I appreciate your response. I shouldnt have made the post, it was an impulse after seeing Brian’s post. I just want to clarify a couple of things. I dont live in Mexico, I live in New York, we have never talked on the phone but we have met in person numerous times, I submitted essays to Burn because you invited me to, I received an email from one of the editors saying they wanted to run one of my essays. And then the lines went dark. Thus the frustration on my part. I have been in the business for over a decade and I am pretty aware how it, sort of, works. I have also worked as a photo editor and am very familiar with communicating with photographers about submissions etc….But it’s all good :)

Thanks again for your response and keep up the great work, I do love frequenting the site and seeing some really great work that, alot of the time, wouldnt make it before people’s eyes.

Cheers,

Kenneth

I recognize this as something about which reasonable people can disagree. And that times have changed in so many ways. So maybe this is one of them? I’ve been trying to examine the arguments from every perspective and can sympathize with other points of view. Some people would prefer to hear nothing at all than get a cold form letter. Others dislike hearing nothing at all. Whatever you do as a publisher, you’re going to annoy a lot of people. Maybe the expectations have changed so much in recent years that few care if they don’t get a response? Maybe it will annoy far more people by telling them the truth in a timely manner than simply ignoring them? Maybe it will result in far more intrusions by those pissed off by robot email than by those following up to see if their submissions were received?

Ha, well, I don’t know and I really didn’t mean to make such a big deal out of it. I just enjoy friendly journalism chit chat and get carried away sometime. Sorry if I’ve irritated anyone.

Thomas, regarding your questions, and perhaps this will show how old fashioned I am in these matters: I don’t photobomb the internet. I may send multiple query letters if there are multiple publications I think are good for the work, but I only make one submission at a time. My results, to put it charitably, have been mixed, but I don’t think it’s the fault of the method. I figure anyone who doesn’t respond to a query is unlikely to respond to a blind submission. On the other hand, anyone who responds to a query will likely pay much more attention to the work than someone tasked with going through the slush pile. Do people still call it the slush pile? I’d forgotten the term until Preston used it.

I do want to say that the best publication I have ever had the privilege to work with is the nonprofit American literary journal The Sun Magazine. They accept only black and white prints, they always respond within two months, they hold those photos accepted in a pool, they pay immediately upon publication (as in the very day of publication) and they pay a kill fee if they never use them. Wonderful people, and a great magazine that breaks many rules – no advertising, free copies to U.S. prisons, free subscriptions to any prisoner who requests one. I have several signed prints hanging in prison cells. Very proud of that. The Sun magazine is in my mind the very best in thoughtful, ethical publishing. A good model for doing business.

Hmm, I didn’t mean that to be an advertisement, only an example of how some are still doing it, and keeping it personal.

in the age of inhumanely large scaled submissions now (photo and written) married with the elephantine hubris that seems to have multiplied with the ease of publication (blogs/facebook/online outfits, etc) and virtual ‘relationships’, i couldn’t imagine being offended by not hearing from an editor to whom i’d submitted something, unless they had soliticed me. That too has happened (ask for work and never heard again from the publication, funny) and it seems to be part and parcel of the entire machinery.

to me, its a simpler equation: marry your intent with your work and with your life and focus on that rather than the expectation of reciprocity. the day that happens, maybe we’ll all be more polite and more professional with one another and then these questions will be mute….

etc

oh, and yea what both tom hyde and preston said :)