5 Ways to Spot and Avoid Sketchy Editors and Publications

I still remember that summer afternoon when my mother came upstairs to find me weeping into my pillow. I was 20 years old, and I had just discovered that my boyfriend had been cheating on me. Of course, I told my mother the edited, sanitized version of the story, omitting that part about walking into his apartment to find him in bed with his ex-girlfriend.

I also remember my mother’s advice: “You should be choosier about the company you keep,” she said. “Pick men who actually deserve you.”

Two weeks ago, over three decades after the boyfriend debacle, I found myself replaying my late-mother’s voice and advice-this time about my writing career.

I had just submitted a personal essay to a publication where I didn’t know the editor and had not previously placed one of my pieces. Less than 30 minutes after I pressed that “send” button, I got an email back.

Impressive, right? Clearly this was an outfit that read, reviewed and promptly issued author submission status.

Turns out, someone (an editorial assistant or email gatekeeper?) had mistakenly hit “reply” instead of “forward.” So what I was reading on my laptop screen was my submission being forwarded from this assistant to the acquisitions editor—prefaced with a demeaning, reductive note–about me.

I won’t detail that email’s content here, but the word “ugh!” caught my eye—and ire. Then, the rest of the commentary was so off base from my essay’s actual content, that I wondered if I had, in fact, received some other writer’s email by mistake.

Then I saw that remark about my national origin (I’m Irish born) and an accusation that I was attempting to use my nationality as an affirmative-action-styled tactic to gatecrash the editorial party. This email message was never intended for me, but it was about me.

I re-read my submitted essay, watching for those places where any reader could or would infer or understand something so different from what was actually on the page.

As an ex-teacher (of childhood reading), I could only conclude that my work had been skimmed. And, just like my kiddie students who faked or fudged their reading homework, this editorial assistant had simply filled in the blanks with what she believed or wanted to actually be there.

Even when it’s between two stranger in cyberspace, it’s hurtful to be the eavesdropper on someone judging or accusing us (in this case wrongly).

Before I typed my response, I closed that email, took deep breaths, and regressed to that heartsick 20-year-old.

The truth? The error was mostly mine.

My mother was right. Just like with boyfriends and friends, we writers need to be selective about the editorial company we keep.

This wasn’t and isn’t about writer’s rejection. In my 20-plus year career, I’ve been blessed with many published pieces and, thankfully, four published books. Equally, I’ve earned enough rejection notes to wallpaper a small bedroom. Getting rejected is part of the writing life. If we are so conceited or naïve to believe otherwise, then maybe this isn’t the profession for us. I’ve also been super lucky in that, at least 85% of my editorial and literary agent interactions have been professional, collaborative and respectful.

Of course, there is an assumed power imbalance between those who create art and those who can get that art purchased or showcased.

Some writers exaggerate this power imbalance to spend more time wallowing than actually writing. A very small number of editors interpret their curatorial status as an exemption from the norms, ethics and practices of the rest of the business world.

The bottom line: We wouldn’t hire a sketchy or unknown contractor to build an extension onto our house. Equally, we writers need to fully vet any publication to which we submit our work. I wish I had.

5 Red Flags That This Publication Is Not For You

1. Look beyond the front-page advertising jingles: Before you query or submit to a new online literary journal, read most or all of its currently published pieces. Trust your own values, standards and literary poetics. If that little voice inside says, “no,” listen to it.

2. Google the publication’s listed editors: Let’s face it, anyone with blogging skills can set up a journal, hang out his or her shingle as an editor, and put out a call for author submissions. A quick online search of the editors’ own works and credentials will reveal their eligibility (or not) to judge or showcase your work. If a Google or Amazon search throws up a dossier that’s sketchy or limited or 100% self-appointed or -published, then pass on this publication.

3. Click bait titles: Compare the published writers’ topics with the editorial titles. Is there a clear or hyped-up mismatch? Do the titles scream SEO, Google searches or stoked-up controversy? If so, keep researching to find a more thoughtful, less click-hungry journal.

4. Typos, misspellings and wrongly used words: Yes, you have a responsibility to only submit well-edited and polished work. But if your target journal’s past published pieces include incorrect grammar or usage, or if the writing is too gimmicky or slangy, these are clues that nobody is in charge here. Or worse, there is someone in the editorial driving seat, but he or she doesn’t know the difference. Those typos or missing words or misspellings will ultimately reflect on you and your byline.

5. The refrigerator magnet rejection: Some rejection notes, especially those with a few lines of feedback, will make you a better writer. But never re-query or submit to that editor who sends a note that reads like a set of those refrigerator-magnet word puzzles. His or her “feedback” reads like a randomly chosen set of words that makes little or no sense and leaves you scratching your head and asking, “Huh?” This is a lazy response from someone who doesn’t even take the time to craft a standard, writer rejection template.

 

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Áine Greaney has published four books and her essays have appeared in Salon.com, Creative Nonfiction,  Books by Women, The Feminist Wire, The Boston Globe Magazine, NPR Boston and Writers Digest Magazine–and others.

Her personal essays have been cited as a notable in Best American Essays, and her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Find out more about her on her website: www.ainegreaney.com

Follow her on twitter @AineGreaney

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