Phaze/Mundania - Beware!
I've been shopping a M/M erotic fantasy around, and while I've gotten a few offers , I haven't been able to come to terms regarding contracts anywhere yet. A friend suggested I try submitting to Mundania. After visiting their website And doing some research I realized I'd be subbing to Phaze, and following their posted guidelines at the time, I submitted my full manuscript on June 8, 2014. I got an auto-response the same day verifying receipt.
The website stated their turnaround time for subs was 60-120 days. I thought that was lengthy, but figured they were covering their behinds. I checked back at the 30 and 60 day marks. Not a peep from them. On 09/04 - three months after I sent the sub in - I saw that they'd changed their submission process. So I sent an inquiry asking for a status report on my submission, and inquired to make sure it was actually in the review process since they'd changed things. I again got an auto-response verifying my email was received.
Nobody, however, ever replied to my email.
Now, I understand publishers get busy. And they did state it could take 120 days (4 months) to get an answer back from their editorial staff. But here's my opinion on this.
It is absolutely unprofessional in the extreme to not respond to an author who has requested a status report. A simple, "Your work is in process," or "Your work has been assigned to a reader and is awaiting a final decision," would've taken all of three minutes to send. That nobody at either Mundania or Phaze has ANYBODY on staff reading their emails and handling simple requests like this sends up a big red flag for me. If they can't decision my work expediently, how will they edit it or galley it or do anything expediently?
On 10/13/14, 128 days after I submitted and over 30 days after I requested a status report, I sent an email to both Mundania and Phaze withdrawing my submission. I have no faith in a publisher who cannot even read subs in a timely manner. I don't care what the excuse is - lack of editors, staff changeovers, the new submission system, they "misplaced" my sub, whatever - to this day I've not gotten a single email from anyone at Mundania or Phaze. So not only did I pull my sub, I've also put them on my "Wall of Shame" alongside Entranced and Ellora's Cave.
Waiting to hear now from the next publisher I've subbed to... Keep your fingers crossed!
~ Tux