Anyone Ever Submitted to Glimmer Train?

jillianburks · Aug 26, 2009

Hey!
I submitted a short story to Glimmer Train exactly 11 weeks ago. The site promises to contact you in "12 weeks, usually less" of their decision. Well, I wasn't going to ask, I was going to be patient and wait...but I can't! I'm so nervous and it's driving me insane wondering why they're waiting so long to tell me. I don't know if it's good or bad.

Has anyone ever submitted to Glimmer Train? What were your wait times?

nkkingston · Aug 26, 2009

For some reason I never recorded my GT submissions in Duotrope, and I don't have their response (it was a rejection, but I normally save those too, so I don't know where it's gone). It's usually a fairly long wait. Duotrope puts it at 55 days for a rejection and 78 for an acceptance, so the longer the wait the better!

waylander · Aug 26, 2009

I have. My responses run very close to the 12 weeks they promise.

Hobbles · Aug 26, 2009

I am a frequent Glimmer Train contestant. I've never won and have never received a rejection note or letter. Their response comes in the form of the most current magazine that publishes the winners.

astonwest · Aug 26, 2009

jillianburks said:
I submitted a short story to Glimmer Train exactly 11 weeks ago. The site promises to contact you in "12 weeks, usually less" of their decision.

Can't remember ever submitting there, nor do I see it in my tracking sheet. If they promise 12 weeks, then on week 13, contact them...no sooner. That's the case anywhere...

pdr · Aug 26, 2009

Excuse me...

everyone but Glimmer Train has a special way of submitting and you have an author page and can track your work there. Or it did last time I submitted.

I've always found 'em to be around 12 weeks.

WendyNYC · Aug 26, 2009

I was a finalist in one of their contests a while back. They let me know just before the winners were posted. I think it was about 12 weeks. We had a couple of emails back and forth and they were extremely nice.

Great mag--good luck!!

johnnysannie · Aug 27, 2009

pdr said:
everyone but Glimmer Train has a special way of submitting and you have an author page and can track your work there. Or it did last time I submitted.

I've always found 'em to be around 12 weeks.

Yes, that's right.

So it's easy to track your submissions to GT.

nkkingston · Aug 27, 2009

I checked my author page: they list the submission date but not the date they replied, which is why I couldn't work out how long it had taken them to reply to me.

Alchemenos Prausti · Aug 28, 2009

I've been submitting to Glimmer Train for years. I haven't tracked how long they take to send rejections, but they're generally quicker than other markets of similar caliber. Seems to me that more than half the time, they actually sent me a rejection email in addition to the notice they always post in the submission area on the website.

Izz · Aug 28, 2009

Hobbles said:
I am a frequent Glimmer Train contestant. I've never won and have never received a rejection note or letter. Their response comes in the form of the most current magazine that publishes the winners.

Hmm... i receive rejection emails. Mind you, i only submit to the open (free) contest.

myrmidon · Aug 29, 2009

I had one rejection that I tracked on my GT account (I think that "rejection" showed up about 10 weeks after submission) for another I got a rejection email and it was right around the 12 week mark.

If you submitted through their online system (I think that's the only way now - right?) the note that you've been rejected is actually very subtle. If it says COMPLETE under current status then you've been rejected. IN PROCESS means you're still being considered and ACCEPTED means, well, YAY!

I think that though they're actually trying to be really nice with that whole 'complete' thing instead of saying 'rejected' for a first time submitter I didn't realize that I had been rejected until I checked the page a couple times and actually read down the page what each word meant.

A friend of mine made the top 25 list for one of the contests - and I believe she got her notification right around the 12 week mark. They seem pretty consistent to me overall.

AllieKat · Aug 29, 2009

I've never worked up the nerve to submit to Glimmer Train. It's a very literary sort of place, and I generally don't 'get' literary stuff.

Poetic_Justice · Aug 30, 2009

I've submitted a number of times. It usually takes right around 12 weeks (one story was a little longer than that.) Each of them have been rejected.

One of my professors from College, however, won the Glimmertrain contest one year. He said it took right around 14 weeks to hear back.

