Monday 3 November 2008

The right time?

Can anybody out there give me any advice on when to submit seasonal stories. I'm always a bit wary of submitting them because I'm never sure if I'm doing it at the right time.

5 comments:

Karen said...

Well, the general rule of thumb seems to be three months in advance (Sept for Christmas etc), and that's what I stick to. The editor at TaB told me she finds some people send their seasonal stories 'too far in advance.' It wasn't me, honest!!

Annie Wicking said...

Hi GBW, I think it's about four or five months before. If you write for the magazine guidelines these should tell you.

Best wishes,
Annie

Colette McCormick said...

So I guess that I should be thinking about submitting my Valentine stories about now. To be honest I don't write many seasonal stories but I think that's because of the submission sonfusion that I suufer from. Thanks x

Anonymous said...

I sent a Christmas story to Best in March, they replied in June and it's going to be in the issue dated 09/12/08.
Maybe because they only have one story per issue they like to get seasonal ones sorted out early. Mind you, that means if you wait till July/Aug they've probably already bought their seasonal ones and you've no chance.They won't even tell you that they're all stocked up for that season/event.
I'd definitely get seasonal stories off at least 6 months before the time. I remember talking to an editor from My Weekly at Halloween one year and asking her what issue she was working on - 'Christmas' she replied.
I think I'd rather have stories out too early rather than too late.
Sorry I'm anonymous, I'm being told I have the wrong password.(Perfectly possible - I may be using one of the half a dozen passwords I need for work. I'm easily confused!)

Sky Blue

Colette McCormick said...

Welcome anonymous Sky Blue and don't worry. I too have half a dozen passwords or so for various reasons and I am always finding myself going through a few of them before I get to the right one.
That's really interesting that you sent a Christmas story off in March. I think that is the earliest yet but you were accepted so it was the right time for that magazine I suppose.