When Editors Don’t Respond

We’ve all dealt with this because I’ve seen the conversations on other blogs and forums. We submit work and don’t hear anything about our submissions. We wait, we write asking about our submission and still hear nothing.

Recently, I e-mailed a lot of editors asking if they buy reprints. I got many answers saying yes. So of course I submitted to them. Now the editors don’t seem to be around. I always use my subject line properly, which might explain why in a matter of minutes I got answers about reprints. But I use my subject line wisely when it comes to submissions also.

Personal replies are nice, but if that’s not possible (who has the time with all the submissions editors must get), why not use a form letter? After all, it is better than nothing.

Here are my questions for you, my fellow writers:

1. If the guidelines don’t state approximately how long it takes to hear from them, how long do you wait before sending your piece elsewhere?

2. Once you realize that an editor doesn’t respond, do you give up submitting to that market? Or do you keep on submitting, just keeping yourself to a strict schedule when it comes to moving on with that piece?

3. When you move on with a piece, do you send an e-mail withdrawing your submission from the first place?

Any other tips or ideas you have for what to do when you submit to markets where editors don’t respond if they’re not interested?

Getting ready for May

Pardon the few days away from blogging. It’s been busy around here.

April was the month I was going to use for spring cleaning. Of course I started off strong and ended with not getting much done. I’m giving myself 2 more weeks, and then as far as spring cleaning goes, I’m done.

I’m also busy getting ready for May. Things I usually do at the end of the month:

*Organize my computer
*Organize my desk
*Set goals for the new month
*Go through old records and discover which pieces are ready to be submitted again
(sometime this week I need to blog about what happens when you hear back from few editors aside from ones you work with often)
*My new thing, sending invoices

What do you do to get ready for a new month?

P.S. Can you believe it's almost May? This year is flying!

Sell Reprints

This morning I went through my sales from the last couple of years (yes I know, I don’t do this often enough) and gathered all the articles that I am able to sell again as reprints. If you retained the rights and are able to resell articles, do it. Otherwise you’re missing out on making more money from that one article. You could sell it again for years.

I am quite new to selling reprints, I’ve only sold a couple. It’s just something that’s never on my mind. But I am getting on it now. This morning I have also been searching for reprints markets and e-mailing editors to ask if they buy reprints.

If you have the time today, why don’t you see what you’ve got to sell in the reprint area?

Write Tight E-mails

Are you wasting time with e-mails that drag on, but say nothing? Do you get those kind of e-mails? Instead of writing a novel (even if someone else writes you one), start writing tighter e-mails today.

1. Answers questions posed to you first
This is only polite. Answer them as needed, don’t go into drawn out answers unless asked for more details. Never assume that someone needs a complete explantion.

2. Give your latest news
Don’t bother with the “I did dishes, then I watched tv, then I checked e-mail.” People don’t care about that. Real news. Like what you’re working on. If you sold anything recently.

3. Ask something of the other person
Whether you ask how they are doing (you don’t have to do this up front, you can ask how they are at the end, it makes for a somewhat nice roundup), or something specific that you know they are working on, ask them something.

Needless to say, always be polite. Open and close with a salutation of whatever kind works for you. The best e-mails are the ones that are short, but say so much. And of course, writing tighter e-mails will save you time. And that’s what we’re all looking for.

Preparing blog posts

Over the weekend, when I got the idea for Monday’s blog post, I opened and labelled a file “MondayBlog.” It then occurred to me that if I had a file for each day of the week it would make for a much easier time in preparing posts. So, when I was done posting on Monday, I erased the post from my file, left it blank, but kept the file for next time. Then I proceeded to make a file for each day of the week. TuesBlog, WedBlog, etc. It’s not often that I have an overflowing amount of blog post ideas, so I’m sure the 7 files will be enough.

Do you prepare blog posts in advance? How many do you normally have?
And how do you organize them for yourself?

Edit your contacts

Here’s something to do today if you get a free moment:

Open up the address book in your e-mail account(s) and delete all contacts that you no longer have interaction with. After you do that, take at look at the contacts you have marked as favourites. Do they all still apply? Clean up that list too.

I did this yesterday and it took me about an hour. My biggest change was the favourites list. It was cut down by more than half. I also got rid of contacts I no longer talk to. I used to hate doing that (in case I might ever need the address), but these days (especially with networking sites like Facebook), it’s not hard to find an e-mail address of a friend or family member should I need it. Better for my own time and sanity that I keep what I really need and not get overwhelmed.

Blue Mountain

Yesterday I got a lovely surprise. My cards from Blue Mountain arrived.

This is the second printing of the card, this time done for Mother's Day.

The card is entitled "To a Mother Who Means the World to Me"

How to better a blog

So, you all know that I love change. We can’t count the number of times that I have changed this blog’s template. It’s fun. But I’ve been thinking of what I can do to make my blog nicer to look at. What will draw people in? I like a simple look, nothing cluttered. I think it makes a lot of people a bit crazy when there is too much to see. I think that small display pictures are a good addition to posts.
I am also seriously thinking of having someone create a blog design for me. I do need to come up with an idea of what I want though. Colour, design etc. I have a few ideas in mind that I will play around with. But for now purple on white is pretty.
I keep ads to a minimum, I refuse to clutter up my blog with those. I would much prefer to share links of other blogs and websites.

What have you found make a blog better to look at? Do you pay attention to what’s going on in the sidebars?

Income

I have seen numerous discussions about income popping up on blogs this year. It started with people making financial goals and then went to some people sharing what they make. I have no problem with people sharing what they make, but it makes me (and probably many of you) even more curious when they don’t break down how they make that money. Because that’s what we all want to know, right? How they’re doing it, because they are making quite a bit of money. A couple of blogs have broken it down into how they get paid (cheque/pay pal etc), but that doesn’t tell us anything about where the income comes from. As freelance writers it could be a multitude of things. Article writing, freelance editing/proofreading, advertising on websites and/or blogs, book royalties, content sites etc. And every day there seems to be more and more clever ways to make money.

Do you make financial goals for yourself or does it vary too much from month to month to bother? Maybe you make a year goal? How do you plan to achieve your goal if you make one?

What are you reading?

Anyone reading any good books they want to share?

I am currently reading:

Secrets in the Attic by VC andrews
All American Girl by Meg Cabot
Helen Steiner Rice by Pollitt/Wiltse

Market: The Family Handyman

If you're interested in writing and selling tips, here's a market for you.

The Family Handyman
Include a digital photo of your tip and get an extra $100
handyhints@readersdigest.com
or
Handy Hints
The Family Handyman
2915 Commers Drive
Suite 700
Eagan, MN 55121

I think the name of the magazine says it all, but tips for around the house is what they look for. How to fix things, clean things, keep things/people safe at home etc.

Thanks for commenting in March

Thanks to the following people (in no particular order) for commenting last month:

Jessica Burkhart
Lisa Nevin
Sylvia’s Insight
Chelle Cordero
Carol
Steve Davis
Rebecca Laffar-Smith
Lillie Ammann
The Elementary
Becca
Dawn
Lori
Mandy
Plaidearthworm