A few days ago, I submitted a short piece to Tiny Lights and received almost immediately a very pleasant email from the editor, Susan Bono. Needless to say, this kind of thing is so out of the ordinary that I felt it warranted a comment.
I’m sure all of us writers have had encounters with editors who are less than courteous or professional. Years ago I submitted work to a journal. I don’t remember now the name, but I don’t think it exists anymore. I got a letter from the editor in which he said no thank you to my submission and in the very next sentence let me know that I could become a better writer if I just read his instructional book which I could purchase directly from him for a reasonable price. (Oh no he didn’t) Oh yes he did.
And then there are those editors who accept your piece as long as you don’t mind a few minor revisions, i.e. letting them rewrite it to read exactly as if they had written it themselves. But my intention today was not to rail against those kind of editors, few that they are, but to celebrate those we appreciate.
By the way, I should also mention that the editor at GUD was very sweet about the ftp server thing.
So to all the editors who treat us writers like human beings, thank you. We appreciate it. And I for one will try to return the favor. We know your jobs are hard, and we know that you know ours is too, since most of you are writers yourselves.
Just as it pays for writers not to insult editors for rejecting their work if they ever hope to get published, it also pays for editors to be respectful of writers, even if they don’t respect their work, especially for small publications. If you treat writers with courtesy, they will be loyal to you and your publication. See, here I am plugging Tiny Lights. Not that droves of people are reading this. But that ‘s not the point. The point is, well, thank you. That’s all.
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