More on stamps:
When I send in a submission by snail-mail, I try to use commemorative stamps that will catch the eye of the editor and make them think I have a sense of humor and would be good to work with/publish. My most recent round of submissions went out with Disney stamps, because that was all I could find, having misplaced the DC Comic Book Heroes stamps I bought 2 weeks ago. In the past, I’ve used the science fiction stamps, space exploration stamps, even clouds.
The US Post Office currently has available some children’s book animal stamps, commemorating animals found in children’s books.
There are also Katherine Anne Porter stamps available.
In any case, it seems to me that, if a stamp is going to make a difference, any stamp that honors children’s books or literary figures would be a good choice.
Also, note:
1 ounce of a large flat envelope is $.52 to mail to a publisher, but there are no $.13 stamps anymore. Suggestion: For fewer than 6 pages, fold it into a #10 envelope.
2 ounces of a large flat or a #10 envelope (approx. 6 pages) is $.63 to mail to a publisher, so you will need a regular 39-cent first class stamp and a 24-cent postcard stamp (of which, the post office currently only carries one design).
Book-length manuscripts may be send media rate.
Remember that your return SASE must have the same amount of postage as your outgoing (to include the rejection letter, and that the SASE cannot be made with stamps.com or similar online postage, nor by metered mail– those are date marked and will not be accepted by the post office for more than a couple days past their dates.
I realize that you all probably know all of this, but it’s helpful sometimes to review, especially as things change so often in the US Postal Service.
5 Comments
I always buy interesting stamps, the children’s book ones are my new favorites.
I bought the disney themed ones but I think the human faces look a little offf — more cherubic than in the original art.
I have the children’s stamps. We pretty much only use snail mail to send things to the grandparents, or the rare occassion that I need to send a Soapy Hollow mail, so I always try to get stamps the Boy likes. He loves to put stamps on mail.
Oh, I love those children’s book stamps! We usually get a roll of sticky flag stamps at Costco, but I’d certainly consider getting a sheet of those adorable stamps for framing. I don’t think of myself as a collector, but some stamps are worth preserving.
Thanks for the tips!
Give the Click-N-Ship some love! And don’t forget that you can send a priority package for a $5.00 flat rate, often cheaper than the rate for a similarly-sized first-class-rate package and great for larger manuscripts. And you can even create an address book in Click-N-Ship so that you don’t have to keep retyping often-used addresses.
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