The Rules Apply Until...?

*First a quick aside, I'm going on vacation for a week tomorrow. I may or may not come back with any new insights and wisdom, but I will come back rested and with clean air in my lungs...and God knows I could use that.*

One of my bosses today came to me with a submission that said "I have purposefully ignored your submission guidelines..." or something along those lines. She likes to bring these things to me and share how ludicrous they are, and every time a part of me laughs, a part of me wants to cry, and a part of me is horribly embarrassed because I, too, once made mistakes like that.

So that got me thinking, at what point do the rules stop applying to you?

...trick question. They never stop applying to you. They simply change based on who you are. And if you don't know which category of rules you fall into, it's safe to assume it's not the "I can ignore submission guidelines" category. In fact, go with the safest bet and follow them all, because that's actually your category.

Besides which, why on earth would you want someone who doesn't publish books like yours to publish your book? They won't have the experience, marketing connections, or infrastructure in place necessary to make it the best it can be.

Believe me, I understand the seductiveness of the "But it's so great that they'll love it, and then since it'll be their only project like it and something brand new they'll love it even more and work harder on it and I'll be their big breakout success and fame, riches, and women/men will ensue!"

It's a wonderful fantasy, but it should stay that way. The reality is that if a publisher decides to launch a new line, or publish a new genre, or expand in a different direction, their submission guidelines will reflect that, because they'll want to launch with more than just one book. They want to build their brand so that when people see their logo on a book they know what they're getting. And they don't want to surprise those readers, even in a good way. "Oh, that looks interesting but I'm looking for a romance" doesn't pay the bills. "Oooh, there's another fabio lookalike!" does.

I would say that's sad but true, but I'm not even so sure it's sad. Trust me, if your book is good enough it will get picked up by a publisher who publishes things like it. If all of those publishers turn you down, it's time to go back and rewrite or move on to the next project. Trying to force your book out into the world if it's not commercially viable is just committing career suicide. Even if you love it and can't make it any better, just put it aside and write something new. After you're a rich, famous, successful author, you'll have publishers asking you for any piece of prose you can dredge out of your files for them, and then after you die they'll keep asking your estate for the same. If you need a fantasy, focus on that one, because that does happen...just rarely.