Avoiding temptation

 

“A goodmany young writers make the mistake of enclosing a stamped, self-addressedenvelope, big enough for the manuscript to come back in. This is too much of atemptation to the editor.”  – RingLardner  I’ve always liked Ring Lardner, an old-timesportswriter from the early part of the last century who wrote with satirical humor and the kind of description that always put you onthe field, on the court, in the boat, or in the locker room with athletesabout whom he was writing.  Friends with F. Scott Fitzgerald and admired by Ernest Hemingway, he also started the column “In The Wake of the News” for the Chicago Tribune and did it so well that it became an establishedpart of that newspaper’s vernacular even to this day. 
I dug out his quote of his after finding an old letter I hadreceived from one of my publishers.  Itwas in one of the Publisher’s envelopes (always a good sign for a fledglingwriter).  Included with their letter of interest in my manuscript was afolded up self-addressed, stamped envelope I had sent to them.  And, like Lardner implies, it was one ofthose full-size 9x12 models, big enough to hold the entire manuscript (which Ihad foolishly sent thinking, “Gee, how could they possibly not want mybook?”  And yet, there was this telltaleenvelope showing that I really didn’t have all that much confidence that theywere going to keep it.).
So, a quick piece of advice to aspiring writers,whether you’re sending it by old-fashioned mail or electronically.  Always send justa “sample” of your work and not the whole piece.  Cover it with a short, concise, descriptiveintroductory letter, telling the editors about what you’ve written, why you’llbe a good “fit” for them, and how much you’re looking forward to working ashard as you can to make them glad that they send you back a positive reply – intheir envelope, and not yours.
Half the battle is getting them to read more of your work in the first place and nothing does that better than how you introduce yourself to them.