Dragon/Dungeon Submissions?

[Scribe Ineti]

Did some digging with the search function but didn't find anything relevant. I wanted to know if folks here have submitted article pitches to Dragon/Dungeon within the last year and what sorts of experiences people have had with response times, acceptances, rejections, etc.

The anecdotal information I've read and heard on convention blogs and podcasts suggest that the powers that be at WOTC are interested in receiving submissions, so I wondered if anyone's been taking advantage of that and sending in pitches.

 

[fissionessence]

I submitted a query after the druid 1-3 preview was released on D&D Insider.

I never received a response.

That idea is now Advanced Class: Druid — Favored Forms from Silent7Seven Games.

I also pitched an article for the arboreans (from Pyramid of Shadow) as a PC race in that same email . . . but I didn't really expect a good response for that one

~

 

[Shemeska]

Very early on I sent around six queries or so, one of which was an idea that had been in the leftover slush pile from the Paizo tenure with the magazines that I'd already written. I had an initial response asking to see the already written one, and that they would get back to me in like a week or two.

I never had any response after that point, nor to the followup email I sent asking if they'd had a chance to look at it yet.

 

[Maldin]

Despite their claims in the beginning that they would "eventually" be taking submissions, all signposts I'd seen in the last few years pointed to the likelihood that WotC would keep it 100% in-house (plus limited contributions from a very elite cadre of already active "favored" freelance insiders). If they're not even replying to someone with your creds, Shemy, I consider my suspicions proven beyond any reasonable doubt. With my limited Dragon and Living Greyhawk Journal creds, I'm certainly not gonna waste my time.

Its really a shame too, for the fans and for the industry. Many of the people that are now the designers (and editors and managers and higher!) at WotC (and Paizo and... etc) got their first break into the biz as amateur submissions to Dragon and Dungeon in the '80's and '90's. It was the training ground of the industry. The breeding ground for new talent. Its now becoming the lost generation due to elitism and nepotism. The next Monte or Wolfgang or Erik out there without any creds yet has no chance whatsoever.


Denis, aka "Maldiln"
Maldin's Greyhawk Maldin's Greyhawk
Loads of edition-independent Greyhawk goodness... maps, magic, mysteries, mechanics, and more!

 

[wedgeski]

I've submitted proposals but I've never had any expectation of getting a response unless they're interested in the full article. And I've never been disappointed.

Anyway the submission guidelines, if you haven't found them before, are here via here.

 

[fissionessence]

It's also worth noting that a few months ago the D&D podcast had the editor or someone from the magazine on for an interview. He's the one who (at least at the time of the podcast) was in charge of reading the proposals from submitting authors and replying to them, working toward completed articles, etc.

He stated guidelines in the podcast that were different from what's found on the page to which wedgeski linked in the previous post. He even specifically referred to updating the submission guidelines soon, but it's never been done.

So, if you submit, I really don't know which guidelines you should use. Theoretically you should use the ones on the website, but if an editor likes things a certain way, it's always good to know what his or her preferences are.

~ fissionessence

 

[wedgeski]

So, if you submit, I really don't know which guidelines you should use. Theoretically you should use the ones on the website, but if an editor likes things a certain way, it's always good to know what his or her preferences are.

Wasn't he just talking about the particular kinds of article they were looking for at the time?

 

[ExploderWizard]

Its really a shame too, for the fans and for the industry. Many of the people that are now the designers (and editors and managers and higher!) at WotC (and Paizo and... etc) got their first break into the biz as amateur submissions to Dragon and Dungeon in the '80's and '90's. It was the training ground of the industry. The breeding ground for new talent. Its now becoming the lost generation due to elitism and nepotism. The next Monte or Wolfgang or Erik out there without any creds yet has no chance whatsoever.

At least there is the internet these days. Just about anyone can get a website and have thier own stuff available to be seen by the public. Cool gaming stuff doesn't have to come from an "official" source to have value. A lot of people put quality material in posts right here. I don't understand the mentality that leads people to believe that anything not produced/rubberstamped by a game company isn't worth looking at. The more the gaming community embraces that concept, the more elitist and closed the publishers will become.

 

[kenmarable]

Well, I had been gearing up for possibly submitting some stuff, but if there's no response at all, I'll probably gear my efforts elsewhere. Only so many hours in a day and there's plenty of other publishers I know I'll get responses from.

So has anyone gotten a response at all - accept or reject - in the past several months?

 

[MatthewJHanson]

I'm still sending off queries every couple weeks, and I'm still not receiving any response.

(Small thread hijack) I do however receive responses from Kobold Quarterly including acceptances and rejections.