posted
A quick question for those of you who frequently do postal submissions. In the guidlines for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science fiction it says manuscripts should be printed on "clean white bond."
Now as near as I can tell, plain white "bond" paper is pretty hard to find and a bit expensive. So I'm wondering, is this an industry standard? What kind of paper do you guys use for submissions?
posted
Your average ream of printer/copier paper is just fine for postal submissions. No need to go hunting for anything more special than that. Also, when printing with a laser printer, I recommend Dark Courier for a font, which Robert J. Sawyer recommends. It gives a nice, bold, clear font, very much like a typewriter.
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posted
Thanks for the info. I'm not sure if mine is a laser printer or not, but knowing this does make it ever so slightly more likely that I might start doing a few postal submissions, maybe.
Although I believe very strongly that the friggin magazines need to get with the program and start taking e-subs. I find it especially funny that Analog, a magazine of science fact as well as fiction, hasn't caught up to the times yet.
posted
I would. Although there's a range of consensuses on methods for making a manuscript stand out, brightness and weight of paper, for examples. I prefer generic recycled paper for its lower cost. Once upon a time, writers used 12 pound onionskin paper because it was lightweight, less expensive than 20 pond bonds, and saved on postage costs. With the introduction of photocopiers, though, that practice faded out of fashion. Onionskin paper is translucent.
[This message has been edited by extrinsic (edited January 15, 2010).]
I've hit that topic to death at my blog, and elsewhere.
Not sure I want to thrash through it again here. Suffice to say I think it's in the best interest of every aspirant to pay attention to market guidelines, and submit in whatever form the market asks for. If they want it electronic, send it electronic. If they want paper standard MS format, send it paper standard MS format. If they want it chiseled into a pallet of wall studs from the hardware store... Well, send it chiseled into a pallet of wall studs from the hardware store.
posted
I simply haven't been submitting to markets that don't take electronic submissions. Partially because a lot of times I dont really have money for printer ink, big envelopes and large amounts of paper.
I will probably mostly continue that, because honestly I don't think theres that many I'm missing, especially in terms of ones that would even consider my stuff anyway. But, especially if the paper doesn't matter, I may get a pack of big envelopes and stuff and shoot one off now and then so to speak.
posted
Same here. I will be posting it overseas. I simply cannot afford to be sending a kilo of paper.
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posted
In my typewriting days, I used to use twenty-pound bond typing paper---but, somehow, when I switched over to computers, I switched to office-warehouse-basic, without even so much as a thought. Not even an inkling of a thought---the matter just never occurred to me. I could still get and use some of the older kind of paper---I see it in the stores---but, seems to me, why bother?
Postage costs aren't an issue (I don't submit enough to make it one) and I sent my last three out in manila envelopes with Priority stamps, whatever the weight...what passes for lightweight paper these days isn't very durable... and, as I've said elsewhere, if I found out I'd been rejected because the editor / reader wanted it on a better grade of paper, it would be my last submission to that market.
posted
Copy-machine grade paper is fine. It's basically 20-pound weight, which is what they care about--not so much the "bond" aspect. (As I understand it, the 20-pound weight refers to how much 10 reams of the paper weigh. And five sheets of that weight paper in a business-size--#10--envelope is just under an ounce and so only needs one stamp for postage.)
Editors had to ask specifically that people not use onion-skin types of paper because pages not only tore easily, but ink smeared on them and got all over the first readers' fingers. Even if the ink didn't smear, it was hard to read.
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