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| SFReader Forums > SFReader > Ask The Expert > Why some editors never get to see my stories: What can I do? | Forum Quick Jump
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Nicholas
Faculty X Mage
      
Date Joined Jun 2006
Total Posts : 1025
| Posted 4/1/2008 6:10 PM (GMT -4) |   | | Like Erazmus, I admit to sending almost exclusively e-subs these days. As I get older, perhaps it's just a touch of laziness; also, I'm annoyed at how expensive postage has gotten. Sure, I'd like to get into Cemetery Dance or Asimov's, but do I want to go through all that trouble of handwriting addresses on a manila envelope and SASE, printing out story and cover letter, affixing postage and taking to post office, all for a market where I have maybe a 1 in 500 chance of being accepted? When I could instead just shoot off an email to a market where I might have a good shot?
But lately there are a few e-sub markets that I've passed up, even though I had a story that seemed like a good fit. Why? Because they insisted that the story be pasted into the body of the email without paragraph indentation. Instead of paragraph indentation, they want a space between paragraphs.
Now--on a longer story especially--going through a manuscript, removing the indent on every paragraph and then inserting an extra line break after each can be quite time-consuming. Is there some alternative to this hunt-and-peck, a single procedure that would automatically take out all paragraph indents and instead insert a line break?
http://ozment.livejournal.com
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Mark Eller
Stablehand
Date Joined Apr 2008
Total Posts : 3
| Posted 4/1/2008 7:20 PM (GMT -4) | | Wow, I don't know what to do with the indent. I just spent an hour trying to figure that out. I got rid of it with a couple clicks on formatting on the pages I had up, but when I copied and pasted the formatting came back. However, the line spacing between paragraphs I can help you with.
Go to edit and select all. Go to format, select paragraph. In microsoft word there is a tab that says spacing and indents. Down a way there is a thing that says Spacing. The offerings are before and after. Click on the arrow for the amount of spacing you want then click OK...your document will now have spacing between paragraphs, and it does copy and paste that way into my aol mail. The process is similar but not exactly the same for microsoft works. | | Back to Top | | |
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crystalwizard
Forum Moderator
Date Joined Nov 2006
Total Posts : 4740
| Posted 4/1/2008 7:30 PM (GMT -4) | | for the indent (for Word):
(once you have a space between the paragraphs).
cntrl-A to select all
the go to format (menu option), choose styles and formatting, scroll all the way up and click on Clear Format.
(warning, that does take out italics)
OR
highlight a couple characters in one of the paragraphs, then go to format, choose styles and formating, and start scrolling through the list till you find the one selected. That'll be the style currently associated with the paragraph you highlighted a couple of letters in.
on the right side there's a small down arrow. Do not click the name of the style, that'll apply it. Instead, click the arrow and choose modify.
The modify style box will pop up. click the format button and choose paragraph. Edit the paragraph settings and remove the indent.
click ok a couple times and you'll see that all your paragraphs with the same style applied to them no longer are indented.
If any still are, highlight them, clear formating, then apply the style you just modified. | | Back to Top | | |
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erazmus
Master
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 4503
| Posted 4/2/2008 4:55 AM (GMT -4) | | Nicholas,
I've adopted the solution you use, I just don't send those markets much stuff.
And having a Macro to make the changes won't change my mind about it either.
Anyone so paranoid they don't want RTFs is just silly. And RTF is easy to work with and safe.
Prefer to read in Lucida with ten point type? A couple of clicks and you are. Your first reader can only handle 14pt Times New Roman? Teach him the click sequence by rote and he's set. Don't know how to get the text from RTF format to PDF? Your a freaking publisher, learn!
This is like the pubs that only want mail submissions because they do all their reading in coffee shops. They should cut out one mocha latte a day and save the money up for a cheap lap-top. It will take less than three months and they will have moved up to the late twentieth century. I can't put enough postage for a return manuscript on an envelope anymore, because I have no idea how much it will cost to mail it to me next year, after they get around to reading it. I know how much it will cost to e-mail me a response. Nothing.
If you just can't handle RTFs, get a form page and let me paste it there, if you must. This can cause nightmarish problems, but they are your problems. I just have to let you know what I can't do. I'm busy trying to master the art of storytelling, I don't need to add mastering the ever changing world of word processor programming to my to do list. I started writing on Word Star, I've gone through five versions of it, five versions of word perfect and at least five of word. I don't know how to do anything on any of those any more, they've all blurred together. Give me a break and read the story, its a good story and if your cleaver and have a good buisness plan, it will make you money. Promise.
