Rejectomancy

I've only checked once, so I don't know how common it is, but I was really loving a story once and it seemed reeeeally long, so I looked and it was 3500.

DSF used to publish longer stories on Friday (and possibly Thursday?). They changed a while back because they found people preferred the shorter stories, I think. I imagine they had a whole bunch of longer ones already bought they had to use up though.

shortstorymachinist said:

I know that feeling, I have a 'what is this' piece, rejected by Liminal and The Dark so far, I'm not sure where else to send it. It seems so blatantly wrong for the typical F/SF places.

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You still perhaps should - don't talk it out of a market, let them decide! You just never know...

Rejection from the B00k Smugg1ers 'Year of the Superhero' event.

Alma Matters said:

You still perhaps should - don't talk it out of a market, let them decide! You just never know...

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Oh definitely, I'll make sure it gets rejected by all the usual suspects before I trunk it. Shimmer and Triptych today, people have been fast lately.

10 day rejection from @pex yesterday. Out at $himm3r.

*head to desk* Darn it. My first typo in a cover letter. "The attached a 7100-word short story." Durr hurr. I no speak English good. The attached a short story. You like, please buy.

ETA: First typo that I'm aware of. *eyes previous cover letters*

shortstorymachinist said:

*head to desk* Darn it. My first typo in a cover letter. "The attached a 7100-word short story." Durr hurr. I no speak English good. The attached a short story. You like, please buy.

ETA: First typo that I'm aware of. *eyes previous cover letters*

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I feel your pain. Last week I noticed I wrote "He lives on [name of the city]." On. Like, I live in the sky above the city? Hope whoever reads these typos at least has a good laugh.

Rejections from F&SF and Strange Horizons this week. Was nearing 90 days for SH and hoping for a personal rejection but form for both.

As long as they're not typos that spell-check would have caught. I think people are a lot more likely to be forgiving of misplaced words.

32-day R from F4nt4stic St0ri3s. First rejection letter ever, so yay, I guess? I did make it past the first readers, so -- never having subbed a story anywhere before -- I'm happy about that.

That's a really good sign, rseldon! Keep sending it out, you'll find a place for it.

shortstorymachinist said:

*head to desk* Darn it. My first typo in a cover letter. "The attached a 7100-word short story." Durr hurr. I no speak English good. The attached a short story. You like, please buy.

ETA: First typo that I'm aware of. *eyes previous cover letters*

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LOL, you should write that exact cover letter on purpose. Sure to grab the editor's attention.

JJ Litke said:

That's a really good sign, rseldon! Keep sending it out, you'll find a place for it.

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Thanks. I'm cautiously hopeful.

26 day R from Escape Pod. I sent the story straight out to Plasma Frequency. I did well there last time I submitted something.

5 day R from $himm3r.

I see SH are limiting their submissions to an allotted daily quota.

Alma Matters said:

5 day R from $himm3r.

I see SH are limiting their submissions to an allotted daily quota.

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I tried to submit something there the other day at about 3 in the morning, New York time. The quota was already filled for the day!

This isn't a rejection (yet lol), but I've had a story at Tin House since about April 2015. I know the acceptance rate there is like .00002%, but I can hope!

Anyway, my latest rejection came from F&SF.

First time I receive a rejection starting with, "It is with great reservation that I send you this message declining your work".

Michael, you should query and see if your story is still being considered. They take a long time, but it looks like they also have enough of a non-response rate that it's worth checking.

Just got an R from @pex, and now I'm thinking about switching back to the original ending. The new ending is more literary, but I like the cheesy original ending better. I should go with that.

14 day R from Grievous Angel. I got it about 4am and I think the editor was either up too late or up too early. Here's a quote.
"Many thanks for your submission but I’m afraid it has to be a no from me this time (we don’t like cats - no… just joking) however please do send in more of your work at a later date."
I think that qualifies as personal lol. I sent the story to F&SF. I know Finlay likes cats lol.

(I mentioned I have a cat in the author bio.)

Just got rejected from Chappyfiction's Time Travel Anthology, and that takes the wind out of my sails. I just crossed the line of 60 straight rejections and no sales. I think many of my stories are getting near that point where they need to be trunked.

51 day R from Jouth. I had to jostle his elbow a bit to get it, but he did reply within a couple of days of my query after the end of his 6 week estimate.

16 day from Asimov's

DetectiveFork said:

Just got rejected from Chappyfiction's Time Travel Anthology, and that takes the wind out of my sails. I just crossed the line of 60 straight rejections and no sales. I think many of my stories are getting near that point where they need to be trunked.

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Is that all for one short? Even if not, that's some serious fortitude.