Susan Lanigan · Sep 2, 2009

I'm unimpressed at their current "Best Starts" programme - seems that you pay ten dollars to submit your story and then they list the top 50. That's it, no prizes or nothing? Seems like a rip off from where I'm sitting.

I have stopped submitting because the odds are too high as far as I'm concerned and I think they're after a style that I neither enjoy reading nor do particularly well.

myrmidon · Sep 2, 2009

Susan Lanigan said:
I'm unimpressed at their current "Best Starts" programme - seems that you pay ten dollars to submit your story and then they list the top 50. That's it, no prizes or nothing? Seems like a rip off from where I'm sitting.

According to the website the Best Start contest is $10 to enter and the top 50 get $50, plus listed in the bulletin/site (etc) as the best 50. So, that's not a lot of money to win, and the odds are really high, because, well, because it's Glimmer Train and they're a really well known and well respected publication, but 50 spots is a lot - usually only the top 3 get prize money, and the top 25 get listed on the site, so it sounds pretty good to me.

Katrina S. Forest · Sep 4, 2009

I submitted to them ages ago, I can't remember the time it took, but I know it was almost within the time listed on their submission guidelines.

I stopped submitted just because I didn't feel like my work was a good enough match to warrant spending the money on it. I'm aware it's a good magazine, it's just not my thing.

Poetic_Justice · Sep 4, 2009

My professor won the first prize of 2006 or 2007 or something like that. He says they definately pay out on contests, and that he's had an easier time getting things published since he won Glimmertrain's contest.

myrmidon said:
According to the website the Best Start contest is $10 to enter and the top 50 get $50, plus listed in the bulletin/site (etc) as the best 50. So, that's not a lot of money to win, and the odds are really high, because, well, because it's Glimmer Train and they're a really well known and well respected publication, but 50 spots is a lot - usually only the top 3 get prize money, and the top 25 get listed on the site, so it sounds pretty good to me.

myrmidon · Sep 4, 2009

Poetic_Justice said:
My professor won the first prize of 2006 or 2007 or something like that. He says they definately pay out on contests, and that he's had an easier time getting things published since he won Glimmertrain's contest.

Agreed. Getting a piece published with Glimmer Train - or even listed as a top 25 winners for a major contest can really help with other short fiction contests - and it is a great thing to be able to list as experience in the query for your novel. Glimmer Train is highly respected in the field - and for good reason.

dancingandflying · Sep 6, 2009

I submitted a piece about ten weeks ago, and haven't heard anything yet. My piece's status is still "In Process". Hopefully, time is on my side and the longer I wait, the higher the chance is of acceptance.

d&f.

Rufus Leeking · Sep 7, 2009

they promise 2 months, not 3, and they always turn it to "complete" at about 7 weeks. I get no notice, it's on you to check. for me, it's more like throwing stories at a wall when I send them to GT as its style is really not mine- still even given the long odds, the coolness of having something published there justifies the reading fee.

writehereinOhio · Sep 12, 2009

Submitted for the first time to GT this past spring. Was ultimately rejected, but while they were considering the piece I rec'd a lovely email--just "checking in" with me from Susan B. "We hope you're having a lovely spring out there in Ohio" she'd said. Thought that was nice--that an editor there took the time to send a personal email. Love GT, but realize how difficult it is to break in.

Rufus Leeking · Sep 13, 2009

oh. it's 2 months from when the contest closes, so say if you submit September 10, you'll like get your "complete" near the end of November.

Robert E. Keller · Sep 13, 2009

You never know until you hear from the magazine--no matter what. There's little reason to get excited simply because a story has been under review for a long time. I've waited on stories, from bigger magazines like Glimmer Train, that I was certain were about to be accepted because of how long they'd been "under review"--only to get a simple form rejection. I've also had stories accepted much more quickly than I expected. So how can you know? You can't, so don't worry about it. Someone who obsesses over a response time, believing a longer waiting period to mean good news, is setting themself up for a major letdown. Relax and forget about it until it's time to send a query.

PandaNinja · Dec 15, 2016

Any new news on them? I've been interested in entering their contests, but I didn't know if it's worth paying a fee to enter.

Any thoughts?

Anyone Ever Submitted to Glimmer Train?

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