To All Submitting Writers Prior to March 01, 2013:
On behalf of The Washington Pastime, I would like to apologize for the extreme delay in our response to your submission. Beginning in September of 2012, The Washington Pastime‘s web servers were compromised due to a successful hacking attempt. Because of this, our (now safe to view) website was infected with malware, and our email servers were unsafe to access for several months. However, in March, due to the support and generous donations of time and money by several contributing writers and readers, we were able to move to a more secure web server with a redesigned website. We were also able to re-gain access to our emails, which contained all submissions prior to March 1, 2013.
To this point, The Washington Pastime has worked in earnest to read through the tremendously high volume of submissions we received in the period from the beginning of the attacks to our website and our re-launch (500+ stories). Unfortunately, due to the volume of submissions, our dedication to reading each story entirely / providing useful critiques of rejections, and our limited volunteer staff of submission specialists, we have been unable to move through our past (2012) submissions efficiently. Additionally, we have found that many authors who have submitted did not recall submitting to us, had published their work elsewhere, or are otherwise no longer responding at the e-mail addresses they provided at the time of their submission.
Therefore, I have decided to send a form letter to all submissions we have not yet responded to (as of May 07, 2013) informing them of our past, and our policy regarding previous submissions moving forward:
1. If you would like to have The Washington Pastime evaluate your story, please submit it through our secure online submissions portal, which is the new method for all submissions.
– It will be reviewed (and critiqued if rejected) for free.
– Submission responses can be expected within a MAXIMUM time-frame of 3 months. Most submissions will be responded to in less time.
– You may take advantage of our Skip The Slush feature, which will give you an almost immediate submission decision for the price of US $10.
– Your story must meet our current submission guidelines
2. Please do not reply to this e-mail. It will, from this day forward, be used only as a submission response address.
3. Since our re-launch, The Washington Pastime‘s readership had increased over 400%. That means that the readership who will see stories published through us is even larger than it was before our attacks (and still contains a strong international presence!) — This may be the one consolation prize admits all of the mishaps we’ve encountered.
Again, I would like to remind you that it is not the normal policy or operational procedure of The Washington Pastime to take such an incredibly long time with our submissions, or to do anything but personally respond to each submission. We appreciate each and every story that is given to us to consider, and we value each and every pen-in-hand behind them. Again, we regret the wait you’ve experienced, and we promise to work harder and providing a better experience to both readers and writers moving forward. We do encourage you to re-submit your story for consideration, and we apologize for any personal or professional inconvenience our technical and staffing issues may have caused you in the months since your submission.
Finally, I would like to re-enforce the position of The Washington Pastime as a progressive, organized, and competent literary magazine. Many authors have found a home with us since our inception in 2011, and our continual mission is to provide writers with a home in (and hopefully a springboard to) a successful writing career.
Even if you’re not sold on our promises, we do encourage you to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter — because we are in the business of promoting and exposing you — the author. We don’t post often if it’s not about stories we’re publishing, and as an author, I’m sure you’ll agree: writers are an extremely supportive community. Additionally, social media is a great place for writers to contact us with concerns and to stay informed about other technical mishaps and news regarding not just our, but all literary magazines.
I wish you all the best of luck and continued success with your writing pursuits, however leisurely or serious they may be. Every story I’ve read as an intern, Submission Specialist, Senior Editor, and Editor-in-Chief has had an impact on me and added something to my enjoyment of writing. It’s for this reason that I hope you can move forward in forgiving the mishaps that The Washington Pastime has already overcome. Once more, you have my deepest apologizes and sincerest promise of relentless improvement. Like any good story, we’ve gone through a revision, and we hope you’ll join the experience of our latest draft.
Sincerely,
Michael Vidafar
Editor-in-Chief
The Washington Pastime
