Okay... at least three quarters of these reasons involve pretzels, bagels and pizza (comic books as well, don't forget the comic books!) but here's one that's actually related to what happens here on the blog :o)
From the email,
At Suvudu, we’re aware that getting your work into the hands of a professional editor can be a major hurdle in the road to publication. Many New York publishers do not accept submissions except from literary agents. That’s why we’re making available this limited opportunity to put your best manuscript of science fiction, fantasy, horror, or paranormal romance into consideration by the Del Rey/Spectra staff.
Del Rey/Spectra through Suvudu will be accepting submissions from now through March 18, 2011, of previously unpublished manuscripts of no more than 150,000 words. Over the next few months, they will be judged on the basis of originality, creativity, and writing style. The top submission will receive a full edit of the submitted work by Betsy Mitchell, Editor-in-Chief of Del Rey Publishing, and the story will be considered for publication. Three runners-up will receive a set of Del Rey/Spectra titles selected by Suvudu.
Click here to read the post in its entirety on Suvudu, including the bit where it says you can only enter if you're a legal resident of the United States. And that's where the title of this post comes in... (Yeah, I'm bitter but good luck anyway to those entering!)
I could do you a 1 for 1 on reasons I wish I lived in the UK.. but chances are if either of us swapped places we would quickly find that we might have been a bit hasty..
ReplyDeleteSince for all we know, you could wind up living in a trailer park in Alabama and I could get stuck living in a council block in Slough...which certainly wouldn't be my ideal situation...
But I do agree that it's going to suck whenever theres a genuine quality opportunity for getting published and its shut off from you.
And are pretzels really that hard to get in the UK?
Did you know Angry Robot are doing a similar thing in March?
ReplyDeletehttp://angryrobotbooks.com/march-2011-open-door-month/
I felt the same way when I saw the open submission on Suvudu.
ReplyDeleteThat sort of thing ticks me off too. Some things I can understand, for legal reasons or whatnot, but that doesn't mean it's not a sla in the face to anyone who doesn't live in America.
ReplyDeleteI get it from two sides, most often. For some reason, a lot of book blogs I read tend to be UK-based (maybe more Brits like fantasy and sci-fi than I first figured on!), so I also hear about all these awesome things happening across the pond that I can't participate in. Being in Canada sucks hardcore sometimes. :p
I second that. The amount of times I've seen "Open to US residents only" makes me feel bad. One day there'll be something awesome for just us in Old Blighty, just you wait...
ReplyDelete