Sci-fi, fantasy, and everything in-between
Submissions
Posts about submissions and the submission process.
Accidents happen
01 year ago
I recently found out I accidentally submitted two different stories to the same market at the same time. Somehow I lost track of the first submission, so thought the market was free.
When I got a rejection for the first submission, the one I didn’t have a record of sending, I was mightily confused. My tracking database only showed the second submission, but here was a rejection for a story I thought I hadn’t sent at all. No biggie, I thought… I must have just put the wrong story title in my tracking database. But since I didn’t know for sure, I decided I should email the editor and ask. The first response I got seemed to validate my thinking — the editor was kind enough to double-check the story title for me. Case closed.
Then I got another email from the editor. He’d located the second story, further down in his submissions queue. Oops.
For the record, most markets want writers to send them only one story at a time, and this one was no exception. So I made a mistake, and violated their guidelines. But again, the editor was very nice. He recognized that this was obviously an accident and shrugged it off. He even went ahead and read the second story and gave it a quick critique and rejection along the way.
Moral of the story: Accidents will happen. Writers are human and make mistakes. Fortunately, editors are also human, and recognize this fact. Don’t tread in terror of a vicious, bloodthirsty editor blacklisting you and ending your career because of a simple mistake even long-time pros make.
Time for some rejectomancy
02 years ago
With all the submissions I’ve been making, at least a few (read: all) of them will come back as rejections. I’ve already racked up quite a few, and I thought I’d analyze them a little here. Don’t worry, I’ll be filing off all the serial numbers and identifying marks.
Rejection #1:
Dear Damon,
Thanks for submitting this story, but I’m going to pass on it. It’s nicely written
and I enjoyed reading it, but overall it didn’t quite win me over, I’m afraid. Best
of luck to you placing this one elsewhere, and thanks again for sending it my way. I
hope you’ll try us again with something else.
Sincerely,
[Editor]
I love these rejections. The editor clearly read the story, and even liked it. While this is still definitely a form letter, I interpret it as the one for stories that almost make the cut. There are all kinds of reasons a story might not cross the finish line — it doesn’t fit thematically with any upcoming issues, there were too many other good stories in the running, and so on. But the story is a good one. A very heartening rejection for a writer.
Rejection #2:
Thanks very much for sending this story to [Magazine].
Unfortunately, it’s not quite right for us. [Identifiable story locale] are a more
[time period] setting element than we’re looking for.
I appreciate your interest in our magazine. Please feel free to submit
again.
Regards,
[Editor]
Oops. I misjudged this market’s guidelines and sent them a story that didn’t quite fit the theme of their magazine. I need to read a few more stories they’ve published and get a better feel for them. However, there’s a lot of hope here, too. They encourage more submissions, which means they weren’t immediately horrified by my atrocious writing or the inclusion of tribble-porn (kidding), so after I’ve reset my barometer on what they want, I should comb through my submissions queue and send them something else.
Rejection #3:
Dear Damon,
Thank you for the opportunity to read [Story]. Unfortunately, your
story isn’t quite what we’re looking for right now. Each month, we receive hundreds
of submissions and while I may like many of them, I can only publish [some of them].
[Identifiable information redacted]. I appreciate your interest in [magazine] and hope that you’ll keep us in mind in the future.
Take care,
[Editor]
This one is definitely a form letter, but my rejectomancy senses indicate it’s the one reserved for stories they actually liked. It’s hard to say, though. The phrase “while I may like many of them” could be taken to include mine… Or it could be a way of side-stepping the question of whether they liked mine personally. For the sake of ego gratification, I choose to believe the former. I believe I’m justified in that choice, because once again, they encourage me to submit more stories in the future.
So there you have it. Three rejections I’ve received within the last month, all generally positive. I forgot how much I enjoyed receiving them during last year’s dry spell; they’re proof I’m a working writer.
January goal wrapup, February goals, and looking ahead
02 years ago
So January is done, and I feel very much like I kicked its ass. Sure, I didn’t manage the 25 story submissions I hoped for, but that was largely because I managed to get everything worth circulating back in the mail. For those keeping track at home, that’s 15 stories total, with something like half of them edited (or re-edited) and pulled out of submissions purgatory.
Yes, I feel like a writer again.
I have some new goals in mind for February. I’m going to maintain my short story circulation, obviously, and I’m going to take any remaining stories that require only light edits and get them polished for submission. I figure I should end February with 20 stories out, assuming none of them sell. I’d be happy to fail at this goal for a reason like that.
Another business-related goal: Get my financial tracking in order. Writers — if they’re trying to make a profession of it — can deduct a lot of writing-related expenses on their taxes, but only if they know what writing-related expenses they’ve had. I need a simple application I can enter such expenses with, preferably on my Android-powered mobile phone. I don’t need a full-fledged financial app, just something I can make quick, easy line entries in. I’ll be researching that myself, but I’m happy to take recommendations.
