After the submission process is over, it can sometimes feel like an eternity before you hear back about your work. Here at Whimsical Press, we've worked hard to eliminate as much of that as possible. But one thing that can ease your mind is knowing what happens next. So, if you're thinking of submitting to our next open call or are one of our lovely authors we are working with for this one, take a look at how we tackle the next step with you:
Step one: submissions close
For us, this is our busiest moment. We try to read and assess each piece as it comes in to give us a good head start on creating a long list of the submissions that might be suitable. However, we received a large number of submissions and so once the window closes, we try to sit and read through all of the submissions and whittle them down as quickly as we can.
Step two: longlist to shortlist
Once we have worked out which pieces might be suitable, then comes the hard part. We have certain goals for our anthologies in terms of the number of prose, poetry, and flash fiction pieces that we are looking for. So, we have to be quite ruthless! We look for the best pieces, the ones with the most potential, the ones directly linked to the theme, and the ones that follow the submissions guidelines. Ultimately, these are the factors we consider for the shortlist, not your previous submissions, or your renown as an author.
Step three: first edits
Our first edits begin as soon as we send out our acceptance letters. We compile all your pieces into a folder of google documents and assign two editors to each piece, to make sure you're getting the best feedback we can give. We never want to drastically change your piece; the edits we suggest are just that: suggestions. We send these all back to you one week after your receive your acceptance letters.
Step four: second edits
We give you one week to return the first edits to us. We have a look at what changes you have made and what changes you chose not to, and then we read the whole piece again. We check for how it flows, if there are any glaring grammatical errors, if the piece still makes sense now there are changes made. Once again, we have a one week turn around for these. Some authors will finish the editing process here, and some will need one more round of editing. Either way, after the editing, it's on t
Step five: Ready to typeset
Now, it's over to us. We will keep any major stylistic formatting that is key to the piece, but we will now start to create the manuscript for the anthology. We will have finalised our cover design and this document will be what we send off to the printers.
Hopefully, this will help ease your mind about the process once you hand your work over to us!