tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20782819.post8588365032800030242..comments2023-11-12T13:22:30.358+01:00Comments on andrewjshields: Lying in submissionsAndrew Shieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02804655739574694901noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20782819.post-4089723634296326942007-01-02T21:47:00.000+01:002007-01-02T21:47:00.000+01:00C. Dale's point in his original post, though, is t...C. Dale's point in his original post, though, is that if he sees an impressive publication listed, he can easily check it if he has not heard the poet's name before. And if he catches the lie, he won't publish the poet's work.<br /><br />The math argument does not apply here, because NER only publishes 65-80 poems a year. In the end, it's only those poets whose lies need to be checked, and since many of those poets will be ones whose work C. Dale is already familiar with in one way or another (even if he has never published them before), then the number of poets whose lies he really needs to check becomes even smaller.<br /><br />Also, at least at NER (according to C. Dale), all submissions do get read—the cover letter serves as a way to sort out the work that goes straight to the Poetry Editor from the work that goes to other readers first. So even if you do not lie and you say that you have never published any poetry, it still gets read.Andrew Shieldshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02804655739574694901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20782819.post-59932617925154128612007-01-01T01:46:00.000+01:002007-01-01T01:46:00.000+01:00But the point of your blog comment is still valid ...But the point of your blog comment is still valid (if perhaps naive).<br /><br />The reason for lying in cover letters is that, if not caught, the lie may cause the poems to be looked at when, otherwise (i.e., no impressive previous publication mentioned), they won't be.<br /><br />In other words, the liars know that the letter is the open-sesame; and the same math applies: who has time to read all the poems submitted? who has time to read all the cover letters? who has time to check the bogus publication credits in the letters? Sooooo, it's worth a shot. <br /><br />It's like the kid in "The Squid and the Whale" who claimed he wrote Pink Floyd's "Hey You." When confronted he said, "I feel that I could've written it. It's just a technicality that I didn't..."Donald Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06391024449222256377noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20782819.post-54215882810721496952006-12-22T06:52:00.000+01:002006-12-22T06:52:00.000+01:00I did some more math: assuming 5 poems per submiss...I did some more math: assuming 5 poems per submission, NER gets 9,000 submissions per year. Just reading the cover letters to sort them (these go straight to CDY, these go to readers) would take at least 150 hours (again, assuming one minute per letter). Since NER only accepts submissions nine months per year, that means just sorting the letters must involve about an hour of work every working day for nine months (and that's not even considering the physical sorting of the letters themselves).<br /><br />Numbers like this make me appreciate the work that those who publish literary magazines (often with no remuneration at all) even more than I ever have!Andrew Shieldshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02804655739574694901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20782819.post-79736323589795362532006-12-22T06:26:00.000+01:002006-12-22T06:26:00.000+01:00Dale's comment certainly completely clarifies the ...Dale's comment certainly completely clarifies the role of the cover letter! I did the math: if he read all the poems submitted to NER, it would take him over s months of eight-hour days (including weekends) to read them all—and that would be a minimum, because that's assuming one minute per poem!Andrew Shieldshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02804655739574694901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20782819.post-70885755862436814652006-12-22T02:16:00.000+01:002006-12-22T02:16:00.000+01:00I have no intention of reading 45,000 poems per ye...I have no intention of reading 45,000 poems per year for NER. I have readers and the way we screen submissions to go to me directly or to readers is via cover letter. I wrote more about this as a comment at my blog below your own.C. Dalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17270640200393742125noreply@blogger.com