[eZine] Tor.com

Sub: 2/23/11
Reply: Still waiting

I knew this would be a long wait time, so I just go about my business and figure I'll hear some day

Well, I just got my email rejection. Not quite a form letter, and somewhat of an apology for the long wait. When I have something better, I'll send it off to them. It's worth the time spent.

Hey, just thought I'd add my own experience to the thread, which was wonderful mind you. I submitted back in November of 2011 a short story of mine that I considered by best work at the time and waited the 9 month (it was a 9 month wait then, might be longer now) before sending a polite query.

They apologized and then I was told how refreshing it was to get a polite query for once instead of people shouting about how ridiculous their wait times were. And I do believe that because of this my work was pushed to the front of the review queue, or at least that's how the message seemed to put it. Anywho, around two weeks later I received a nonstandard rejection letter marking the first time in my career as a writer where I felt truly "uplifted" by a rejection. I was told by the editor what she liked about the story, a brief note on some symbolism, and then I was told that it simply didn't meet the requirements for what they were looking for at the time.

Needless to say, receiving a personal response from a company as large as Tor was a huge spirit heightener for me (whether it should have been taken that way or not) and overall my experience with Tor.com was enjoyable, if a bit anti-climactic. I have recently submitted another work of mine to them, one that I consider to be better than my previous submission, and I will happily wait out the next 9-12 months while awaiting a response and working on further projects.

I thought I'd update - I submitted something recently and recieved an automated receipt email stating that they are trying to keep their waits for responses down to three months. Time will tell.

Yes. The last three times I subbed there the response time was in the 3-4 month range. (The four month was right around a Christmas slowdown.)

Much better than the first time I subbed and it took almost a year to hear back. (But they have three more editors and a slush crew, now, I believe.)

They also said that if it takes more than 9 months to get back to a submitter that they probably don't have the submission, so that might be a worthwhile bit of info for people still waiting.

Yeah, I'm at over 8 months, and that 9 month mark is a lifeline.

New shorter novel imprint?

I've been hearing rumors about this for months, and now it's out in the open. May need to be spun off to its own page, but it can probably stay here for now. I just read this in Publishers Weekly:

[Tor.com is very excited to announce that we will be expanding our original fiction program by way of a brand-new imprint dedicated to publishing novellas, shorter novels, serializations, and any other works of fiction that exceed the traditional novelette length. Tor Books publisher Tom Doherty launched the new imprint in a speech at Book Expo America, which also addressed the implications of DRM and celebrated the connectivity that the publishing community has always relied upon.]

This could be a game-changer for those of us who've been trying to market fiction longer than 17.5K but shorter than the 80K to 100K 'novel' length stuff many of the other SFF publishers are seeking. Granted, I tend to write stupidly large books that have to be hacked in half. But I think that Tor.com is reading a new/old market, here.

Here is a link to the main announcement. I'm still skeptical about contract terms, etc. so I'll leave it to the experts to sound out pros and cons.

A game-changer? Don't know about that - there are a good few SFF publishers about who are e-publishing novellas. I've sold a couple of mine that way.

It's band wagon jumping more than game-changing, I think, and I don't say that in a negative way. The novella's coming back into flavour with e-publishing and I'm all for publishers taking advantage of that.

Filigree said:

I've been hearing rumors about this for months, and now it's out in the open. May need to be spun off to its own page, but it can probably stay here for now. I just read this in Publishers Weekly:

[Tor.com is very excited to announce that we will be expanding our original fiction program by way of a brand-new imprint dedicated to publishing novellas, shorter novels, serializations, and any other works of fiction that exceed the traditional novelette length. Tor Books publisher Tom Doherty launched the new imprint in a speech at Book Expo America, which also addressed the implications of DRM and celebrated the connectivity that the publishing community has always relied upon.]



This could be a game-changer for those of us who've been trying to market fiction longer than 17.5K but shorter than the 80K to 100K 'novel' length stuff many of the other SFF publishers are seeking. Granted, I tend to write stupidly large books that have to be hacked in half. But I think that Tor.com is reading a new/old market, here.

Here is a link to the main announcement. I'm still skeptical about contract terms, etc. so I'll leave it to the experts to sound out pros and cons.

Click to expand...

