Dear Sandra:
I’ve just finished reading
your book, Write Well & Sell: Greeting Cards. The
information and tips you reveal are priceless. Really great stuff.
I’ve been writing, submitting and selling humorous alternative cards for
a couple of years...
I have a question and a
problem you may be able to help me solve. The question is, do greeting
card companies have a website where they report writers who do something
stupid? And do they blackball the ones who do? Apparently I have done
something dumb...
In a batch of ideas, I
included a gag idea, which I thought was funny. Well, apparently {the
card company} didn’t think it was funny—they thought it was gross. When
they mailed back the batch, someone had written the word “disgusting” on
that particular card. I was shocked! That gag was [comparable to] the
stuff this company publishes.
Why do I think they had me
blackballed? I’ve mailed out card ideas to other publishers, some of
whom I sold card concepts to. Not only did they not mail back my work,
they also didn’t respond to the letters I sent them asking about the
[status] of my work.
Doesn’t that sound like
I’ve been cut off?
[Name Withheld]
New York
Hello New York:
It sounds more to me like,
in one person’s opinion, one idea of yours was “disgusting.” They let
you know that, not so much to insult you (although I admit no one wants
to hear their ideas are “disgusting,” “dumb,” “moronic” or any other
negative adjective) as to help you in what lines not to
cross if you hope to sell ideas to them.
While similar paranoid
feelings have found most writers if they write for any length of time,
editors don’t have the time or the inclination to “report writers” to
other editors. The only real writing sin in most editors’ eyes is
plagiarism; if an editor finds out a writer has knowingly plagiarized
from her company’s line of work, then the writer can expect some sort of
backlash. However, even that will not likely include a blacklisting.
More than likely, the writer will receive an email or phone call telling
her not to bother to submit to the company again.
So while your experience
obviously was an unpleasant one, I wouldn’t extrapolate that experience
to include an industry-wide conspiracy to exclude your contributions.
Editors are notorious for having piles of paper on their desk; your
letter is at the bottom of some pile or awaiting a reply from an editor
who’s just had a baby, had a vacation or had five pressing deadlines in
a row. Relax—and if I were you, throw the offending idea away.