Diary of a Mad Editor

Simultaneous submissions — writers see them as a necessity, allowing them to navigate the often hostile environs of periodical publishing but, for editors, they can be a pain in the ass. It’s true that I openingly read simultaneous submissions. I accept simultaneous submissions not because I find the practice of simultaneously submitting material acceptable, but because I can do nothing to stop the practice or enforce a prohibition against it. When a simultaneous submission turns into a simultaneous acceptance, it can cause headaches for at least one publisher and forces an author to make a necessary, albeit calculated, withdrawal.

Just this morning the second contributor in less than a week has withdrawn a piece from the forthcoming issue of 13thWR. As the poet informed me in his email, the poem had been accepted elsewhere. This was news to me, because at the time he had submitted it, I was not informed that it was a simultaneous submission. The other publication — a university sponsored print journal — evidentally had strong feelings about using previously published material. For my part, since I was only accepting first electronic rights and was planning to have the issue online within a couple of weeks or so (much sooner than the print journal would publish it), I had no problem using the man’s poem and told him so. As I was already in the process of putting the issue together, it was just more convenient for me to go ahead with it. The author had other ideas and insisted that the poem be withdrawn. Oh, he was polite about it, sure, and in all fairness to him, he did contact the other publication before getting back to me. However, in emphasizing that the other publisher is a “university print journal,” he is also telling me something about what he thinks of my publication. Why was he so quick to withdraw the poem from me? Why was the other publisher’s prohibitions more weighty than my generous acceptance?

Here’s my problem: I now have an extra hole to fill in an issue that was slated to be published in short order. This means a delay of several days or, perhaps, weeks. From my vantage point, unless the other publisher was also planning to feature the poet on an online version of their journal, the editors had no legal basis for prohibiting the poet from offering first electronic rights to me. The poem had yet to be published in the other journal and would not likely be published for months. So, that being the case, I am left puzzling over the author’s decision. If, at the end of the day, the acceptance by the other publication was his goal and he knew before hand the other publisher’s policies — why did he bother submitting to me? Afterall, his work wasn’t being offered to me in good faith.

At this point, I am considering prohibiting simultaneous submissions. I may not be able to stop them, but at least prospective contributors will know where I stand on this issue.