We're given guidelines all our life. It started when we were little children. Our parents had rules that they expected us to follow. When we didn't, there were consequences. Guidelines help us to have an orderly life. They aren't made to make our lives difficult. On the contrary. Rules and guidelines help us stay on a steady path.
As writers, we have guidelines to follow when submitting our work for publication. I like a publication that sets specific guidelines for me to follow. Their guidance helps the writers and the editors who much toss out many good pieces of writing merely because the writer did not heed the guidelines provided.
When researching markets for your work, you'll find a large variety. Some publications give none at all, while others give very general guidelines. There are some that offer very detailed guidelines. While they are truly helpful, a writer can also be overwhelmed by an overly long list.
If I had to choose between no guidelines at all and very long ones, I'd go with the latter every time. Why? For one thing, I can tell if my submission fits for that publication or not. If not, move on. Otherwise, it's a waste of my time and theirs.
I once worked with a children's magazine whose guidelines were of the extremely long variety. Not only did they let the writer know what they wanted, but they gave examples in stories already published. Deciding to submit to this children's magazine would take up quite a bit of time. On the other hand, I had no trouble deciding if my story would work for this publication.
The Chicken Soup for the Soul anthologies offer explicit guidelines. They tell you what they want, and what they don't. What a story is and what it is not. Even so, in the thousands of submissions for each new title, they dismiss a great many because the writer either did not read the guidelines or did not heed them.
I look for word count limitations and whether the publication accepts previously published work. Following both gives you a better chance of moving to the head of the line. I check to see if there is a theme. If it is a genre my work fits. If it is geared to a certain age group. Information about payment or length of time before publication. If they want submissions sent via email or Submittable or snail mail. If they want the story in the body of an email or attached.
Do you remember your teachers in school telling you again and again to 'follow the directions?' Sometimes the teacher said it aloud and also wrote the same on top of a written paper. We should have learned that lesson well, but some of us still have trouble following directions. Even those on a recipe. How many cooking disasters occur because the cook didn't follow the directions? Quite a few, I think.
The guidelines publications provide are there to help you. It's your job to follow them. Before you hit SEND, go back to the guidelines and check them carefully to make sure you followed each one.
My suggestion to publications that give little to no guidelines is to take some time and make a list to help your writers and yourselves.
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