Finally, it’s high time I became a novelist. This month, when all my short stories are in order, I’m going to figure out which of the four novels I’ve written is actually good enough to bother rewriting. For the rest of the year, that novel will be my writing focus. You read it here first… I will query my first agent by December 31st, 2010.
Aw yeah.
Ow! Reality!
02 years ago
by Damon Kaswell
in Submissions
Today, I’m formally revising my end goal for January to 15 short story submissions. I just don’t have 10 more stories of publishable quality available. The remainder are either in need of significant rewrites or entirely unsellable in current form. These are mostly stories that are several years old. I’m proud to say I’m a better writer now, but that means I’m not willing to submit stories that don’t reflect that. These aren’t bad stories, they’re just… Less mature? Less complex? Whatever it is, they’re not ready, and might never be.
So I guess that means I need to write more.
Still plugging along
02 years ago
by Damon Kaswell
in Submissions
Yeah, I’m way behind now. I’m at 12 total submissions for the month. But — and this is important — most of the stories going in the mail now are new. That is, stories that have never been submitted to any market before. While I no longer think I’m going to manage 25 submissions this month, I’ve gotten more almost-complete stories to actual completion than in the entire last year. So in that sense, it’s been a very rewarding challenge, even if I completely fail.
The last three submission story titles and genres (for those who are curious):
- Leaving the Service (Science fiction)
- Even Better (Horror)
- Downloads (Science fiction)
Members of the Wordos might recognize two of those titles, and Blake Hutchins inspired the entire plot of Downloads.
I need to rethink things
02 years ago
OK, I’m probably not going to make 25 story submissions by the end of the month. There are plenty of markets, even excluding the ones that are closed until February, but I think I made a mistake on the other side of the equation.
I’ve been going over the stories I currently have marked as submission-ready, and a lot of them really aren’t. They’re contest entries or stories I wrote for particular markets, and don’t really fit anywhere outside the contexts in which I wrote them. They require some significant alterations before they’ll really be suitable for submission at other markets.
And some of my stories are old enough that I’m not sure I want to submit them anywhere. I’m a better writer now, and they’re not quality examples of my work.
Finally — and this is a problem I’m glad to have — I’ve sold too many. I’m not expecting sympathy about this, mind you.
I did get another submission out today, and I’m pleased with that, but I’m beginning to think I don’t have enough truly finished stories to make 25. We shall see.
Challenge on hiatus until tomorrow
02 years ago
I’m putting a halt to story submissions until tomorrow, when quite a few markets open up again. I’m not rude enough to send my stories to markets they aren’t suitable for and waste an editor’s time just to meet a self-imposed daily quota. I’d rather do a big flurry of better-targeted submissions over the weekend.
Note for other writers in similar situations: There’s no rule that says you can’t get your backlog of submissions ready prior to the day the market opens.
Unforeseen problem: I’m running out of markets
02 years ago
by Damon Kaswell
in Submissions
In some ways, I chose the perfect month to do this submissions push. My days are usually slow in January, so I can take the time to research markets during lunch and breaks, and do my actual editing and writing before and after DayJeorb.
But I forgot just how many markets take extended holidays right around now. From December through January, many speculative fiction magazines stop accepting story submissions. I’ve got several stories I’ve been forced to just wait on, because none of the markets they’re suitable for are available.
Fortunately, a few of them reopen on the 15th. I imagine their slush piles grow very quickly when that happens. I know I’m not the only one with submissions ready to be sent at 12:01 AM that day.
A happy find
02 years ago
I just put story #9 for this month’s challenge in the mail, and it put a smile on my face. While most of the story is grim, it ends on an upbeat note that makes me feel hopeful every time I read it. But that’s not what really made my evening.
Usually, when I pick up a story I haven’t edited for a while, the experience is roughly akin to picking up a cheese I forgot about in the back of the fridge. And rather than deal with it, I have the urge to just put it back and pretend I never noticed it, despite the smell.
But every once in a while, I rediscover a story I set aside to focus on other things, and it’s good. In this case, I’d forgotten that I’d already gone to the trouble of cleaning it up. So I looked it over, and found only copy-edit changes to make. It’s good enough to go to a market — heck, it was good enough before I tweaked the copy. So this story went from the back-burner to a science fiction market in about an hour.
And that, my friends, is what made my evening.
8 down, 17 to go.
02 years ago
by Damon Kaswell
in Submissions
I didn’t have time to submit anything yesterday, but I’ve hit 8 active submissions in the mail. My stats for the January goal now look like this:
Stories ready for submission: 19
Stories almost ready: 8
Stories made ready as of…
01/06/10: 0
01/07/10: 1
01/08/10: 1
01/09/10: 2
Submissions as of…
01/04/10: 2
01/05/10: 4
01/06/10: 6
01/07/10: 7
01/08/10: 7
01/09/10: 8
Submission goal: 25
So, progress is steady. I’m hoping to get two more in the mail tomorrow. One is a monster, at 11,000 words. Unmarketable length, but goddamnit, I love that story and I’m going to inflict it on every market that accepts stories that long until I find an editor who loves it as much as I do.