đIt took 20 years but I finally had two separate markets accept the same pitch this week. Can you believe it took that long? This scenario used to scare the bejesus out of us writers back in the day.
Multiple submissions and how to handle them. What if you sent the same idea to more than one outlet and both came back with an assignment? Oh, to only have that kind of problem, I used to think.
But some writers were sticklers for never crossing that line and only sending a multiple submission if they alerted the editor that it was such. I typically waited a week, followed up and if I didnât hear anything I often sent the idea on again and again. Still do. I would try not to send editors I had relationships with multiple submissions as a courtesy because I was giving them an exclusive, so to speak.
But even then, if they didnât reply back in a week or so, I simply sent the idea onward, perhaps tweaked ever so slightly for the next market.
đ± Itâs easy to see that eventually two outlets could end up wanting the same idea, right?
đ¶ Still, in all these years no two markets ever came back later and said, âYes, we both want this idea.â What they sometimes said, was, âSorry itâs taken me so long to get back to you. This idea got buried in my inbox, my dog ate it, my assistant shredded it accidentally, but now Iâve taped it back together and read it, and I think itâs great. Is it still available?â
It always was. Until now.
đ° As an aside, my record for an editor coming back and saying âOops, sorry to have taken so ridiculously long on this one, Â but is this idea still available?â, was fourteen months. It was available. The publication was AARP and it was a nice 3K surprise!
This week two new-to-me and not very high paying markets, unbeknownst to me, reached out and assigned me the story idea I sent them. Two.
Market number one emailed to assign the story over the weekend. Market number two assigned it on Monday. I sent it to market number one on August 10.
I sent the same idea to market number two on August 26.
They both reached out on August 30/31. You might even think market number one took a pass since they took two weeks to get back to me. But no, apparently thatâs their timeline.
Unfortunately, market number oneâs rate is significantly below what I would charge and since I hadnât yet received assignment offer number 2, I asked if they could up their fee. No response yet.
However, market number twoâs rate, is also low, but higher than market number one. I also emailed them back and asked if they could raise their rate.
So now thatâve I asked them both to up their rates Iâm in a bit of a quandary. If market number one says yes, am I obligated to write the story for them, granted the rate is acceptable? If not, I can back out using the rate as my excuse. If they say no to a rate hike, I can again decline using the rate reason.
If market number two says yes to a rate hike, again, do I feel somewhat inclined to write the story for them? If they say no, I can decline based on their rate.
Whew. Have I lost you yet?
đ Hereâs the thing, neither market, as maybe you can deduct from the low pay offers, is prestigious or someplace Iâm dying for a clip from.
In fact, I could easily decline both offers and continue pitching elsewhere, though the idea has already been rejected by two others higher on my list. And it would be a few hundred dollars in my pocket.
Though the work it entails, several interviews, research and writing is hardly worth my agonizing over which low paying market to gently decline.
đ And so I found myself more amused than agonized by this weekâs predicament. And still awed that it took twenty years to happen.
If this was say, the New York Times and The Washington Post with juicy assignments and decent monetary offers, I would have most likely already accepted the first offer quickly and been forced to decline the second. In the unlikely event that both assignment offers entered my inbox within roughly the same timeframe of each other, I would then have needed a more structured method of acceptance and decline. Something akin to this:
1.      Which assignment offered more money?
2.      Which market was I keener to publish in?
3.      Which editor, if either, was a better choice for me to work with personally?
4.      Which outlet had a better, less onerous contract?
5.      Which outlet employed an easier, less convoluted path to publication including timeline, revise and pay?
6.      Which outlet was more prestigious if any?
7.      Which market would hold the most exposure for my story, i.e. readership, subscribers, unique website visitors?
8.      Which market would be further career enhancing?
9.      Which market would I most hope to continue writing for?
These are just a few of the questions you might base a decision about multiple submission practices upon if this happens. Then again, if your record is anything like mine, you may not have to worry about it for quite some time.
Have you ever had two editors want a story at the same time? How did you decide, what did you base it on and was it the right decision? Reach out and share your story.
*As of this newsletter going to email, market number 2 replied after two days that their budget was very tight and unfortunately, set in stone during the pandemic, but that they could consider a slightly higher fee in the future if this story worked out well.
Market number one took 4 days to get back to me to tell me they could raise their fee $50, which makes it the exact same low fee that market two is offering.
Iâve decided to decline both offers posthaste, which is further ironic when you think about it.
After 20 years, when two markets finally do assign the same pitch, Iâve declined both for low pay and ennui on everyoneâs part.
Who/What/Where?
Ode to the semicolon. Need an update on the eyes in the pre-emoji winking smile? ;) Hereâs a nice overview.
Book publishing pandemonium. Serious supply chain issues disrupt book publishing this fall.
Canât resist smelling a book? How bout smelling like a book? Couldnât resist sharing this paperback fragrance for you book lovers who might entertain the idea of smelling like your fave paperback. Give me a whiff when this pandemic thing has passed. Iâm trying it.
Love to âthesaurusâ all your weak works? Related Words is a fun tool to play with.
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