Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Another one bites the dust

Another goal, that is. I mailed my partial manuscript of OTHR yesterday and what a chore that was! It was much much easier and quicker to email my submission the day before to the agent.

My goal was to submit OTHR, formerly MOL, by June 17th to beat the RWA rush into the agents and publishers in August. I should have considered that mailing it to Canada was going to be a bit different than mailing within the US. I had read the guidelines on HQ's website but once I started thinking about the details I had all sorts of questions:

1. They don't use the same stamps do they, so how am I going to send a SASE?
2. It's going to be more expensive to mail internationally - MUCH!
3. Tracking wasn't going to be easy since the postal clerks were telling me that I couldn't track it past the border of the US unless I sent it Global International Guaranteed 1-3 days for get this - $43.75.
4. What were my options on getting the manuscript or a response returned?

My CP, Leah, found something in the FAQ on HQ's site which said you could simply mail a check for the return postage. Thank God for Leah. She's so patient when I'm obsessing over the details (but it was my first child to leave the nest). Thanks, Leah, for not sending the Canuck Incredible Hulk after me.

Well, I thought that was the simple solution, I had the return postage taken care of. But once I decided to spring for the $43.75 to get it there in three days or less, i.e., by the end of the week, they couldn't find any Global Express envelopes! Our clerk at the PO couldn't remember ever sending anything that way. (Remember we're not in the BIG CITY.)

Finally, I settled on Express Mail International which ended up costing $23.75 and 'should' get there in five days which would put it at HQ in Ontario by Tuesday! That was acceptable.

But next time I set goals depending on the destination, I'll allow for more transit time. Though I'd still probably send it via some tracking enabled method.

2 comments:

Leah Braemel said...

I couldn't believe how expensive it is to send things from the States.

I bought US stamps when I was down in the States last year, I'll send some down for you to attach to an SASE before you submit to HQ next time. Wait'll you submit to Mills and Boon in England!

Leah Braemel said...

Oh! And Congrats on getting those subs out. That's a HUGE step on the career ladder.