Adios, Gordon Van Gelder, alas

[mount_oregano]

Dear Gordon,

I hope you enjoy the story I just sent you, because it's the last you're going to get from me.

I hadn't sent a short story manuscript by snailmail to an American editor in a while, so I got a surprised at my local post office here in Spain. The price of postage had gone up — a lot. It cost me €9.60 to send you that story.

That's US $13.71.

It would have cost me $1.39 to mail that manuscript within the United States, according to the USPS website — about ten times less, and not a bad price. But I live overseas.

Much has changed in publishing recently. Some publications now take electronic submissions, but The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction does not. Pro rates have not risen, but postal rates have for overseas mail. Everything now goes air mail, like it or not, and air mail is expensive. The dollar is likely to continue to fall, making the relative price climb even higher.

So, Gordon, sorry, postage is a business cost, and I have to make a business decision. I can't afford to submit to you anymore. I would be proud to be in your magazine, but with this story, I must bid you adios, alas.

Sue Burke

Comments

[erosenfield.livejournal.com]

Yeah, especially in a genre that's supposed to be as forward thinking as SF, not taking e submissions at this point is an unforgivable anachronism.

This is the same reason that I, as an American, don't submit to the British Interzone. I can't justify postage and SASE to the UK for a story submission.