Mike
Michael D. Turner
"Psyched Up" in _Turn the other Chick_-ed. E. Friesner-Baen books
www.baen.com
"Dutchman Rescue"in Continuum SF #6
www.continuumsciencefiction.com/orders.htm
"An Incident at Black Tongue Tavern" in _Bash Down the Door and Slice Open the Badguy_ from Fantasist Enterprises:
www.fantasistent.com/books/anthologies/BASH.php
"Stains" in Tales of the Talisman 3-1 www.zianet.com/hadrosaur/index.html
"Morning Coffee" in Every Day Fiction
www.everydayfiction.com/morning-coffee-by-michael-d-turner/
"The Jewel Below" in Flashing Swords
flashingswords.sfreader.com/issues/issue8/vol2-iss8-05.htm
"Happy Landings" in Every Day Fiction
www.everydayfiction.com/happy-landings-by-michael-d-turner/
"Teller of Tales" in Every day Fiction
www.everydayfiction.com/teller-of-tales-by-michael-d-turner/
Read "Silver Shells" In Every Day Fiction
www.everydayfiction.com/silver-shells-by-michael-d-turner/ | | Back to Top | | |
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MysticWino
anarchist fringe monkey boddhisatva
Date Joined May 2007
Total Posts : 1632
| Posted 4/2/2008 6:20 PM (GMT -4) | | Well, from the standpoint of an editor and a former publisher, I have to say you guys are rather a surly bunch . . . And I'll stand on your side of the picket-line. Erazmus, I totally agree with your stance on the formatting. That's the publisher's job. Don't know that I necessarily agree about the paranoia in regard to attachments, as I've gotten a system-killing virus one too many times; however, there are a numerous virus protection applications built to ensure against this hazzard. I like the idea of a post-in box, but I don't have the web savvy for that and would therefore not offer it. Of course, I take txt and rtf files as well as doc - and prefer to never-never-never-never have stories pasted in the body of an email. Possible exception being flash fiction of under 250 words.
I use formatting as CW suggested, only I create Styles for different projects so that I can just apply it all at once. I also create specific templates for poetry, e-sub poetry, fiction, e-fiction, e-sub fiction, and the like. It helps. Up-front it's a bit onerous, but it's something I do when not in drafting mode. I NEVER let crap like that interfere with actual drafting. NEVER. EVER. Really. 
Read me soon in The Return of the Sword!
Blog: http://bitterhermit.wordpress.com
Buy wine: http://fringemonkey.org
Poetry Blog: http://fringemonkey.wordpress.com | | Back to Top | | |
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Nicholas
Faculty X Mage
Date Joined Jun 2006
Total Posts : 1025
| Posted 4/3/2008 3:14 AM (GMT -4) | | Thanks for the tips, Mark, CW, and SC.
Generally, though, I'm with Nathan and Mike. Unless there's a really compelling reason to jump through a lot of hoops, I'll just send to one of the markets that takes a good ol' standard manuscript in .doc or .rtf (poetry and flash I'll paste into an email, if requested, and just hope weird symbols don't show up on the other side).
Here's one I came across today: Sam's Dot Publishing doesn't want paragraphs in novel manuscripts to be tab-indented, but rather indented with five space-bar spaces. OMG--Mark, crystalwizard, or SC: one of you probably knows how you could do this in a couple easy steps. I was imagining the hours it would take to remove the tab on every paragraph of a novel and replace with five spaces. That would take hours, and might finally drive me over the edge of sanity upon which I precariously teeter.
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SC Bryce
Aspiring Hammock Tester
Date Joined Jan 2005
Total Posts : 1089
| Posted 4/3/2008 6:46 PM (GMT -4) | | | | |
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anna
Neophyte
Date Joined Apr 2007
Total Posts : 134
| Posted 4/9/2008 9:59 AM (GMT -4) | | | That goes along with my frustration of going through an almost 7 k word story and manually removing one of the two spaces I always put after every sentence. THEN I learn from the more computer literate experts here that I could have done it with a simple "find and replace all". | | Back to Top | | |
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von Darkmoor
Small Press Publisher (and Dancer still)
Date Joined Dec 2005
Total Posts : 2992
| Posted 4/9/2008 12:34 PM (GMT -4) | |
erazmus said...
