THE NON-RESPONSIVE EDITOR



Today we tackle the non-responsive editor. The one who takes your timely ideas, sits on them, and then passes with an unsatisfactory e-mail response at a date which renders the idea irrelevant.

Life is about choices and editors won't make decisions unless they're on deadline. Consider it the curse of being a writer or the fact that on the totem pole of responsibilities, you rank somewhere between forgetting to pick up the dry cleaning and itchiness. There is no call-to-action for editors unless you happen to catch them at the moment when they need the exact type of story you're pitching- an unlikely scenario that can not be altered by your brilliance, just chance.

So your job and my job is to politely steer editors towards decisions. Give definitive guidelines, explain that the piece has an expiration date. An editor at a city daily failed to respond to a recent idea tied to an upcoming event in Manhattan. As the event approached and a week had passed, I e-mailed the editor in a straightforward fashion and explained that if I didn't hear back in the next day, I would assume she wasn't interested and pitch the idea elsewhere. I had my answer 20 minutes later. It was a rejection, but it left me free to pitch other editors with the idea and time to do so.

If all else fails, consider creating a Mii, a virtual representation of your editor on your Nintendo Wii. Then go a few rounds in Wii Boxing.