Head over to Sally Stuart’s blog at Christian Writers’ Marketplace for an insider’s explanation of why periodicals are becoming less friendly to freelance writers.
The magazine publisher’s primary complaints are poor writing, lack of research, failure to follow submission guidelines, and absence of courtesy.
As a member of the editorial team of two national magazines several years ago, I encountered all of those problems with contributors myself, though there were also many stellar writers with whom it was a pleasure to work.
The article linked above focuses on freelance writing for periodicals, but I’ve heard the same complaints from publishers and agents about book authors.
Publishers and agents do care. They care about good writing. They care about authors following their guidelines. They even care about basic courtesy. (Of course they also care about the bottom line, but that’s a subject for another post.)
Remember—if you want to be published traditionally, there’s a lot of competition. Don’t throw up unnecessary obstacles to acceptance.