices show so brightly the potential of a writer that the savvy editor would do well to open a dialogue with that writer and mentor him or her. But, again, that is a special case within a meritocracit system.
As far as correspondence with writers, the editor simply needs to be true to himself or herself - which means refraining from any sort of rant or bullying. Some of us are editors because we get along better with words than we do with people. We can be polite, sure, but sometimes our concision-tightened prose strikes a wrong cord simply because that's how the reader takes it. We should be accountable for what we write, but we should never be held responsible for how anyone reads and/or reacts to it (that's the reader's responsibility).
For my part, I don't think anyone should keep their reputation in mind ever. They should just do their job to the best of their ability. But I understand that we live in the real world and not an ideal one. Reputation goes under the heading of "marketing", and there's no editor anywhere who can afford not to accept marketing as part of his or her responsibilities as an editor.
Exile of my own dull vice. . . | | Back to Top | | |
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Daniel
Carl Jung's Waterboy
Date Joined Aug 2003
Total Posts : 4515
| Posted 6/29/2007 6:09 PM (GMT -5) | | If an editor is not overwhelmed with submissions to the point that personal replies are at best improbable, then there are not enough submissions!
***
This is increasingly true in SF where so many prospective buyers/subscribers, especially for print short SF, come from aspiring authors. If the aspiring authors don't know who you are, it is a very good bet the prospective audience doesn't either!
Another good reason to encourage "massive" submissions is that you must always be searching for talent and even when you are paying well you won't get enough from pro writers, believe me. Because PB paid pro rates in some cases, I saw a lot of subs from guild members and such that were quick to point out their stature as professional writers; nonetheless, I relied as much, if not markedly more, upon solicited stories and stories from non-pro or semipro writers. I, personally, have not found that over-the-transom submisions from pros, particularly those in the fantasy genre, are in better shape, overall, than semi-pros or unpublished writers. Attribute that to the lack of high-paying markets for fantasy short stories, I guess, which doesn't incite the pros to do so much in that area.
"Art is the celebration of the ego's destruction."
Daniel | | Back to Top | | |
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Hermit
Diavhrati Luminary
Date Joined May 2007
Total Posts : 1785
| Posted 6/29/2007 5:39 PM (GMT -5) | | | At this point, I would like to point out that 'enormous amount' of submissions is both arbitrary and conditional, specious and subjective.
There is a great deal that determines how encumbering or overwhelming the slush pile is. It begins with how restrictive are your guidelines. It's easy to reject a piece out of hand simply because the writer failed to comprehend the submissions guidelines. And if they failed to comprehend the submission guidelines, it follows logically that they will not comprehend feedback telling them so and therefore such submissions warrant NO REPLY. It is simple courtesy to even bother with a form rejection, which is more than that particular writer offered in that particular instance - the simple courtesy of following the guidelines. Note that we're talking about serious deviation from guidelines - violation of the spirit and truth vs. fascist bullying over the letter of it and also obviously wrong content versus a near-miss.
There is also the quality of the submissions. Some you can toss aside without even reading more than a sentence, paragraph, or stanza. These are usually the ones in fancy fonts and/or enough errors in the first line to cause nausea. And then there are those whose first lines shine like beacons - I've decided on poems and stories before on the strength of a single line, turn of phrase, image, or plot twist evident before the first paragraph's end. Many times it took some haggling over the details, but that's always part of the game. It is often the exception and never the rule that a piece comes in ready to publish. PERIOD. When they do come through, you can count on a personal response.
As a rule, it's simply bad business to be rude at any time to anyone. In practice, however, I've been known to be what others consider rude; however, strangely enough, I don't recall ever being rude about a rejection and never actually spiteful. I'm talking about calling 'bullshit' when an otherwise decent writer sends you the slog at the bottom of the slush. I sometimes think folks do this ocassionally simply to see if the editor's previous choice was deliberate and considered. Especially by writers early in their career who are so used to rejection that they distrust acceptance as a sign of an editor with no sense of judisciousness.
If an editor is not overwhelmed with submissions to the point that personal replies are at best improbable, then there are not enough submissions! Go rattle the cages and get the marketing and publicity personel to perk up and drive in more.
And an editor can afford to take into account what others will say of him/her no more than an author can bother with the notion of whether a reader will like or hate him/her personally after reading his/her work.
When the editor's hat is on, the personality should be in the backseat gazing out the west-facing window! And the ego should be busy with a crossword - preferably in pen!
Exile of my own dull vice. . . | | Back to Top | | |
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Daniel
Carl Jung's Waterboy
Date Joined Aug 2003
Total Posts : 4515
| Posted 6/29/2007 4:49 PM (GMT -5) | | It's not only possible,
***
Rob's just starting out and pays 1/2 cent a word. When Ricasso gets more well-known and maybe if the pay rates go up or just his energy wears off, he'll have to resort to forms or his response times will go very long. Back when I was editing for FMAM I tried to send personal rejections, but I averaged about 10-15 subs a day and it just wasn't practical. When I edited for Pitch-Black, I would say appx. 30% of my rejections were personal, or at least contained a personal comment or two with me always careful to point out it was a subjective opinion. About 1/3 of the subs I've received at various venues I've edited for are so off-target or so incomprehensible, believe me, there is nothing worth saying about them. The other 1/3 may be good for somewhere else, but since I can't *know* that, why bother saying anything? Now, writers do respond to your comments and this is disruptive if you are dealing with that many eamils and snail mails, period.
At present, I'm not reading subs for anywhere (other than maybe the SFReader fiction contest when it comes up) , but at various times I have been reading up to 2-300 subs a month. Even though I am not presently engaged as an editor, I actually still get submissions from people!
Most editors do not, as a rule, respond personally to every submission they recieve, nor should they feel obligated to do so. In point of fact, one editor's comments have very little to do with the objective merits of any story or what another editor at another venue might think and, on top of that, sometimes there is no real reason "why" a particular editor rejects a ms., not one which would be of any value or interest to the writer, at any rate.
The only real response any editor is obligated to give is: "Thank you for your submission. We cannot use it at this time."
Personally, as a submitting poet, I am grateful to editors who have shorter resposne times and I don't really care to know what an editor who is rejecting my work might think, unless it is to tell me to submit again because they feel something may connect at a later time. I just send it to another venue. It's never a good policy to start writing for editors. Not in my opinion, anyway.
"Art is the celebration of the ego's destruction."
Daniel | | Back to Top | | |
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Hermit
Diavhrati Luminary
Date Joined May 2007
Total Posts : 1785
| Posted 6/29/2007 2:23 PM (GMT -5) | |
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