[anthonye Posts: 124 Status: Offline I love kids' books! WWW]

After teaching for 18 years, in four different countries,  I see an area that I can have a positive influence on the lives of children. With this in mind, I have decided to begin writing for children.  I am wondering how one submits the same article to a number of publications. It seems we'd be obliged to let the publications know that we've queried others.  However, I wonder if that becomes a turn off to a publisher.  Please let me know how that is done, so I can do it correctly.  It does not seem practical to spend time writing an article, and sending it off to one publisher, wait two months and then send it off to another.


Thank you in advance,


Anthony

[Artemesia Posts: 4,014 Status: Offline WWW]

Anthony, it is expected that you will be querying more than one publisher at a time, unless you specify in the letter that your submission is an exclusive submission. Some agents/publishers may put in their guidelines that they only accept exclusive submissions, and they will usually give a time frame that the submission would remain exclusive (meaning you could send it elsewhere once that time has expired and you have not heard from them), but I don't think that is very common anymore (but don't quote me on that). But always check publisher guidelines to be sure. It is definitely not a turn off to publishers to know that another publisher has received your query, as it would take years to query a handful one by one.


good luck!

[JulieM Posts: 913 Status: Offline WWW]

I say just inform them that it is a simultaneous submission (to several carefully selected publishers, if you'd care to elaborate).
Best of luck.

[Bobi Martin Posts: 305 Status: Offline Writers open the world to readers. WWW]

As Arte and Julie have said, most publishers today assume that you're sending your article to more than one magazine. The professional way to address this is with a brief line like "This is a simultaneous submission" which I usually tuck into my closing paragraph.  If the magazine's guidelines do not specifically say that they do NOT accept simultaneous submissions, then it is safe to assume that they do.

[Christy Posts: 712 Status: Offline Luck= preparation + opportunity WWW]

Anthony- I would reiterate the importance of looking at each publishers expectations. Usually for book publishers, they know you will be sending out a simultaneous submission. But since many magazines respond quicker, they often don't like simultaneous submissions.

Is this an article or a book?

[Debbie Vilardi Posts: 5,986 Status: Offline Language is so cool! WWW]

In many cases, you don't submit an article at all. Magazines often have themes. You propose an article on the theme. f they like your suggestion, they'll ask you to write the article according to their style guide. Even those without themes often request proposals. You can propose the same article to more than one publisher. If you can slant it differently, and substantially so, you may even be able to sell it simultaneously to more than one mag because it wouldn't be considered the same article. However, you have to be careful with this. Check guidelines carefully and make sure you know what rights you have given away in any contract you sign. Many of the magazines for children take all rights. Even similar articles could put you in line for a law suit with these.

I suggest you research appropriate magazines to start with. You can proceed from there.