An Open Letter to Dorrance Publishing

Ok, honestly, I am upset, disappointed, devastated, angry, grrr!

I am trying real hard to be calm. I know I can do nothing about it since I am but a nobody, a no-name in the publishing world. But I can never and that's a big NEVER let a Ms. Veronica DeMarco and Dorrance Publishing get away with this.

So, what really happened?

One day, i was browsing on my Facebook account when an ad for publishing appeared on the page, I thought I can visit and just read through, you know, I was just curious. And so I clicked the link and was directed to the abovementioned publishing's website. It made me fill-up an electronic form -- name, address, contact details, and whether I have a complete manuscript or not. Well, I selected the option "My manuscript is not complete" since I'm still on the 3rd chapter of my book anyways. I got a reply minutes after filling-up that form. I know it was an automatic reply but I got so interested with the following lines:

We would be interested in having you submit your manuscript when you have finished writing it. Do you have a projected completion date? If so, please respond to me at your earliest convenience.

You indicated that your manuscript is incomplete, however, we have found that sometimes authors do not realize when a manuscript is suitable to be reviewed for possible publication. As a reminder, we consider a completed manuscript to be:

Poetry - At least 12 poems (most poets send between 25-75)

Fiction and non-fiction - 15,000 words or more

Children's books - 12 pages (This includes future illustrations. The text will probably only be a couple of pages. You needn't have the illustrations complete, but please include a separate page describing the look of the illustrations, and whether or not you wish to have someone on our staff draw them.)

When you find yourself with a completed manuscript, the quickest and easiest manner for you to submit your completed work for our review is in a digital format (that is, saved as one file in Microsoft Word, WordPerfect or another commonly used word processing program).

The Poetry part really caught my attention because I actually have many poems written already and I was thinking, why not publish them? And so, I arranged 15 poems, created a title for the collection, even a simple introduction that describes the collection. I replied to the email and attached the document and told Ms. DeMarco that I aim to finish everything on November. But for now, I think this is a complete manuscript and I'll appreciate if they can review it so they can tell me if it's suitable enough for publication.

I was disappointed when she replied with "Thank you for your interest in Dorrance. However, at this time we are only accepting completed manuscripts for review.  blah blah blah" I was like, "What????" I thought 12 poems is more than enough to be considered as a complete manuscript? What is she talking about? I was thinking she must have missed the number on my email or maybe she never opened the file yet that she never knew it contains 15 poems; I opted to reply to her message with:

You did say "we consider a completed manuscript to be: Poetry - At least 12 poems (most poets send between 25-75)" I submitted 15 poems on that manuscript. Kindly tell me if you're interested to review them or not.

Well, she replied with:

We only review complete works. In the email you sent me you said, "It's not complete yet but I am targeting November of this year to finish everything. " Once the work is complete than please submit it. Thanks!

Arrggghh! Was I talking to a @#$%#!#$!???? It isn't complete of course, that's why it's called a manuscript! But it is a complete manuscript according to their guidelines "Poetry - At least 12 poems (most poets send between 25-75>". Shucks! I got so disappointed that I got conned by a publishing agent. What is she? A secretary? An office clerk? Didn't she understand her job? So where are my poems now? Will I see them published under a different name? Darn! I'm really upset!

If ever you are reading this Dorrance people, I am, waiting for a good explanation; and I would appreciate if the one who'll explain is someone who at least knows what he or she is talking about.

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