When you (or your literary agent) have submitted your book to a publisher, you embark on a roller coaster of emotions. Euphoria, confidence, anticipation. Sound familiar? But what happens when the next day comes, and you don’t get a phone call? Then several weeks and then months pass and suddenly your emotions shift from excitement to frustration or worse, rage or regret.

Waiting for anything is hard, but when it comes to possibly a career-changing decision, it’s excruciating.  

But take heart. It’s not personal. You’ll get an answer, but yes, you need to be patient. Why? Because back behind the illusive and intriguing publishing curtain there’s a flurry of activity keeping the engines running. And these pursuits collectively come together to create a crazy-busy workday for editors. They want to respond to all manuscripts personally and immediately, but it’s impossible. So, they ask for grace and patience while they manage and prioritize and just like you, handle a busy workload above and beyond reading and responding to query letters. Like all of us, editors have projects, assignments, engagements, meetings, emails, texts, calls, and administrative tasks that quickly fill up their day. They’re expected to balance all of this, plus taxes, marketing plans, contract negotiations, etc. and still find the time to read and review manuscripts—which often leads to late nights and weekends.

To help ease your anxiety and give you a better understanding of what’s on their plates, a few editor friends have pulled back the curtain on their crazy-busy workday.

“Reading queries and full manuscripts makes up just a small fraction of my workload. Each work day is different but can include: doing developmental edits on acquired manuscripts; reviewing copy edits, proofreads, and interior designs; doing QA reads on other editors’ projects; drafting cover direction and reviewing cover sketches, final art, and title treatments; drafting initial publicity materials for the marketing team; developing series fiction ideas; soliciting and reviewing pitches for work-for-hire projects; reviewing contracts; managing the production schedules for our full fiction list to ensure we hit our deadlines; interviewing, training, and mentoring interns and freelance acquiring editors; researching trends in the industry; managing partnerships with other organizations; maintaining communication with key stakeholders; drafting budgets; etc. If you also consider the number of submissions we receive, you can see why editors’ submission response times can be quite slow!” ~ Meg Gaertner, Managing Editor, Fiction with North Star Editions, Inc. and Flux & Jolly Fish Press.

“There is always soooo much competing for my attention at any given moment on any given day. Ready to sit down and really dig into a proofread of a set of first pages? Whoops, it’s time to go into a proposal meeting to talk about potential new acquisitions. Cuing up that low-stock report to figure out what needs to be reprinted this month? Oh gosh, I better take a quick look at that urgent design sample first so we can keep the schedule moving on that one important title. Going back and forth via e-mail with a printer rep about some specs and costing? There might be a lag in the online convo while I sit in on an author onboarding call with the rest of the team. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to confess to someone, “I’ve replied to your e-mail in my head at least seven times today” before I have a minute to finally hit send on my response at like 4:15 pm. Working in publishing is a joy and an honor that I never take for granted, but it definitely entails a lot more than just getting paid to sit around and read all day!” ~ Allison Felus, Production Editor at Synergetic Press.

“A book publicist’s day is always extremely busy balancing the needs of authors and media. As one former colleague shared regarding pitching media – lots of one way communication coming from my desk! Persistence is key – if one pitch doesn’t work, look for another hook and try again. Also, pro tip: don’t take anything personally from anyone. Hard truth and one that holds me in good stead 28 plus years in the industry.” ~Monique M. Muhlenkamp, Publicity Director at New World Library.

The point?

Editors are excited to receive your manuscript (slush or selected) and hope, just like you, that it’s the next Harry Potter or Hunt for Red October. But finding time is a challenge. Yes, they’ll get there, but until they do, proceed professionally. Nudges are nice, but bugging is bothersome. So, relax. Be patient and be positive. And be sure to read their submission guidelines so you know what (and when) to expect to hear back—if at all—and keep the faith. And most of all remember, editors are people too with their own crazy-busy workdays.

I hope this article provided you with a few applicable ideas. I would be honored if you shared this on social media. And speaking of sharing, please share your own ideas and experiences below. Together, we can build an uplifting community that focuses on supporting each other’s success.