Throughout the history of mankind and in some places today, speaking the “wrong” language has distinct life-shortening potential. I hope that I don't live long enough to see that one.
John Jenkins
Sydney, Australia
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Dear Stan,
I have just finished your editorial ("New Writers") in the March 2007 issue of Analog. I strongly agree with you. One of the primary reasons I subscribe to Analog is to discover new authors. I can still remember reading “Ender's Game” by Orson Scott Card and looking forward to more of his works. Then there was Joe Haldeman's “The Forever War,” which was first published in Analog as a series of stories. I eagerly awaited each new story and, eventually, the novel. Among the other authors I follow are Amy Bechtel, Catherine Asaro, and Lois McMaster Bujold.
Keep up the great work.
Henry H. Werner
Naperville, IL
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Dear Mr. Schmidt,
Thank you for the candor of your March 2007 editorial on new writers. I am one of those, and two of my stories got turned down. I could understand you turning them down ... if you had nothing better. Then I read the two you chose and wondered, who's kidding who?
I told the superintendent of the building where I live, “This guy Schmidt, the editor of the magazine, tells all his readers that he can't buy more than 1% of the submissions. So all the new writers know that, even if their work is totally publishable, the odds are so frighteningly stacked against them, they may as well not waste their time and postage. It's like paying the editors to turn you down. You're better off adapting the piece to a novel length, and sending the sample chapters and outlines to major book publishers. Or, just pay for the magazine space, as if you're buying an ad. I wish there was some way to cut the flow of submissions to nothing, and watch Schmidt try to write the magazine himself. Maybe he'll turn himself down."
Did I write this just to bitch? Not exactly. I just wanted to reiterate, in my own way, what you already told your readers: “99% of all writers get turned down, and it may have nothing to do with the quality of the piece! We can't buy more than 1%! So, why are you killing yourself on our magazine? You want to get bought out by a major New York book publisher? Just send your stuff right to them! Why let us kick you in the ass at your expense? Are you crazy?"
Is this what you wanted to say in your editorial? Because you sure said it to me.
In case you were wondering (you probably weren't), I do have other sci-fi pieces, and I lack the masochism and stupidity to send them to you at my expense. I wish you the best of luck in ending up with the kind of writers who are dumb enough. From what you already ran, it looks like you're getting them. They all need business managers, and perhaps psychiatric help.
Larry Cohen
Cleveland Heights, OH
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I'm sorry you didn't understand the editorial, but if that's what you think I said, you couldn't have missed the point more completely.
It isn't random! If you can learn to do the kind of thing our readers will like, better than 99% of the others trying, your chances of a sale are much better than 1 in 100. If you can't, they're much worse.
And you think your chances are better at a book publisher? Just try it. Most of them won't even look at your submission unless it comes through an agent they trust. We will, and with genuine interest.
As for your stories being as good as the ones we published, that's not inconceivable—but it's not likely, either. Writers often think much more highly of their work before they've gotten really good at it than after. Self-critical skills are apparently among the last to develop.
It is a highly competitive field, and if you can't deal with that, it is not the field for you. Writers have to be persistent and thick-skinned. The skills can be learned, and some people do so. But nobody ever did it by giving up after two disappointments and diverting his energy into rants about sour grapes. That's the surest way to be absolutely sure you won't sell anything.
And just for the record, I have turned myself down.
[Back to Table of Contents]
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UPCOMING EVENTS
by ANTHONY LEWIS
1—3 June 2007
CONCAROLINAS 2007 (Carolina area SF conference) at Marriott Executive Park, Charlotte, NC. Guests of Honor: Barbara Hambly. Elaine Cunningham, Teri Wachowiak, Robert Buettner. Info: www.concarolinas.org; concarolinas@ concarolinas.org; ConCarolinas, Box 9100, Charlotte NC 28299-9100.
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22—24 June 2007
COUNTERPOINT (Northeast Filk conference) at Woodfin Suite Hotel, Rockville, MD. Guest of Honor: Wild Mercy; TM: John Hall; Interfilk Guest: Seanan McGuire. Registration: $45 until 31 May 2007; $55 at the door. Single day rates will be available at the door. Info: www.filker.org/conterpoint/; [email protected]; 5911 Veranda Drive, Springfield, VA 22152.
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5—8 July 2007
READERCON (Literary-oriented SF conference) at Burling Marriott, Burlington, MA. Guests of Honor: Lucius Shepard, Karen Joy Fowler; Memorial Guest of Honor: Angela Carter. Registration: $40 until 15 June 2007. Info: www.readercon.org; Post Office Box 38-1246; Cambridge MA 02238-1246.
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30 August—3 September 2007
NIPPON 2007 (65th World Science Fiction Convention) at Pacifico Yokohama, Yokohama, Japan. Guests of Honor: Sakyo Komatsu and David Brin. Artist Guests of Honor: Yoshitaka Amano and Michael Whelan. Fan Guest of Honor: Takumi Shibano. Registration: USD 220; JPY 26,000; GBP 125; EUR 186 until 30 June 2007; supporting membership USD 50; JPY 6,000; GBP 28; EUR 45. This is the SF universe's annual get-together. Professionals and readers from all over the world will be in attendance. Talks, panels, films, fancy dress competition—the works. Nominate and vote for the Hugos. This is only the third time Worldcon will be held in a non-English speaking country and the first time in Asia. Info: www.nippon2007.org; [email protected]. Nippon 2007/JASFIC, 4-20-5-604, Mure, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-0002. North American agent: Peggy Rae Sapienza, Nippon 2007, PO Box 314, Annapolis Junction, MD 20701, USA. UK agent: Mike Rennie, 68 Crichton Avenue, Burton Stone Lane, York, Great Britain YO30 6EE ([email protected]). European agent: Vincent Doherty, Koninginnegracht 75a, 2514A Den Haag, Netherlands (VJ1709@hotmail. com). Australian agent: Craig Macbride, Box 274, World Trade Centre, Victoria, 8005 Australia ([email protected]).
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1—4 November 2007
WORLD FANTASY CONVENTION at Saratoga City Center and Saratoga Hotel & Conference Center, Saratoga Springs, NY. Guests of Honor: Carol Emshwiller, Kim Newman, Lisa Tuttle; Special Guests of Honor: Barbara & Christopher Roden, George Scithers; MC: Guy Gavriel Kay. Registration $135 until 31 March 2007, $35 supporting. Info: www.lastsfa.org/wfc2007/; World Fantasy 2007, Post Office Box 1086, Schenectady NY 12301.
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Visit www.analogsf.com for information on additional titles by this and other authors.
Analog SFF, July-August 2007 Page 43