posted
First off, we're getting ready to move and should be in our new residence by or on April 17th.
Second, a while back, I sent a story of mine via snail mail to Challenging Destiny, SAE and IRC included. Now, I've checked the Black Hole and the average response time, overall, is 52 days (max wait was 195 days). The average RT for 2005 is (by my calculations based on TBH data) 68 days. My story has been out for 50. It's a Canadian publication, so I wonder if most of the people posting on TBH are American, like me, and the RT is due to the problems associated with international postage.
I have two worries:
1) They haven't received it (this is my first time sending something to another country and I'm worried it's gotten lost).
2) There's a chance the move will delay any contact I receive from them and I might even find that their response has gotten lost in the mail.
Currently, I can't send them a new address because, at the moment, we don't have one. I also don't want to turn into a paranoid, nail-biting wreck while dealing with packing and other moving sundries because I'm waiting to hear back on this last submission.
I really like Challenging Destiny. I don't want to ruin any future chances just because I'm impatient. I got impatient with another publication (Abyss & Apex), emailed them while feverish from the flu (I thought I was just tired at the time), and although things didn't go bad, they didn't go well either.
Should I calm down and wait it out? Should I calm down, then send them a polite postcard query? Email? Any other thoughts?
posted
I would think it's a bit early to get worried. Most of the RTs I get are over the Black Hole's average RTs, and you don't want to anger the editor .
I understand your concern over the move, however. What I would have done, had I an address, was send them a mail with the new one. Don't you have a family member or friend who can act as mailbox for you?
Or can't you redirect your mail? It's generally a matter of a few weeks' delay to get the mail, and editors give you far more time than that to get the contracts back to them (someone correct me if I'm wrong, I only sold one print thing to an antho, the rest was by email...) Or, alternatively, they contact you directly by mail (I know ROF does that, at least).
posted
Giving them a friend's address might work. I'll think about that.
We've had mail forwarded before when we've moved, but we've always had a problem with at least one piece of mail. Sometimes we don't get it for several months, and sometimes not at all.
When we moved to our current residence, a package we were expecting showed up six months later nearly torn apart. It's one of the few pieces of mail I've seen that looked like it had literally gone through hell.
posted
This sounds like one of those cases where you have to trust the system.
Forward your mail as usual through the postal service and wait.
Once you have not recieved your response after about 120 days, then send them a letter and include your updated address. Even with forwarding the chance of your letter actually getting completely lost in the mail are minimal. It will either get to you or get back to them.
posted
I have done a lot of mailing over the years (because of the newsletter I've edited), and the odds that something will go wrong with something you send is so small that it truly is a credit to the post office.
However, the US Snail only has to be "hungry" once for it to be a problem for you, so I like to do everything I can to protect myself and my mail.
As soon as you have a new address to give to the post office (so they can forward mail to you), go ahead and email it to the editor. A simple "we've moved and I wanted you to have my new mailing address for your response" is perfectly fine, very business-like and professional, and should not bother anyone.
posted
Kathleen...as far as problems with letters go, I'm an expert. Every day, I pull a considerable amount of mangled mail out of the machines---this morning, the vast majority of it involved letters that were folded and opened up, much like "Workshop" is sent (though usually not sealed with staples.) Twice so far I've opened up my copy of the print edition of "Workshop" and found somebody else's letter stuck inside it.
A manuscript envelope---a "flat" in post office lingo---is probably one of the safer things to mail, probably better than, say, a nine-by-twelve catalog or magazine. But not immune to all problems. The current sorting machines for flats are widely believed to shred the mail to a greater degree than is proper. And new and further upgrades are planned, that probably won't address these problems.
As for forwarding...the forwarding staff works long hours and despite this often a great deal of mail piles up. In our office (Southwest Florida), forwarding is very seasonal, depending on the migration of the snowbirds. Occasionally other pecularities add up to more delays---for instance, at last report, nothing but first class mail was being delivered to the New Orleans area in the aftermath of the hurricane / flooding.
So when mail doesn't show up or arrive, try to keep in mind that your mail is just one piece out of, probably, fifty thousand each and every delivery day in the average zip code. (More in a heavily populated zip, less in a less-poplated zip or P. O. box zip.) We're trying our best.
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