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e use but if a writer submits a story copied from elsewhere, there is a very good chance that they’ll get picked up.Just the look of a story and the red flags will start going up. There are certain markers that tell me a submission might not be original. A mismatch between the story and the writer’s previous work, for example.Awkward phrasing, something that seems out of character, a phrase that doesn’t tie in with the rest of the story. Whatever.I like the challenge of hunting down the source. Your common plagiarist is a lazy beast — because otherwise they’d do the work and write their own material — but now and then some master plagiarist will work hard at concealing their cribbing and I put on the Sherlock Holmes hat to track them down.And then I wonder why they went to the effort. It’s not hard to write original material.I’ll give a plagiarist a chance to explain. Sometimes there is a good reason that checks out why the piece you just submitted was also published last year for a well-known magazine by an established writer, and I’m always willing to listen.But if you can’t come up with a very good explanation, you’ll have your story handed back to you, and then I’ll go and check out anything else you’ve slipped through in the past, and if I’m feeling real cranky I’ll look at whatever you’ve published anywhere and contact the editors of those pubs and report you to Medium as well.<h2 id="bd16">2. Blocking an editor</h2>We criticise your work because that’s what we do. Your piece is rarely so perfect that we just hit that publish button without a second thought. We check the grammar, check the facts — I had a writer try to tell me that you can get pregnant by drinking sperm and I didn’t need to go hunt up a science text to ask them about the accuracy of their facts; that’s why it’s called oral contraceptive, yeah? — suggest ways to improve the look of the piece and so on.Every now and then we get a writer who takes umbrage at shade being sent in their direction. They are perfect in their own mind; what sort of jumped-up petty tyrant dare challenge their grammar?So they will block the editor who had the temerity to suggest that maybe nouns and verbs should agree about a few things, and hope that another editor won’t be so picky.I keep notes on the stories I query, and if I find that I can’t check up, I’ll sign out, use one of my other accounts, and look at what’s happened. Or I’ll put up a note in the editor’s room and ask what’s going on. There are dozens of us scattered around the world; there’s always someone on deck.Unless you are a really good writer, you’re not getting away with blocking an editor. We will just ban your arse until you unblock.<h2 id="958c">3. Playing silly buggers</h2>We get a lot of submissions to ILLUMINATION. Each unpaid editor only has so much time to work through the never-ending queue. While we are more than hap

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py to work with a writer who works with us, every now and then someone will decide that it’s cheap entertainment to troll the editors.Don’t.Playing cute and loose with someone who is doing their best to help you be your best is an easy shortcut to having the editor write you a snarky note and direct you play your games on a different pitch. And get your name added to our honour board of galahs and drongos and deadbeats.<h2 id="9a77">4. Ignoring editors</h2>Ignoring or deleting the private notes we use to communicate with a writer is a variation on the above.We have our own ways of keeping track of submissions and if a writer tries to ghost through any problems we’ve identified, we’ll notice. Every so often we’ll go through the submissions at the bottom of the queue and if there are problems that haven’t been resolved we’ll ask around as to why this is and if another editor raises their hand and says they were working with the writer but they have deleted the notes asking for improvements or corrections, then the piece will be rejected.Work with the editors, we’re here to help.<h2 id="ecf4">5. Break the rules</h2>Medium has a <a href="https://policy.medium.com/medium-rules-30e5502c4eb4">set of rules</a>, we have a <a href="https://readmedium.com/new-submission-guidelines-for-illumination-495f191e5d30">set of rules</a>. They are easy to find; every writer should read through them and follow them.Write hate speech, we’ll ask you to rewrite. Sneak through images that aren’t yours or aren’t available for you to make money off, we’ll ask you to replace them.Write something that needs to be backed up with a good source and fail to do so — Covid is something that demands solid backup, for example — and if you can’t supply a good source, you get your snake oil back.Advertising, undeclared affiliate links, too much sex; we look at your submissions to see if they follow the advertised rules, and if you aren’t willing to fix your work to comply, then you get it back.<h2 id="c3d0">Other than that…</h2>Most submissions are ones we can publish easily. It might take us some time to get through the queue but we will look at it, and if it follows the rules and you can correct any problems we identify, we’ll publish it.We aim for a 24-hour turnaround but the submissions keep flowing in and we get backlogged. Sending us five articles in a row in the hope that your chances will improve doesn’t work well. It just adds to the queue.But we will publish you. We bend over backward to work with writers. We hate rejecting a submission. Our niche and our readership are remarkably broad and we aren’t Amazing Science Fiction Stories rejecting a story about dogs and horses. We don’t mind. If it’s written in reasonably accurate English, doesn’t defame anybody, and your stuff isn’t copied without permission, you’re in.Britni</article></body>

Medium: Publishing

Here’s Why I Reject a Story

ILLUMINATION editor reveals all!

I was reading an excellent piece from Linda Caroll about her editing experience.

5 Reasons I Reject Stories. Don’t Do These To Any Editor, Okay?

Buckle up, we’re getting real about a-holes in the submission process.

medium.com

All good stuff; bottom line is that any editor wants the writer to succeed, but if the writer submits a science fiction space story to Horse and Hound, it’s not going to do well.

