Acceptance help

Did the mag that's accepted the story say in its guidelines that it accepted simultaneous submissions? Same deal with the other mags its on sub to.

Personally (and this is only my opinion) i would go with whoever bought it first.

Assuming you only sent to zines that are willing to look at simultaneous submissions, go with the first one and let the rest know it's off the table. That's how simsubs work. Holding out serves no purpose here.

If you simultaneously submitted to zines that don't like it, then you have some explaining and backpedaling to do. But there's no point holding out hoping for something better. It's only fair to go with the person who responded first. Or risk alienating that editor forever.

You have to be careful when shopping around with a short story like that, as some magazines don't accept simultaneous submissions. If your reputation were to get damaged, that could affect future sales. You should sign with the magazine that accepted your story, and immediately let the other magazines know you're withdrawing it from consideration because it's been accepted elsewhere. If any of those magazines don't take simultaneous submissions, you should offer an explantion (such as "I'm just learning the business" if indeed that's the case). Good markets are valuable, and you'll want to stay in favor with them.

Robert E. Keller
http://www.scrollsofatlantis.com