Identifying markets

Something I keep hitting up against are the "we like it but it's not what we do" rejections. I've got shedloads of these. On the one hand t's good, because it means it's not my writing that needs to improve to make sales but my market research. On the other hand, I'm really struggling with the market research aspect of it.

Before I submit to a market I always, without fail, buy at least two copies of it. I only submit to markets that I think my stories will fit with. But I still get the "it's not what we do" responses. I'm starting to think that what I'm writing doesn't tend to fit so neatly into the genre pigeonholes.

Does anybody else have this problem? And what do you do to get around it? (And please, nobody just say "find a market that your work is suitable for and submit there." My problem is that I'm having trouble figuring out which markets are appropriate to send my work to.)

Thanks.

I'm going to try and respond to everybody in once post. Apologies if any of my responses seem terse; I'm in the middle of moving house and a little pressed for time (not to mention stressed) right now!

@Stijn Hommes: You're right, that's something I definitely need to do. I don't know why I haven't yet, if I'm honest.

As to how I decide if I think a story fits... I couldn't really tell you. It's a lot easier for me to look at a market and know that a story won't fit than to decide that it'd work well there. Maybe that's an issue with my confidence and faith in my own work, though.

@CACTUSWENDY: I didn't state length because I'm not just subbing one story to all these markets; I've got a few in rotation at the moment. Most lie between 2-5000 words. I'd never submit a story that was outside the length guidelines for the market.

@Polenth, Gray Rose, Izz and veinglory: I've seen plenty of the form "While we enjoyed reading your story, it's not the right fit for our magazine at this time" letters. The ones I'm talking about are more in depth than that, with specific elements of the story that they like picked out and discussed, as well as things they didn't like. I possibly didn't make that clear in the original post, for which I apologise.

I'm having issues with my email account at the moment so I can't get to my rejections folder. The one I have in front of me - the first rejection I ever received, which I printed out and stuck to my wall - reads as follows;

Thanks for submitting your story, Innocence. It's a good, suspenseful read, and
I appreciate that you don't cringe from getting into the head of your killer.

However, we don't think this is a Murky Depths story. It seems more a suspense
tale and a character study of a serial killer.

If you write speculative fiction, please consider submitting to Murky Depths
again.

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Now, in hindsight, I never should have submitted that story to that market. Like I said, this was the first story I'd ever sent out, and market research wasn't something I did; I liked the magazine, I had a good story, I sent it to them, even though it obviously didn't fit. But this is a good example of the kind of detail in the letters I'm getting.

Gray Rose asked me to describe a story that I think is sellable...I'm not sure how valuable an exercise that will be, because describing the story will never get over things like my writing style that the actual execution of the story. If you're willing, though, I'd be more than happy to email you one of the stories I'm subbing at the moment for you to read. If not I completely understand.

@johnnysannie: I'm definitely going to endeavour to read even more of the markets I'm subbing to, beyond the minimum two issues I've been getting. It's a good job short stories are something I really love to read And obviously reading the guidelines before sending everything should go with out saying, but it's always worth repeating.

@defyalllogic: Duotrope is a godsend. I've made heavy use of it, and try to donate as much as possible.

Again, thanks to everybody for taking the time to try and help me. And apologies if I've spelled any names wrong...

It's taken me a while to get back to this...between moving house and working internet access is something I'm not seeing much of at the moment!

I knew the Murky Depths rejection was a bad example. As I said when I posted it; with hindsight, I never should have submitted that story to Murky Depths, because it was completely unsuitable.

It seems I'm getting closer, though. I got a rejection from Shimmer today, which said

Thank you for allowing Shimmer to consider "Second Hand Wings," but
I'm going to pass on this one.

This story almost won me over--and I love the title--but I don't think
you go quite far enough with it. It seems to me there is yet more
story to be told here.

Best of luck with this one, and please do try us again. Would like to
see more from you.

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Clearly not a genre issue, which is a nice change. And, having looked at the story in question, she's right. Reading it through again it seems like more of a vignette rather than a full story, and I can see where I can do a lot more with it. Time for a rewrite methinks!

Gray Rose - I knew I recognised your name (I'm terrible with names!). I'm really looking forward to Stone Telling, especially the Ursula Le Guin poem. Strange Horizons is a market I was unaware of until now, too. Thanks for pointing that one out.

On that note, let's give the story summary a try. I haven't got to subbing stage for this story yet - mainly because I haven't got a title as of yet, because - apart from the above, apparently - I tend to suck at them, but also because the story still needs some rewriting and I haven't identified a market for it.

It's my post-apocalypse story, I guess. A girl falls pregnant, miraculously - she hasn't had any action for a while, you see, so the pregnancy is a bit of a mystery - and when she goes for her first ultrasound everybody is shocked to find that the fetus has wings. The press get wind of it, and the world erupts - major religions are claiming that the baby is a sign from their God, extremist groups are calling for her to be killed. Old tensions come to the boil, and soon the world is fighting itself.

And in and amongst, we have this scared, pregnant girl. She decides to go and have an abortion; at this point she needs a police escort wherever she goes. Word gets out about the abortion, and people picket the hospital, attacking the car she's in. She's then assaulted by the doctor performing the procedure, who attempts to perform a C-section rather than an abortion so that he can sell the fetus for research purposes.

The story is told through found media - press clippings and the like - with the main bulk of it written in her own hand; a letter to an unknown recipient explaining why she decided to do what she did (which was to throw herself off a building after the abortion fiasco). I know that's a hard sell, but it's the way the story worked best. The story ends on a contemplative note, writing the letter atop the building before jumping.

As you can see there are spec elements, and there's some pretty strong horror elements in places, but I really can't think of a market for it. Hopefully this is a decent enough summary for you to get an idea of the story.

Gray Rose said:

Thanks for your kind words! There will be amazing poems in this issue, and not just by Le Guin!

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I don't doubt it! Once I've seen the first issue and I know whether I'm aiming properly you're definitely on my sub list; from your guidelines it sounds like some of my poetry might fit. But obviously, got to see an issue first ;-)

Gray Rose said:

1. Clarkesworld.
2. Strange Horizons.
3. Asimov's (long shot, but you have to rule out your pro markets first).
4. Weird Tales.

Get back to me after you've done these and let me know what happens.

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I wouldn't have thought of any of those (apart from Weird Tales; I got the initial idea from Amanda Ganner, who is their arts & culture editor, so the story has always been linked to the mag in my mind) for that piece. I'll certainly give them a go; it can't hurt!

Noah Body said:

Yeah, sounds like you almost hit the mark with Shimmer, but at the end the decision was that the piece wasn't developed enough. I'd ask for some clarification, if possible, then rewrite and resubmit. Sounds like a very near miss, so you should hit them again.

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It definitely wasn't a rewrite request. I'll be submitting to them again if I write something else that I think will fit, but there's no way I'd send the same story twice unless they specifically asked for it, which they didn't.

Gray Rose said:

The rejection might have come from Beth Wodzinski, but it is more likely it came from one of the Shimmer slush readers.

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The rejection came from E. Catherine Tobler.