Forum - View topicHow long to wait for a reply from the editors?
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piotrus
Posts: 18 |
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I understand you are busy, but it has been well over a week since I sent you an inquiry about publishing my article. I am an experienced writer. ANN still hasn't covered the topic I drafted what I think is a perfectly publishable piece. Are you really that swamped with submissions you cannot reply within ~10+ days? It's rather disappointing. (Since your FAQ also has a disclaimer your staff does not read the forums, I am not even expecting much of a reply here, but I do wonder if there are others with similar experiences here. I mean, if you are sooo swamped with submissions, I'd expect some folks to react here...).
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 3028 Location: Email for assistance only |
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Hi there, since you didn't include information about your particular submission I'll have to speak in generalities. I'm assuming you sent your submission through the Freelancer email and if so, you likely got an auto-response that read:
Most of your question is answered in that response but in the event that other freelance hopefuls are reading this, I don't mind elaborating. First and most importantly, I already have a stable of regular freelance writers. These are the folks who write our reviews and columns or are frequent feature contributors. There's roughly 20 or so and these are folks who have shown over years of contributions that they are reliable, consistent, entertaining, and have specialized abilities. If there is a pitch that I personally want to run, I will always ask these individuals first unless the pitch itself is very niche or requires a particular background and none of them fill that niche. It is a risk every time I give a pitch to a new writer even after vetting a resume and reading past writing samples. Their contribution may require more time consuming editing/mentoring or they may ghost me all together. Secondly, the editorial calendar is packed. I have two slots a week not counting content from our video team. Sometimes those slots go to features but we are also always working on interviews for current season shows and those are time sensitive and a priority. There's also regularly scheduled features that take priority such as the quarterly preview guide, biannual manga guide, end of the season best/worst and we are now also approaching the end of the year best/worst. It is not unusual for my editorial calendar to be scheduled out for months. I go through submissions when I need them, which as you might gather from this information isn't a matter of urgency. Lastly, if you plan to pursue a freelance career, I recommend adjusting your expectations. No publication owes you work or even their time. If you have experience applying for jobs, you likely know that it isn't unusual to not hear back for weeks or months. I'm a little shocked that you think not hearing anything after (1) business week warrants the tone of your post. I think it would be in your best interest to try shopping your pitch at other publications that might have more room in their schedules. |
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piotrus
Posts: 18 |
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Thank you for replying, and quite extensively as well. I do think that come what it may, this will be useful for future writers who want to submit a piece to ANN.
Now, you are indeed right that expecting a reply that quickly might have been hoping for too much. I am a professional writer (although working in a bit different field) and I am indeed used to months passing before an editor replies (it varies, sometimes I get reply within a day or two - and I assumed, for no good reason, ANN would fall on the quicker end of the spectrum). My - somewhat subjective - disappointment comes from the fact that I believe my writing is good enough and the topic chosen timely enough that's is a sad waste for everyone involved not to use it. Some ANN stories are very good, but some are, sorry to say, rewritten press releases - and I believe (granted, it's subjective) that what I sent you two weeks above is above average. I do wonder if before you get around to reviewing my piece you'll independently notice the potential of this story and get a freelancer to write about it (and if they'll produce something solid, or one of those PR pieces...). Shrug. Oh, and another fun fact: I am uncertain if ANN pays its writers (I assume it does for most), but frankly, I was thinking of my submission as a form of volunteer work, published for no compensation. I just wanted to help you out and share something cool with the community (and if I got compensated for it, it would be a nice surprise). So when you write about my expectations, well, here's a miscommunication of sorts. I thought I'd be welcomed as someone who wants to help ANN, a volunteer of sorts, and I haven't thought that you are probably swamped with a horde of low-quality submissions from likely inexperienced teens and other wannabes. Reviewing them does, presumably, take more time than I allowed for, and can be somewhat frustrating. Anyway, if you want to review my submission, just search for the one by Piotr, I doubt you get many people with my name writing to you. No hurry - or so I'd say, the story I wanted to write about is still current although I'd need to update my piece if by any chance you'd accept it, and every passing day increases the odds someone else will write about it. |
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor
Posts: 3028 Location: Email for assistance only |
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All of ANN's writers are paid. As a professional and for my own ethical reasons, I'd never accept writing for free as it devalues the work of the writer and the industry as a whole. There are a lot of publications and other areas that look at creative work as something they can be exchanged for "exposure" but it is, in my opinion, actually detrimental and has devalued a lot of creative works.
I think you may be mistaking the difference between news and editorial above, however. Nothing in editorial section would fall under rewritten press releases since it usually falls under opinion pieces or researched features that pulls from multiple sources. I wouldn't classify most of what is submitted to me as low-quality, actually. While there are the risks I mentioned above, it's rare that I get a pitch that I'd describe as poor or written by teenagers that lack experience. It's my limited scheduling that requires me to be picky, but I'm usually picking from a pretty decent pool. I looked for your submission from the Freelance Pitches email and it wasn't there. It looks like part of the issue was that it wasn't sent according to the instructions laid out here: animenewsnetwork.com/staff-openings but was instead sent to a staff e-mail that's used for other purposes. Additionally, despite reading your email, I don't know what your pitch is. There wasn't a topic mentioned, so I'm not sure if you wanted to write a few news articles about something (in which case, that's not my department) but if that were the case, I imagine the news team may not have responded because they also don't know what you intended to write and whether it was timely or of interest to the readers. Your posts here say that no one else has written about the topic you drafted but between the e-mail and the posts here, I think myself and the staff don't know what that is or whether we'd be interested in engaging with you about writing about it. |
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