Q: Describe what you publish in 25 characters or less.
A: Fiction Collections
Q: What other current publications (or publishers) do you admire most?
A: I work very closely with Pill Hill Press and Static Movement Print, as well as Library of the Dead. I tend to follow Blood Bound Books and Victory Press.
Q: If you publish writing, who are your favorite writers? If you publish art, who are your favorite artists?
A: There are so many authors out there that it is hard to pick just a few. There are those that are everyone favorites: King, Poe, Rice, and Hill. Then there are Jim Butcher, Brian Lumley, Terry Brooks, and Christopher Moore.
Q: What sets your publication apart from others that publish similar material?
A: We ONLY handle collections--no novels. We have open call themed anthologies, as well as novella collections. We host friendly writers challenges and offer publication from those. We also encourage our writers to set the themes, offer their input (after all, there can't be a collection if there is no one to write for the theme.)
Q: What is the best advice you can give people who are considering submitting work to your publication?
A: Follow the submission guidelines. We can not stress that enough. Great stories will come to us with awful editing, a format that we can't work with, no punctuation, or a combination of everything we ask writers not to do. Time to correct all of that is not unlimited, and not following the guidelines can mean the difference between acceptance and rejection.
Q: Describe the ideal submission.
A: No spelling errors! lol.
Really the ideal submission will keep us turning the page even when there is a typo. A story that can grip us and keep our editorial brains quiet while the reader enthusiast in us enjoys the ride.
Q: What do submitters most often get wrong about your submissions process?
A: Most submitters will send a .doc or a google.doc--our computer system won't open those. We ask for .rtf, we have no problems with that. 8 out of 10 submitters will also fail to include a bio, some won't answer their acceptance email and send us one, either.
Q: How much do you want to know about the person submitting to you?
A: Cover letters aren't important (though a bit more than a blank page with an attachment would be nice). Seeing someone's previous publications is nice, as long as it doesn't take the computer minutes to scroll to the bottom where the current submission is located. Don't need to know every piece put out for the public since the author was ten.
Q: If you publish writing, how much of a piece do you read before making the decision to reject it?
A: There are those stories that we know from the first paragraph. Others we can get half-way through before we know it's a no go. When we first started we read everything down to the end, to see if the end justified the beginning. Once we determined that some beginnings are just not going to be saved, we stopped reading all the way through. If you can't hook us early, you're most likely going to get a rejection.
Q: What additional evaluations, if any, does a piece go through before it is accepted?
A: We stopped accepting immediately, because that has but us in a bind before. Now, once the story has been initially "enjoyed", it goes into a waiting folder and the author is notified of being short-listed. There are at least two more full reading before a final decision is made. The only exception to this are our flash fiction collections which are open until filled, and we accept/reject with no short list notification.
Q: What is a day in the life of an editor like for you?
A: Day in the life? Log on to the computer around six am, check all submissions coming in, print them out, and carry them with me to work. On my breaks at work, I read, write comments on the printouts and bring them home. By 10p.m. I'm usually sending out letters (rejections/short list/request for a rewrite), and checking for the newest submissions. Also spend a lot of time networking and answering questions--which gets done all day long.
Q: How important do you feel it is for publishers to embrace modern technologies?
A: I think it's very important to embrace modern technologies. The world is forever changing and the publishing business has to change with it. Whereas we publish hard copy books, we will also be publishing ebook versions. I even own a Nook! Wicked East Press does not have a Facebook or Twitter account, but I do and I keep the "inter-world" appraised of all Wicked East Press happenings.