How Submissions go

Ice cream social photo stolen from LA blog.
Click here for more photos. I was afraid there
might be photos of me from behind there.
It's OK to look. There aren't any. You would know.
I had on more colors than a rodeo clown yesterday.
It's a new thing I'm trying: color in clothes.

Yesterday I spent some time working through our Design Submissions. I also took time for a bowl of ice cream with all the fixins. I have my priorities straight.

This is more about work than ice cream but I needed a photo so I "borrowed" from the LA blog. Click over there to read why we were having ice cream. No, that's not just everyday here at LA.

I try to answer within a month of the submission, but we have to pull people together for review and travel schedules can throw us off a bit. As a person with some experience in sending things away for review, I know how it feels...the waiting. And with me, it's accompanied by the feeling of impending doom, certain rejection, and an overwhelming need for Cheetos. I figure there might be others like me out there and try to react accordingly. There are others like me, aren't there?

So I try to be quick. Yesterday I sent a slew of "No, but thank you" letters and emails out. I said and sincerely mean that I appreciate the interest in working with Leisure Arts. I really do. We need creative people, whether they're beginners with their first concept or seasoned veterans.

I sent one "We like it but aren't sure this is the right time" e-mail to someone we're already working with.

I sent one "You're getting closer, don't give up" e-mail to a designer who has skill but hasn't quite come up with the collection of stuff that we can publish.

I sent two "Yes, we'd like to publish this and welcome" e-mails/phone calls, both to new-to-us designers. Whether it's a no, a yes, or a maybe, it's important to me that people feel good about working with me.

We get this question a lot in a variety of forms: How to I submit my idea to Leisure Arts?
The truth is...I'm easy like Sunday morning (and I looked up the lyrics to that to make sure I wasn't saying something I didn't mean to but I don't understand them so I'm just going to apologize in advance). We'll review concepts in all stages and formats. We're dealing with creative people and submissions come in a whole world of variety.

But here's what I like:
1. Well-written and clearly thought out description of the idea, along with a list of projects.
2. Photos. Clearly this only works if the projects are complete, but we don't require completed projects. It's just easier to make a good decision. If there are no photos, sketches or drawings will work.

That's it. Off they go. Maybe it's a "no" but maybe it's a "yes" and then we head into the Contract.

My preferences: digital submissions via email to submissions@leisurearts.com. And I like a PDF with everything contained in one document, text and photos together instead of having to open, view, and possibly print 10 photos (or 10 emails). I'm all about making my life easier.

So if you've thought you might possibly maybe someday want to work up some designs for a book or you've already done that and want to work with someone as fabulous as I am and easy like Sunday morning, you should totally send it in.