Sunday, December 2, 2007

Editorial Etiquette

I would just like to post this note from the perspective of both editor and writer, as well as someone who holds a master's degree in editing. As an editor, you have to have some inner process of critique in order to determine what you will or will not include. It is not, however, appropriate to expose this process to the writer whose work you're viewing. In the end, a response to a submission should include "hey, thanks for thinking of us but we've decided not to use this at this time," and, if really necessary, "hey, we're really looking for things of this particular sort, and what you send doesn't fall in line with that." It is never appropriate or fair to make generalizations on a writer's work or abilities based only on the few pieces they've sent, which may or may not be representative of their portfolio. Editors should be in the business of encouraging writers, not discouraging them--or else we'd have no work to read and therefore no job. In short, leave the job of critiquing to a critic.

Let's support publications that believe in a fair, objective assessment of and response to submissions that we take time out of our lives to present. I will continue to promote exactly that in the publications I am involved with.

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