I was chatting with a publisher friend of mine the other day. She told me a story that made me shake my head in disbelief. Or maybe it was disgust.
This publisher runs a small, boutique publishing house that caters to the family friendly crowd. In all the time I’ve known her, I’ve always found her to be polite, kind, and ready to lend a helping hand.
She’s been in the business for about ten years and knows that it isn’t always easy for writers to submit their work to publishers. So when she received a voicemail from a man who said he had a book ready to publish and wanted to speak to her about publishing it, she decided to set aside some time for a little chat.
Even though it was breaking her own rules. The guidelines posted on the publisher’s website specifically states NOT to call. All queries about submissions were to be made via email.
Three business days went by before she could find time to make the call. It was a particularly busy time, and she was totally swamped with work.
But when she picked up the phone to call back, she was surprised to see that she had a new voicemail from the man.
She told me it was the most disgusting, unprofessional phone call she had ever gotten. He ranted on and on about how she had disrespected him by not returning his phone call for three days.
She said that after hearing this man’s vulgar words and an angry tone, she wanted nothing more to do with him. And she was more than ever determined to stick to the no phone call rule.
Just like every other publisher, she has no time to waste on entitled author-wannabes who think their time is more valuable than everyone else’s.
Can’t say I blame her!