I started a thread in the SFF forum on this. Think it probably warrants one as it's not short stories or full novels.

OJCade said:

A game-changer? Don't know about that - there are a good few SFF publishers about who are e-publishing novellas. I've sold a couple of mine that way.

It's band wagon jumping more than game-changing, I think, and I don't say that in a negative way. The novella's coming back into flavour with e-publishing and I'm all for publishers taking advantage of that.

Click to expand...

yup. especially high-profile ones.

I knew that Random House jumped in, and that there were a few smaller publishers dealing with novellas. I hope that Tor becomes another strong pro venue.

I emailed for submission guidelines.

There's this bit at the end:

While we are very excited about unsolicited submissions, and have had excellent luck with acquiring unsolicited submissions for Tor.com’s shorter fiction program, please understand that we expect the majority of our catalogue to come from agented submissions.

Sigh. I submitted anyway.

My agent is getting details from them now.

Taran said:

I emailed for submission guidelines.

There's this bit at the end:

While we are very excited about unsolicited submissions, and have had excellent luck with acquiring unsolicited submissions for Tor.com’s shorter fiction program, please understand that we expect the majority of our catalogue to come from agented submissions.

Sigh. I submitted anyway.

Click to expand...

Update -- as of 7-January-2016, Tor.com will no longer accept unsolicited submissions.

Sorry not to post this yesterday. Wasn't caught up on my email (I get their newsletter).

Charlie Jane has a recap over on io9 on their closing as well.

So HURRY. If you've got something that Tor.com accepts, hasten. You've got barely 15 days left to submit your sf/f short fiction!

Best of possible good luck, troops.

(Full disclosure: sometimes I copyedit for Tor.com, so here's to hoping that I get to see your novella there Real Soon.)

az shea said:

(Full disclosure: sometimes I copyedit for Tor.com, so here's to hoping that I get to see your novella there Real Soon.)

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I was under the impression that they were NOT currently accepting novella submissions. Is this not the case?

Tor.com is closing to unsolicited short story subs:

http://www.tor.com/2015/12/21/tor-com-is-closed-to-short-fiction-submissions/

Tor.com is still open to novellas

Last I heard they were sill taken unagented/unsolicited novellas

WendyN said:

I was under the impression that they were NOT currently accepting novella submissions. Is this not the case?

Click to expand...

I didn't know the answer to this, so I'm grateful someone else did.

AW Admin said:

Tor.com is closing to unsolicited short story subs:

http://www.tor.com/2015/12/21/tor-com-is-closed-to-short-fiction-submissions/

Tor.com is still open to novellas

Last I heard they were sill taken unagented/unsolicited novellas

Click to expand...

Thanks for clearing that up, AW!

Tor.com has expanded its publishing program:

tor.com said:

Tor.com is excited to announce that we will be expanding our original fiction program via a new imprint dedicated to publishing novellas, shorter novels, serializations, and any other pieces of fiction that exceed the traditional novelette length (17,499 words).


Each DRM-free title will be available exclusively for purchase, unlike the current fiction that is offered for free on the site, and will have full publisher support behind it. It will have a heavy digital focus but all titles will be available via POD and audio formats. We will also consider traditional print publishing for a select number of titles a year. All titles will be available worldwide.

Click to expand...

Full announcement is here.

I'm writing off for the complete guidelines.

Same info I had, thanks. Thought they had another update.

I'm hearing they're more in the market for "centre-core" science fiction at the moment. But as for submitting, you have to "know" someone on the team to give you an in.

(It's not a diss, honest! But everyone and their uncle has been promised a spot on the site so they're not actively seeking anything new)

Yeah, that's why they're way down my list for submissions, because of the longshot nature of their slushpile.

When I checked with them last fall they said they are always open to agented subs and will have further open submission periods (but no indication of when those might occur).

Hmmm, I need to be careful with my phrasing here. I love Tor. Still plan to sub something to the main branch. But industry scuttlebutt and the experiences of people close to me tend to paint a picture of an essentially closed shop for novellas as well as shorts. Even agents have been reporting some long response times and lost submissions at both branches. The novella group is publishing high quality stuff. But until I see more of how their catalog goes, and how many non agented authors they sign...it seems beyond my reach.