A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: Do you really want an answer to your query?
It is Tuesday AND SOLSTICE. Time to tall turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. Today's topic came to mind as I threw away an author's submission--threw it away without a word, with no intention of responding, not even of letting the author know I had seen it. Why? Because he did not give me a no-cost way to respond to him. Publishers will not pay out of pocket to tell an author that a work is not suitable, and in that case, money put into preparing and mailing samples is money out the window, definitely not money in anyone's pocket. This particular sent only mailing address information and an envelope which would require me to purchase a stamp. Oh, there was a telephone numb...