How long?

[Jake Barnes]

I'm sure this question has been asked before, but how long should I wait befofe pulling a submission and submitting it to another market? Should I send a follow-up email before I pull the submission?

[Jamesaritchie]

If it's a market that only responds if they want the story, two months is the usual wait, though you might want to add a week for transit time.

If it's a market that does respond, wait until guideline response time has passed before inquiring, and wait at least twice guideline response before pulling.

But why worry about it? As long as the market is one that does respond, give them all the time they need. The only thing pulling a story accomplished is a lost market. Spend your writing writing new stories, and forget all about the ones you already have out there. I've made some of my biggest and best sales after a magazine held my story for two years.

I never pull a story from submission. It's counter productive. Write constantly, keep sending stories out week after week, and you won't even notice the slow responders because pretty soon you'll be hearing back from some magazine every week or so.

[scope]

I'm sure this question has been asked before, but how long should I wait befofe pulling a submission and submitting it to another market? Should I send a follow-up email before I pull the submission?

It sounds like you didn't grant this editor or agent any type of exclusive. If that's so, the first thing to do is check the guidelines for submission reply information time -- if any is listed. If they still have time, respect it, and if it were me I'd add 3-4 weeks to the end date. But, of course it's up to you since you may be on the verge of wanting to pull your submission a/s/a/p.

[Shiny]

If the market is on Duotrope, you can look at the stats for response times; average times, maximum times and so on. That might give you an idea as to whether you want to wait or not.

http://www.duotrope.com/

[Gray Rose]

Markets usually tell you how soon to expect a reply. Duotrope usually has a "do not query until X days passed" attached to the market listing. As Shiny said, you also should look at the average response times and maximum response times. Before withdrawing, you should send a status query. When to send such a query? There are different camps that I observed:

1. Never - just wait patiently
2. as soon as the X days indicated on Duotrope passed, e.g. 90 days for Strange Horizons;
3. After the X days passed AND when the average response time on Duotrope passed
4. Like 3, only you also wait until your submission is the oldest on Duotrope.
5. Whenever the fancy strikes you.

I do not advocate #5. As an editor, I once had an author status-query me a WEEK after they submitted to me. That's a nice way to get rejected. Another author sent me a note - five days after they sent me stuff - saying that it had sold elsewhere (and I specify no simultaneous submissions). That's a nice way to get blacklisted.

I would NOT recommend withdrawing stuff without querying first. That is unprofessional.

In my own practice, I most often use method#3. Some of my friends use #1 and have broken into amazing top markets after 300-600 days of wait. I cannot do that, so I never send to these markets. You should always look at average response times on Duotrope before submitting to markets, if slowness bothers you.

Please remember, publishing requires patience.

Good luck!

[NicoleMD]

I've pulled submissions a few times, but I'd only do so if I didn't plan on sending them anything else, ever. None of the reasons were that they were taking too long. One anthology I yanked from after realizing the last edtion was basically half-full of the editor's own stories, (which was my fault for not researching it better). Another editor made some public statements that I fundamentally disagreed with, and the last I found out had a weird contract clause that couldn't be changed.

If it's well over their average response time, drop them a note. Otherwise, keep writing!

Nicole

[Dungeon Geek]

My only rule set in stone is that I don't have any rules set in stone. I have some guidelines I follow, like submitting exclusively to magazines. Part of it is instinct and just getting to know a market. Some magazines want you to query after a certain point (Strange Horizons, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, for example), and if you pay attention, you'll realize that these magazines actually mean it! You gain nothing by waiting. I queried a well known magazine twice because it was taking a long time, and with the second query, I received a polite personal response from the editor (that included an apology) and an inside scoop on what they were currently looking for. You can bet I quickly followed that up with another submission. You kind of have to learn through experience and get to know each market and how they operate.

I don't use Duotrope when deciding when to query, and I don't recommend it for query purposes! I know from experience that some of the stats are not correct for some of the magazines--that some magazines are much slower, and some faster, than the average response times listed. One reason is that it's different for each writer. Since I've been making a name for myself (or, perhaps, just writing better stuff), my response times have slowed at some magazines (as stories are held longer for consideration), and sped up at others. My stats seldom match Duotrope average response times these days. So unless you feel you fit squarely in the "average" (if you can figure out what that is), querying based on Duotrope is risky! I enjoy checking in on Duotrope with some markets, though, because it can indicate when a story has passed into a new round of consideration. But it's far from an exact science.

When in doubt, do what James Ritchie advises and work on a new story. Sometimes it's a good idea to give an editor time to work through the slush pile (which can vary widely from month to month in size).

[Jake Barnes]

Thanks, everybody for the great advice.

[Jamesaritchie]

It sounds like you didn't grant this editor or agent any type of exclusive. If that's so, the first thing to do is check the guidelines for submission reply information time -- if any is listed. If they still have time, respect it, and if it were me I'd add 3-4 weeks to the end date. But, of course it's up to you since you may be on the verge of wanting to pull your submission a/s/a/p.

Exclusive sort of happens with short stories, but only in the sense that most magazines don't liek simultaneous submissions. It's not something teh writer grants, it's simply magazine policy. And I believe they're a bad idea, even if the market does say they're fine.

[scope]

James,

I do not know if he's talking about a short story for a magazine or a book. Telling us would I believe elicit more precise suggestions.

[Gray Rose]

James,

I do not know if he's talking about a short story for a magazine or a book. Telling us would I believe elicit more precise suggestions.

Scope,

Please note that the OP posted his question in the Short Fiction forum as opposed to the Novel forum.