Clarification re applications
I've noticed that several applicants for the SH editorial position have expressed a certain amount of confusion about our request that applications include a list of the applicant's "favorite short-fiction authors." So I thought I'd explain a little further, on the off chance that anyone reading this is intending to apply but hasn't yet.
(But I'm guessing those of you who've already applied are now thinking "Oh, no, I made a mistake, I've ruined my chances!", so let me start by reassuring you that this is not a big deal. I just figured it was worth my being clearer about it for any future applicants who might see this.)
The general thing to keep in mind when applying (maybe we should've said this explicitly in the call-for-candidates) is that these are the primary attributes we're looking for:
- Fairly high degree of overlap with Susan's and my tastes in short speculative fiction. Ideally, just different enough to be interesting, but not different enough that we can't agree on stories. Most of the point of the authors-and-stories part of the application is to give us a rough idea of whether your tastes are similar enough to ours to be worth discussing things with you further.
- Ability to handle responsibility—to get the work done, on time, every week.
- Ability to work well with me and Susan.
Various other attributes might make you a better candidate in various ways, but the above are the most important things we're looking for in a fiction editor. So when we say "favorite short-fiction authors," you can read that as being equivalent to "authors whose short fiction you're particularly fond of." Doesn't have to be authors who write only short fiction. But it shouldn't be authors who don't write short fiction, or who you love as novelists but don't care about as short-fiction writers.
Anyway, don't stress too much about putting together the list; this won't be the main thing your application is judged on. Just a little extra data for us. (But if you list, say, John Norman or L. Ron Hubbard as your favorite writer, chances are pretty good it wouldn't be a good match.)
Oh, one more thing: as usual with our subject-line requests, the idea is that using the specified subject line will let us easily sort applications into the right mailbox and have our autoresponder respond to them. Thus, emails that aren't applications shouldn't have "CANDIDATE: " on the subject line, and emails that are applications should (and then should give your name, also on the subject line, so that when we glance at our emailboxes we'll be able to see instantly which application is from whom).