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I have a question; well, perhaps more of a dilemma. I've written a story that could go to two different anthologies (yes, you know the ones, the ones up here a while ago. I realise I'm creeping inside the deadline here, but never mind.)
Anyway, would it be bad faith to send them off to both, considering the miniscule chance it will be accepted by one, let alone both?
I was wondering about the wider applications too. I had the impression that you could only send a manuscript/story etc off to one place at a time, had to wait for it to come back then send it off again. But then I was thinking, how do those 'bidding wars' you hear about get started?
Can somebody help me? I've been wracking my brain about this for days!

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It's bad practice to do so, Isobelle. A manuscript should always be submitted to one publisher at a time. The publishing world is a small world. Should you be lucky enough to be accepted at both places, what would you do? What excuse would you come up with? My bet is that this would be your only sale, if you ever make it in such a situation to begin with, because those publishers will remember you, and will mention you to others in the future. Believe me. I've heard stories told by editors about other authors and their "strange" practices, so this kind of gossip does happen.

As for the multiple bidding, if you're referring to the auctioning of a manuscript, only agents can do that. While an author herself cannot offer her manuscript to more than one publishing house, an agent - who knows his business - will do so, and this is an accepted practice among the publisher/agent world. If an agent thinks your manuscript is good enough, as it happened with Terry Goodkind's work, he will push it to various publishers and wait who will offer the best deal. That's how it works.

I would suggest you read the story of Myrtle the Manuscript. There's one situation, at the end of the story, where one can find him/herself in when publishing at more than one place at a time, and why publishers don't like that. The link is: www.sfwa.org/writing/myrtle2.htm. It's a good story to read, one that, although satirical, is sometimes so very close to the truth...

Edited by: Manon at: 11/13/02 12:38:17 pm

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Hm, an edifying story, that one.
Well, I shall refrain from making any 'Saul Badliver' ("> ) 's nightmare.
Thank you. Was probably a silly question; but you see I didn't know WHY you shouldn't do that.

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The only silly question is the one that isn't asked">

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And which one's that?

Adios

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DN

you had to ask

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What can I say? Yes! I had to ask! (It would have been stupid not to...wouldn't it?)

Adios

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Obviously not that one.