I know how much it will cost to e-mail me a response. Nothing.
If you just can't handle RTFs, get a form page and let me paste it there, if you must. This can cause nightmarish problems, but they are your problems. I just have to let you know what I can't do. I'm busy trying to master the art of storytelling, I don't need to add mastering the ever changing world of word processor programming to my to do list. I started writing on Word Star, I've gone through five versions of it, five versions of word perfect and at least five of word. I don't know how to do anything on any of those any more, they've all blurred together. Give me a break and read the story, its a good story and if your cleaver and have a good buisness plan, it will make you money. Promise.
Mike LOVE THIS, Mike! You should be a writer 
~~~~~~~~~~
Jason M. Waltz
Managing Editor, Flashing Swords Press (site soon to come)
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MysticWino
anarchist fringe monkey boddhisatva
Date Joined May 2007
Total Posts : 1632
| Posted 4/9/2008 2:10 PM (GMT -4) | | | | |
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erazmus
Master
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 4503
| Posted 4/9/2008 3:01 PM (GMT -4) | | | | |
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crystalwizard
Forum Moderator
Date Joined Nov 2006
Total Posts : 4740
| Posted 4/9/2008 3:22 PM (GMT -4) | | von Darkmoor said...erazmus said...I know how much it will cost to e-mail me a response. Nothing. If you just can't handle RTFs, get a form page and let me paste it there, if you must. This can cause nightmarish problems, but they are your problems. I just have to let you know what I can't do. I'm busy trying to master the art of storytelling, I don't need to add mastering the ever changing world of word processor programming to my to do list. I started writing on Word Star, I've gone through five versions of it, five versions of word perfect and at least five of word. I don't know how to do anything on any of those any more, they've all blurred together. Give me a break and read the story, its a good story and if your cleaver and have a good buisness plan, it will make you money. Promise. MikeLOVE THIS, Mike! You should be a writer VIEW IMAGE You know, that's how I feel about being a systems administrator. I shouldn't have to master all the paperwork and other nonsense. I shouldn't have to learn all the various hoops that the rest of the business uses. I should just be able to work on the computers, fix them and keep them running. Unfortunately, part of my job as a system admin is to do all of that other stuff even though it's got nothing to do with actually keeping the computer running. Or at least, it is if I want to keep working for this particular company. The same goes for mastering all the word processor quirks and other things. That IS your job as a writer. Half of your job is telling the story, the other half is jumping through the hoops so that it's in a format we can use. if you were a musician, only half of your job would be playing music or singing, the other half would be mastering all the technology that you have to use AND making sure your setup works with the venues you want to perform at. | | Back to Top | | |
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DAWaverly
Quirky Weirdness
Date Joined Jul 2006
Total Posts : 259
| Posted 4/9/2008 3:52 PM (GMT -4) | | crystalwizard said...
The same goes for mastering all the word processor quirks and other things. That IS your job as a writer. Half of your job is telling the story, the other half is jumping through the hoops so that it's in a format we can use.
if you were a musician, only half of your job would be playing music or singing, the other half would be mastering all the technology that you have to use AND making sure your setup works with the venues you want to perform at.
Ahhh... but there is the rub. The music venue is not going to tell me that I have to play a banjo instead of a guitar. Amps, mics, soundboards...they are all standard stuff. The details of working a particular band into any given venue boil down to acoustics and power consumption.
To connect the analogy... I have read e-sub guidelines that insist on a .doc document, and one that called for an MSWord specific font. I do not own MSWord. (I don't own a banjo either.) I do not plan on ever buying MSWord. Also the details of working a particular story into any given submission process should be basic and important stuff. Theme or word count or standard, freely available, file formats.
Any editor is welcome to set up hoops for writers to jump through, but on those days when I don't want to be treated like a circus dog, I will simply not submit to a venue that has such requirements. Especially if the requirement seems to be a whim or a silly preference.
- Deven
Blogtide Rising
published
"The Journey" at Every Day Fiction
forthcoming
"An Awakening of Shadows" in The Infinity Swords anthology from Carnivah House
"All That Glitters" at Every Day Fiction | | Back to Top | | |
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Swashbuckler
One-man sword-and-sorcery machine
Date Joined Mar 2006
Total Posts : 1255
| Posted 4/9/2008 4:40 PM (GMT -4) |
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