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What NOT to Say to An Editor
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"I can't give you the details of the story, because I don't want to give away the ending."
Charles Montgomery, Editor, Orato Magazine
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"This is how I'm going to do it, and that's that!" (Forgetting who signs the checks for freelancers,
this particular writer did it her way, and never wrote for us again!)Linda Griepentrog, Editor, Sew News
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I hate it when writers receive specific direction for a story focus and then turn in a rambling piece that moves in four directions at once. Best lesson to learn: focus your stories. Every story says ONE thing.
Tom Graves, Managing Editor, Off Duty
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Actually, I've not had many bad experiences with writers saying the wrong thing. But several writers (as well as P.R. people) make the big mistake of not paying attention to the Mail Merge capability of their word processors. Just today, I received a letter with my name and address on the envelope, but a competing publication's editor's name and address on the cover letter inside. This lack of attention to detail doesn't instill much confidence in the writer's abilities. Today's letter, just like all the previous ones, ended up in the trash can.
Andre Hinds, Executive Editor, Income Opportunities
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They told me the story they were pitching me was going to appear in another publication, or in another case told me that it had already appeared in another publication.
Jim Tremayne, Editor, DJ Times
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I 'm concerned that in the past several years, across various markets and magazines, I've seen writers seemingly lose the knack of simple initiative and queries. I get a large group of writers who call me on the phone and say, "Hey, I'm a good writer in X city and I've written for this magazine and this magazine, etc. Let me know if we can work together." They have no specific article ideas in mind, nor do they seem to want to go after them; they want the editor to do all the legwork. Frankly, by the time I track down a story and I call and set it up, the writing becomes the easy part as far as I'm concerned. Another interesting trend that I've seen (and been disappointed in): Writers who don't even bother sending me clips but try to steer me to their website to look at their posted work. The problem with this is that a written clip in front of me is worth two on the Web (so to speak) because it will help 'nudge' me.
Gregory Sharpless, Editor in Chief, Digital Output
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"Well why the h--- not?" (This was) in response to one of our editors after he politely called to thank a writer for a submission and to inform the writer that our magazine wasn't interested in the submission at this time."
Stacy Henderson, Editor-in-Chief, Home Business Magazine
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