Any publication has a niche and a target audience. Write a story about macro programming in Excel, you’d best be very selective about where you submit the story but if you pick the right one you’ll get a lot of very keen readers, leading to engagement and a bump up the algorithm.

Editors are big on their stories gaining traction.

ILLUMINATION, we’re different

There’s one big reason I’ll reject a story. But other than that, a writer has to screw up really badly to get their story chucked out.

We aim to give everybody a go. Follow Medium’s rules and you’ve got a date. Write well and we’ll invite you to one of our specialist pubs.

1. Plagiarism

This is the big one. Copy someone else’s work and pass it off as your own for commercial purposes and you will be rejected.

I won’t go into the precise tools we use but if a writer submits a story copied from elsewhere, there is a very good chance that they’ll get picked up.

Just the look of a story and the red flags will start going up. There are certain markers that tell me a submission might not be original. A mismatch between the story and the writer’s previous work, for example.

Awkward phrasing, something that seems out of character, a phrase that doesn’t tie in with the rest of the story. Whatever.

I like the challenge of hunting down the source. Your common plagiarist is a lazy beast — because otherwise they’d do the work and write their own material — but now and then some master plagiarist will work hard at concealing their cribbing and I put on the Sherlock Holmes hat to track them down.

And then I wonder why they went to the effort. It’s not hard to write original material.

I’ll give a plagiarist a chance to explain. Sometimes there is a good reason that checks out why the piece you just submitted was also published last year for a well-known magazine by an established writer, and I’m always willing to listen.

But if you can’t come up with a very good explanation, you’ll have your story handed back to you, and then I’ll go and check out anything else you’ve slipped through in the past, and if I’m feeling real cranky I’ll look at whatever you’ve published anywhere and contact the editors of those pubs and report you to Medium as well.

2. Blocking an editor

We criticise your work because that’s what we do. Your piece is rarely so perfect that we just hit that publish button without a second thought. We check the grammar, check the facts — I had a writer try to tell me that you can get pregnant by drinking sperm and I didn’t need to go hunt up a science text to ask them about the accuracy of their facts; that’s why it’s called oral contraceptive, yeah? — suggest ways to improve the look of the piece and so on.

Every now and then we get a writer who takes umbrage at shade being sent in their direction. They are perfect in their own mind; what sort of jumped-up petty tyrant dare challenge their grammar?

So they will block the editor who had the temerity to suggest that maybe nouns and verbs should agree about a few things, and hope that another editor won’t be so picky.

I keep notes on the stories I query, and if I find that I can’t check up, I’ll sign out, use one of my other accounts, and look at what’s happened. Or I’ll put up a note in the editor’s room and ask what’s going on. There are dozens of us scattered around the world; there’s always someone on deck.

Unless you are a really good writer, you’re not getting away with blocking an editor. We will just ban your arse until you unblock.

3. Playing silly buggers

We get a lot of submissions to ILLUMINATION. Each unpaid editor only has so much time to work through the never-ending queue. While we are more than happy to work with a writer who works with us, every now and then someone will decide that it’s cheap entertainment to troll the editors.

Don’t.

Playing cute and loose with someone who is doing their best to help you be your best is an easy shortcut to having the editor write you a snarky note and direct you play your games on a different pitch. And get your name added to our honour board of galahs and drongos and deadbeats.

4. Ignoring editors

Ignoring or deleting the private notes we use to communicate with a writer is a variation on the above.

We have our own ways of keeping track of submissions and if a writer tries to ghost through any problems we’ve identified, we’ll notice. Every so often we’ll go through the submissions at the bottom of the queue and if there are problems that haven’t been resolved we’ll ask around as to why this is and if another editor raises their hand and says they were working with the writer but they have deleted the notes asking for improvements or corrections, then the piece will be rejected.

Work with the editors, we’re here to help.

5. Break the rules

Medium has a set of rules, we have a set of rules. They are easy to find; every writer should read through them and follow them.

Write hate speech, we’ll ask you to rewrite. Sneak through images that aren’t yours or aren’t available for you to make money off, we’ll ask you to replace them.

Write something that needs to be backed up with a good source and fail to do so — Covid is something that demands solid backup, for example — and if you can’t supply a good source, you get your snake oil back.

Advertising, undeclared affiliate links, too much sex; we look at your submissions to see if they follow the advertised rules, and if you aren’t willing to fix your work to comply, then you get it back.

Other than that…

Most submissions are ones we can publish easily. It might take us some time to get through the queue but we will look at it, and if it follows the rules and you can correct any problems we identify, we’ll publish it.

We aim for a 24-hour turnaround but the submissions keep flowing in and we get backlogged. Sending us five articles in a row in the hope that your chances will improve doesn’t work well. It just adds to the queue.

But we will publish you. We bend over backward to work with writers. We hate rejecting a submission. Our niche and our readership are remarkably broad and we aren’t Amazing Science Fiction Stories rejecting a story about dogs and horses. We don’t mind. If it’s written in reasonably accurate English, doesn’t defame anybody, and your stuff isn’t copied without permission, you’re in.

Britni