Many online publishers and even magazines are using Submittable (previously called Submishmash) to collect queries and manuscripts from freelance writers. Is this site a good deal for writers? We don’t think so.
At WritersWeekly, we receive numerous query letters and manuscripts each week. We use an online contact form on our website. It’s not hard. Our Managing Editor, Brian Whiddon, fields those queries, and sends rejections and acceptance letters. When someone’s query is accepted, he copies and pastes a form acceptance letter with our terms and, voila, the job is done. Easy peasy!
I’m not sure why any firm would want to login to a third-party website, and thumb through a database of submissions. Submittable’s Basic program for publishers is currently $999. OUCH!! Oh, sure, they have lots of bells and whistles but I’ve never been one to make a simple process more complex…no matter how pretty the computer screen can look in the process.
Here’s the problem for writers.
When using Submittable, publications can charge writers a fee to submit (the minimum is $2.00) a query or manuscript. Or, they can choose not to charge a fee. Submittable itself will charge the publisher 99 cents per submission + 5% of the fee the publisher charges writers. This may prompt publishers to charge writers even more money in order to pay that fee to Submittable.
So, now it makes sense why some publishers are using Submittable. They can PROFIT from every submission from writers!
In WritersWeekly’s Paying Markets column, we blacklist publications that charge reading fees. Writers should never be charged to have their query or manuscript considered for publication. When we do mistakenly publish a paying market that has a hidden reading fee that we didn’t previously catch (hey, it happens…), we immediately remove that market when one of our readers reports that to us. WE LOVE OUR READERS!!
If more writers refuse to pay reading fees, fewer publishers will charge them. As more writers fall into the reading-fee trap, the more greedy publishers will become.
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. DO NOT PAY READING FEES.
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- Another Writer Says No To Reading Fees!
- Paying Markets for Writers That Do NOT Charge Reading Fees!
Got questions about Print On Demand and Self-publishing? Ask Angela Hoy.
About The Author
Angela Hoy is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the author of 19 books, and the co-owner of BookLocker.com (one of the original POD publishers that still gets books to market in less than a month), PubPreppers.com (print and ebook design for authors who truly want to self-publish), and Abuzz Press (the publishing co-op that charges no setup fees).
Angela has lived and traveled across the U.S. with her kids in an RV, settled in a river-side home in Bradenton, FL, and lived on a 52 ft Irwin sailboat. Angela now resides on a mountaintop in Northwest Georgia, where she plans to spend the rest of her days bird watching, gardening, hiking, and taking in all of the amazing sunrises.
WritersWeekly.com - the free marketing ezine for writers, which features new paying markets and freelance job listings every Wednesday.
BookLocker.com - According to attorney Mark Levine, author of The Fine Print, BookLocker is: "As close to perfection as you're going to find in the world of ebook and POD publishing. The ebook royalties are the highest I've ever seen, and the print royalties are better than average. BookLocker understands what new authors experience, and have put together a package that is the best in the business. You can't go wrong here. Plus, they're selective and won't publish any manuscript just because it's accompanied by a check. Also, the web site is well trafficked. If you can find a POD or epublisher with as much integrity and dedication to selling authors' books, but with lower POD publishing fees, please let me know."
Abuzz Press offers FAST and FREE book publication, but only accepts a small percentage of submissions, and only works with U.S. authors.
PubPreppers.com - "We Prep, You Publish!" Print and ebook design for authors who truly want to self-publish. Offers formatting and design services only, and then provides simple instructions for authors on where to sign up to have the print and ebook editions printed/listed/sold. Cut out the middle man. Keep 100% of what bookstores pay for your book!
Angela's POD Secrets Revealed Series can be found HERE.
Have a POD Book with another publisher? See if BookLocker can give you a better deal. (BookLocker offers "disgruntled author discounts" to those who want to move from other POD services.)
See BookLocker's publishing packages HERE.
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Angela is the creator of the Original 24-Hour Short Story Contest!
https://24hourshortstorycontest.com/
Read More Of Angela's Articles HERE
QUERY LETTERS THAT WORKED! Real Queries That Landed $2K+ Writing Assignments
Peek over the shoulders of highly successful freelance writers to see how they earn thousands per article! The query letter is the key!
In these pages, you'll find real query letters that landed real assignments for national magazines, websites, and corporations.
Also includes:
- Abbi Perrets' form letter that brings in $30,000-$45,000 annually
- Sample phone query from Christine Greeley
- The Six Golden Rules of Queries and Submissions...and How I Broke Them! by Bob Freiday
- Your Rights As a "Freelancer"
- and ANGELA HOY'S SECRET for finding ongoing freelance work from companies that have a stable of freelancers, yet never run ads for them!
90+ DAYS OF PROMOTING YOUR BOOK ONLINE: Your Book's Daily Marketing Plan by Angela Hoy and Richard Hoy
Promoting your book online should be considered at least a part-time job. Highly successful authors spend more time promoting a book than they do writing it - a lot more.
We know what you're thinking. You're an author, not a marketer. Not to worry! We have more than a decade of successful online book selling experience under our belts and we're going to teach you how to promote your book effectively online...and almost all of our techniques are FREE!
Online book promotion is not only simple but, if you have a step-by-step, day-to-day marketing plan (this book!), it can also be a very artistic endeavor, which makes it fun for creative folks like you!
Yes, online book promoting can be EASY and FUN! Let us show you how, from Day 1 through Day 90...and beyond!
HOW TO REMEMBER, WRITE AND PUBLISH YOUR LIFE STORY
Angela Hoy's popular online class is now available in book format!
Remember Your Past
Write It and Publish It
in as little as 12 weeks!
Angela Hoy's book will get you started!
- Using Angela's MEMORY TRIGGERS, recall memories that have been dormant for years
- Record those memories in chronological order in your memory notebook
- Using the memory notebook as your outline, write your autobiography!
- Also works for biographies and memoirs!
Read more here:
https://booklocker.com/books/4764.html
Thank you for always keeping author up to speed on what’s what. Cheers!
For the most part, I don’t believe fiction or non-fiction publishers charge reading fees for mss. But that is not the way for poetry. You will not be able to submit to 90% or so journals anywhere without being charged a submission fee. And when it comes to submitting book length poetry mss. the cost is way much higher; usually they only allow submissions due to a contest or award they are running, so just plain submissions otherwise are not a usual occurrence. But one magazine went way over the top and is now charging $6.50 to submit your batch of maybe 5 poems! Forget it. When they do things like that, I pass. Not to mention, for the most part, I and the literati do not get along. And I think such things as POETRY magazine and most of those lofty journals are a disgrace and a disgust for what used to be called the genre of “poetry,” anyway. No wonder most people won’t read it anymore.