Yesterday I received an email from "War Cry", a magazine I occasionally write for. The email came from their Electronic Communications Specialist letting me know that one of the articles I sent them was live on their website. This was a pleasant surprise to me as I sold it to them a year or more ago and at the time they did not know which issue they would be posting it in.
The article was actually a reprint that had been published a few years ago in a different magazine. All if this prompted me to write today's blog post because this experience highlights something freelance writers encounter.
This article (on War Cry's website) is one of only two that sold almost as soon as I pressed "send" on my submission. I heard back from the editor on the other article in about a half hour but this one was almost immediate, less than five minutes from sending, anyway.
That is not usually the case and thus this blog post about making online submissions.
Most freelance writing submissions are made online these days, though there are a few exceptions. Some magazines, devotionals, or anthologies let writers know one way or another but some only respond to you if they select the submitted piece for publication. Some let you know quickly and others after weeks and months. I keep a record of all submissions I make by title and date. If six months go by and I have not heard back, I assume the piece was not selected. This isn't sure-proof. There is one devotional magazine taking freelance submissions that can still choose your piece even a couple of years later. I have had one instance when that happened and I had to e-mail them and let them know it was now a reprint, instead of first rights since it had been published elsewhere since I had submitted it to them about three years earlier.
I like to share pieces of my writing journey on this blog. This is one of them. As a freelance writer, sometimes I get acceptances, sometimes rejections, sometimes I hear back within days and weeks, sometimes its months or not at all. And sometimes … once in a while … its immediate. :)
