| Simultaneous
and Multiple Article Submission
by Barb Clews
Do you know the difference between
simultaneous article submissions and multiple submissions?
This is something that trips up new
writers, and some more seasoned individuals.
A travel writer I knew sent the same
feature length article to two leading newspapers without
letting the editors know. Unfortunately, both publications
printed the article on the same day. What do you think
this does to your reputation?
Immediately the writer's name was put
on the list of unreliable contributors and she received
a "do not send articles to us again" letter.
Simultaneous
Simultaneous submissions relates to
sending the same article to more than one publication.
The word means at the same time; synchronised, concurrent,
coinciding.
Please read
this next paragraph carefully, because it will make
a big difference to your success.
It is impossible to send the same article
or exactly the same idea to more than one magazine because
each article or idea should be specifically targeted
to a particular publication. The same article will not
perfectly fit into both Magazine X and Magazine Y, as
each publication has its own style and readership.
Multiple
Multiple submissions relates to sending
a query that consists of more than one idea, or sending
more than one article, at the same time, to the same
publication. The word means having several or many parts,
elements or individual components.
A problem with multiple submissions
is you cannot copyright an idea. The way to ensure your
ideas cannot be poached is to write a substantial synopsis.
Four or five paragraphs in your query letter will constitute
a "substantial" description.
For this reason it may not be practical
to submit one query to an editor that contained four
ideas as the letter/email would be long and this may
result in a rejection because the editor simply didn't
have enough time to read the query.
In this case it is best to restrict
your query to one or two ideas, so you can showcase
them properly.
Barb Clews (http://www.bcacommunications.com.au)is
an award winning journalist with nearly 1,000 published
articles to her credit. She has been a writer and editor
for 15 years and is the author of "Article Writing
for Freelancers" and "20 Tips to Increase
Writing Skills"
Visit BCA Books (
http://www.bcabooks.com) to subscribe to "Words
that Work", Barb's monthly ezine packed with tips
for writers.
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