However, some people don't believe rules apply to them, or only the rules they choose to follow do. They are the ones who send back a reply to an email stating that submissions not following the guidelines are automatically rejected. Some of these responses show that the senders are brain dead or close to it. I'm cussed by email because I follow "petty" rules rather than recognizing the great American novel.
The latest automatic rejection, which stated we expected submissions to follow the guidelines and which included a link to the guidelines, triggered the following reply, "So you will let a great novel slip by because of some silly rule?"
I didn't send a response, but if I had, I would have said, "So you will allow your ego and lack of brains keep your novel from being considered? Now who or what is silly?"
I just don't understand. Don't writers realize that they need publishers or agents more than publishers or agents need them? 4RV has at least forty submissions for each opening in our schedule. People who refuse to follow the guidelines give us a quick and easy way to reject something (which is something even the major agents and publishers do).
Currently, almost all traditional publishing houses are cutting back on the number of manuscripts they accept. Yet, apparently the zombies walk -- guess it is the season -- or write. Why wouldn't any writer want to do anything and everything possible to make a good impression if he wants to have a chance to be published? What makes people think they are doing publishers or agents a favor by submitting?
I don't have an answer.
