and
piss
poor
first
impressions
make
for
a
piss
poor
response
from
the
publishers
reviewing
your
work.
If
you’ve
gotten
a
terrible
response,
be
sure
to
not
let
your
ego
take
control
of
what
happens
next.
If
you
respond
obnoxiously
to
the
publisher
you’re
not
only
hurting
your
image,
but
you’re
also
hurting
your
shot
at
even
taking
part
in
other
projects
they
may
be
releasing.
Sometimes
a
publisher
won’t
take
your
novel,
but
they
really
dig
your
poetry
so
you
get
published
in
one
of
their
literary
journals,
or
vice
versa.
Sending
rude
responses
pretty
much
kills
that.
It
can
also
kill
your
chance
with
some
other
publishers
because
some
us
like
to
talk
with
each
other.
We
may
not
remember
the
work,
but
we’ll
always
remember
your
attitude.
Submission
guidelines.
Read
them.
Seriously,
this
is
a
huge
problem
that
I
continue
to
deal
with
and
continue
to
reject
writers
over.
I’m
pretty
lenient
on
some
things,
word
count,
text
sizes,
document
preferences,
etc.
But
what
I
can’t
tolerate
are
submissions
that
don’t
even
follow
the
theme
of
what
we’re
looking
for.
I
also
don’t
stand
for
people
submitting
over
the
maximum
acceptance
limit
(basically
if
we’re
only
reviewing
5
pieces
from
you
and
you
send
12,
you’re
not
being
reviewed.
Period).
Submission
guidelines
are
important.
They
tell
you
exactly
how
to
submit,
what
you
need
to
include,
how
many
pieces
you
should
include,
what
the
publisher
is
looking
for
and
so
much
more.
As
a
writer,
you
want
to
follow
the
guidelines.
For
most
publishers,
failure
to
follow
their
guidelines
is
an
automatic
rejection.
I
know
there’s
a
few
writers
out
there
who
are
friends
with
people
who
manage
their
own
publishing
companies.
With
all
the
small
presses
coming
up,
it’s
not
uncommon,
and
that’s
cool.
It’s
nice
to
have
friends
like
that
as
you
can
really
get
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