posted
I know that many publishers won't allow multiple submissions, but does that include non-publishing competitions?
I'm considering entering the Writer's Network contest. The prize is help polishing your work to be sent to publishers, and or agent representation (as far as I can tell). So, if I had submitted the short story to them and it was published by a magazine in the meantime...
Or vice versa - if I placed in the contest (a happy thought!), and then the magazine chose to publish the same story (a VERY happy thought). Since the contest isn't publishing it, it isn't a multiple submission, really.
See the problem is I want to send the contest a story I already submitted to a magazine, but might not hear on until after the contest deadline.
posted
Is it fair to others in the comp to enter a story, win, then withdraw it because it's published? Is it fair on yourself and your work to enter a piece that could use polishing?
Why not write more stories while waiting for feedback from the submission, and enter one of those?
posted
Well, I think the point is that I've polished it to the best of my ability right now. I don't think the story would need to be withdrawn - they're looking for writers, not stories. And for this instance, the deadline is in 2 weeks. I don't think I have time to bring a new story to the same level.
The other concern is that the announcement of winners is in October. Which means that if I decide I shouldn't submit to both, one of my completed stories is on the shelf for 5 months.
posted
All the more reason to write something new (the one with October timeframe). If you are only writing (even if writing is something you do in your spare time) you should be able to kick something out in 2 weeks. 1k words/day means you'd be at 8k in just over a week, giving you 5-6 days to polish. Just line up your critiquers ahead of time, and/or send out work-in-process stuff and work in feedback as you go. Some find this to be a better way to incorporate feedback, as the feedback helps fine-tune the end result and the finished draft is much better than it would have been without any feedback.
Good luck to you. It's a good problem to have, trust me.
posted
Agent representation would not necessarily be for the story, but for your career.
Unless the rules specifically say that they don't want stories that are under consideration at a publishers, I think you are fine.
By the way, you're talking about simultaneous (sent to different markets at the same time) submissions here, not multiple (more than one to the same market) submissions.
Printer-friendly view of this topic
