These last couple of months I have been involved with a writing contest. I was in charge of getting the contest set up, receiving all of the entries, organizing the entries, dispersing the entries to judges, and so on. I have submitted my work to a variety of publishers, agents, and contests and yet only as a contest chair did I actually understand the importance of submission guidelines.
1. Read through all of the instructions and documents you can find about the contest. This normally means scouring the website looking through old posts. Here you can normally find information on what they don't want so you can avoid shooting yourself in the foot by submitting something they specifically say they don't want.
2. Follow said directions. There is no excuse not to follow the instructions given on the website. (I have been really lucky in this regard. Twice I have sent something that didn't meet the requirements and I got a second chance. I will make sure there is never a third time that happens.)
3. If you have any questions ask. Most of the time people don't mind if you want clarification on something. Just make sure the answer to your questions isn't located on the website. If it is, you'll look pretty foolish.
4. If at all possible, don't wait until the last moment to get your entry submitted. Nothing is worse than having a printer or internet failure the day of the deadline. Give yourself plenty of time to get your entry in. This isn't always possible but I have learned is good practice.
5. Never complain about the guidelines to the contest people. Yes, I did experience this, no, I've never done it. They will not respect you if you send them an email talking about the ridiculousness of your contest rules. They will not change the rules for you. Everyone has to follow the rules. You are not special.
Submitting something is always terrifying. After I submit something I normally find a mistake and I have learned instead of worrying about it, or hoping everyone else made a mistake, to just keep writing and preparing for the next submission. If the story is rejected, then I can fix the mistake and submit it somewhere else if the opportunity arises.
Hmmm I wonder how my submission looked. Now I'm scared. Great post it is always interesting being on the other side of things. This year we had the opportunity of talking to the school psych applicants and how nervous and scared they were. Also on how lucky I was to get into the program. Anyways great post.
ReplyDeleteThe majority of the submissions were great and it wasn't a problem in the least. There were just a few people who acted offended that they had to follow the guidelines that were set up. Trust me, you were not a problem.
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