Writing Blog Number 2

20240427 Publishing News

Publishing News

An increasing number of small publishers have decided to stop having open calls and are no longer taking unsolicited manuscripts for novels. Some are even no longer taking unsolicited works for anthologies, and a few magazines are taking this step as well.

There was a press release from Author’s Publish concerning this (though they did take the blame for something as well, and I think that’s unfair, so I’m not mentioning that here), and I received confirmation when a publisher requested a story for an anthology from me (no guarantee of publication). They both said the same thing: there are three issues. Like I said, one of the Author’s Publish issues is personal, so the second one mentioned here comes just from the publisher who contacted me.

First, mass/bulk submissions. With the ease of doing it, there is a growing group of writers (and I have been told their demographic as well…) who just send their manuscript to every single publisher with an open submission policy. No matter what the publisher wants, they send it. A children’s publisher getting inundated with adult soft-core erotica is the example the publisher gave me; this children’s publisher is now going out of their way to bad-mouth the writers in question, and there are threats of legal push-back. Entitled writers who think their crap don’t stink.

Second, (and this came from the publisher) is that a growing number of self-published writers are submitting the books they have already self-published to trad publishers because they believe the line in the submission guidelines about not doing that does not apply to them. Again, I do know the demographic (and it overlaps with the previous demographic…) who is inclined to do this, and it is becoming more and more common. Still self-entitled jerks.

Third, and this should be no surprise, is the rise in AI. Writers using AI to write sections, to grammar-correct the whole work without checking the grammar checking is right, even works constructed whole-cloth using AI, all of these are increasing in number. This is a very different demographic to the previous two, and could see some entire regions or groups of writers just ignored if submitting to US publishers.

Look, we are all writers. Those who wish to go the traditional publishing route (and that is me; I will not put up here my thoughts on self-publishing or why I feel that way) need to make sure they are doing the right thing, or else they are not only messing up their own potential chance for success, but ruining it for everyone.

Like I said, though – that sense of entitlement is prevalent and, looking at the demographic breakdown, maybe some sections of society need a damn good reality check and wake-up call.

Yes, I’m pissed off. Screw you, all those who are messing this up for those of us who are doing the right thing.