What to do?

If you're considering giving up on this editor, you might want to consider the quality of the market (including how much it pays) before deciding whether or not to wait another month or two. If you decide to withdraw, let the editor know. If you decide to wait, you could always work on another story.

Like Robert said, consider the market when making your decision. If you're not under contract, then there's nothing holding you to them.

I had a short story submitted with an outlet for ten months (similarly being told along the way that it was still under consideration) before they finally sent a contract. Then, six months after that before they finally closed up shop. That's a really long time to wait...

I think considering teh market is excellent advice. I never worry about lost submission time because I'm constantly writing and submitting new pieces.

I've waited a bit more than two years to even hear from a market. I waited so long with one that when the acceptance letter arrived, I didn't even recognize the title of the story, and had to check my records to make sure I'd actually written the thing. But it was a good market, and the eventual sale was more than worth the wait.

Jamesaritchie said:

I've waited a bit more than two years to even hear from a market.

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For a pro market, maybe that would be acceptable...but if they're offering a token payment (of $10-20), 2 years is a bit much.

astonwest said:

For a pro market, maybe that would be acceptable...but if they're offering a token payment (of $10-20), 2 years is a bit much.

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A bit much? These days, I'd rather keep that story in a folder on my desktop, and wait for a higher-paying magazine or anthology to come along that fit the story, than wait 2 years for a 10 spot. A pro market? Sure, why not? I could always keep writing and selling other material during those two years. But I'd need to query the editor now and then to find out if the story was still being considered.

astonwest said:

For a pro market, maybe that would be acceptable...but if they're offering a token payment (of $10-20), 2 years is a bit much.

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True enough, probably, though by the time I send a story to such a small market, I've probably gone through every pro market out there. I've also found that until I sell a piece somewhere, I can't sell reprint rights anywhere. And no matter where a story is pubished, it's eligible for some anthologies and prizes that won't look at anything unpublished.

I think it all goes back to productivity. I believe in the "submit and forget" philosophy, largely because I never really wait for anything. Back about teh time I started writing, I read an article with the title "Something In the Mail Every Friday." It made sense. About that same time, I read an article wherein Ray Bradbury said he starts a story every Monday, and submits one every Saturday. That made sense, too.

It's been a long while since I was this productive with short stories, but I still try to get something in the mail once a week, be it a short story, an article, a department, a column, a filler, a query, or a recipe for Ogre Stew.

Some things get rejected, of course, and these, too, go back into submission at the end of the week. This means I hear from something, usually two or three somethings, each and every week, so the wait time for an individual piece loses all meaning.

In other words, I don't "wait" two years to hear back from an editor. I'm too busy writing and submitting new peices, too busy dealing with the pieces I do get responses on each week, to even think about the single piece I haven't heard from.

I submit and move on to the next story, but I never let myself forget when and where I submitted each story to...I keep track of every submission for every story in a master spreadsheet. That way, I know when it's time to hit up an editor who's been sitting on something longer than their guidelines specified. I also know when and where my stories are, so I can avoid the embarrassment of accidentally simultaneous subbing or multiple subbing.

astonwest said:

I submit and move on to the next story, but I never let myself forget when and where I submitted each story to...I keep track of every submission for every story in a master spreadsheet. That way, I know when it's time to hit up an editor who's been sitting on something longer than their guidelines specified. I also know when and where my stories are, so I can avoid the embarrassment of accidentally simultaneous subbing or multiple subbing.

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I know where my stories are, as well. I keep submission records, simply because I don't want to goof and send the same story to a magazine that's already rejected it.

But I've never made any money by worrying about how long an editor has held a story, guidelines or not, and I have made a bunch of money by allowing editors to sit until the egg hatches. For me, this makes it an easy choice.

Jamesaritchie said:

But I've never made any money by worrying about how long an editor has held a story, guidelines or not, and I have made a bunch of money by allowing editors to sit until the egg hatches. For me, this makes it an easy choice.

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And you could very easily be losing out on money if your submission was lost in an e-mail spam folder, or accidentally lost in a hard drive crash on the editor's end...

To each their own, I suppose.

astonwest said:

And you could very easily be losing out on money if your submission was lost in an e-mail spam folder, or accidentally lost in a hard drive crash on the editor's end...

To each their own, I suppose.

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Possibly, but in thirty years of writing, I've never had an editor lose a story.

Then again, I still submit hardcopy whenever possible.