The Vis Sources Open Call is now closed. The response has been great; I have about 150 vis sources awaiting consideration, and since I only need 40-50, I'm afraid I'm going to be rejecting most submissions. I'm planning to make the decisions in early March at the latest.
The submissions to this raised a couple of points that I think are worth emphasising to all prospective authors, whatever RPG you want to write for, or even if you want to write novels.
First, when there are submission instructions, follow them. If the instructions ask for plain text in the body of an email, don't send RTF attachments or HTML emails.
Second, don't mis-spell basic game terms in the subject line of your email. There are only 15 Arts in Ars Magica, and checking the correct spelling doesn't take long. Getting it wrong really doesn't impress the Line Editor. (Failing to notice that the accents have all been dropped for ArM5, however, doesn't bother him at all.)
Some editors will immediately discard submissions making those sorts of mistakes. I'm more lenient, partly because the query letter that got me my start in this industry was printed in 8 point type on two sides of a sheet of A4 paper (don't do that, either). However, it doesn't make a good impression, and if it comes down to choosing between someone who followed the instructions and spelled game terms correctly, and someone who didn't, the person who got it right will get into the book. Why make life harder for yourself?
40-50? Does that mean you'll only be listing three sources per Art? That's too bad. I was hoping for more.
ReplyDeleteWhat did you expect? It is supposed to be a book about covenants, not about Vis sources. With an average of 230 words per source and 3 sources per art that's a grand total of 10.350 words, plus titles and illustrations. A typical supplement might have as much as 40.000 to 60.000 words, so a fourth to a sixth of the book is quite a lot.
ReplyDeleteI had actually expected more submissions... Let's hope, some of those rejected find their way to HP. :)