Did anyone else have this experience submitting/writing for DRAGON magazine?

[EditorBFG]

Knowing that DRAGON and DUNGEON have ceased publication in their current form, and with no hard feelings at all, only gratitude and a bit of confusion, I want to ask if anyone else had an experience similar to this while after being asked to write a first draft of an article for DRAGON (or DUNGEON):

1. Sent in some proposals as an freelancer would during their submission period in 2012
2. Was asked via email to revise one proposal
3. Sent the proposal with requested revisions
4. Was told that the revised proposal was suitable, and was then asked to write a first draft of the actual article and submit it by the end of October 2012
5. Submitted requested first draft ahead of deadline
6. Got confirmation email that my draft was received
7. Got an email asking me to resend my draft, due to it being on a drive that could not be accessed
8. Resent draft
9. Got an email confirming my draft had been received, and replied politely
10. Never heard from anyone at DRAGON or WotC again

I waited an entire year after my last contact over the holidays at the end of 2012/2013 to follow up, as I had worried about being a pest, but no one replied to that either.

As I said, I am not posting to complain, I just don't know what their policy is on a draft they don't like. I assume what I wrote did not work, but I never got anything back saying so from anyone at WotC. Also, I have thought about posting the content I wrote on a blog or something, and I have no idea if WotC would object or not. So, I guess I am asking, did anyone else have the experience of getting this far with an article for a WotC and then having them apparently reject, but not respond to further attempts at contact?

I decided to ask now, because since it seems like the magazines have ended in any form in which my content (4E-based) would be published, I figure it really can't hurt.

Any insights greatly appreciated.

 

[TGryph]

I can't speak for the later issues, but back in the mid 100'2 to low 200's I had four articles published in Dragon, with none of the situations you described.

It was quite a while ago, but as I recall..

I sent in a sheet with several Article Ideas.
They told me to develop a couple.
I sent in the article.
They sent it back, requesting some edits.
It was published.

Now, the first one someone at the magazine changed a fair bit, but each time it got less and less until the fourth one was pretty much as I had written it.

I also had two more articles rejected without rewrites almost immediately, so I feel I didn't waste a lot of time. It was in general a very positive experience for me.

TGryph

 

[ExploderWizard]

With that lack of communication I say blog away. Your material was never published and you received no compensation. I would do a quick check of the 4E GSL and make sure your article complies with that.


If it does then it should be good to go. If it doesn't meet the GSL requirements then I would hold off on posting it. Who knows whats going to happen after Next launches? WOTC may make 4E stuff OGL or just not care.

 

[Shemeska]

I would suspect that with the turnover among the people working on the e-zines during the last year or two that it probably got lost in the shuffle. Still surprising that nobody responded since it was a common email address. But after 3 months (or earlier) I would have emailed for an update.

That said I never had that sort of thing happen, both with material pitched/accepted/printed during the Paizo tenure of the magazines, and the WotC e-zines.

 

[mearls]

Hey EditorBFG,

It's nearly certain that your article was lost in the shuffle. We typically ask to see drafts of more stuff than we need, as many writers never carry a pitch to its conclusion.

Since you never were paid or issued a contract, you still own the work and can do with it as you wish.

Sorry for the runaround. For what it's worth, I had a similar experience back around 2001. With the volume of material, it's easy for things to get lost in the shuffle.

 

[EditorBFG]

I will consider this asked and answered. Thank you kindly for all the replies.