Analog Magazine

CharlyT · Aug 10, 2015

Has anyone else been submitting to Analog recently and experiencing what I am?

Back in April I submitted a short story (and another one in May). On the Submissions Guidelines page it says that they typically respond within 2-3 months, and to query after four months if there hasn't been a response. Since my short has been languishing with an "Open" status according to the submission for more than four months now, I tried emailing a query to the address shown for that purpose on the guidelines page. The emails are getting instant failures. I've also tried several variations of the address in the vain hope that there may have been an error in the spelling of the posted address, to no avail.

Myrealana · Aug 10, 2015

I haven't tried emailing them back, but I have a story that's been sitting in Open status since 16 June.

Introversion · Aug 10, 2015

I just submitted something to them yesterday. Not expecting a quick answer.

FWIW, the Submission Grinder has been showing a pretty consistent 120-140 days response-rate lately on stuff they're rejecting.

Some markets are just slow. Tor just took 8 months to reject one of mine. :tongue

CharlyT · Aug 13, 2015

I forwarded the delivery failure message I was getting to their IT person. She didn't say whether they'd be fixing the problem or not, but she did suggest I send my query to her. I sent it, and the response was that they are just getting to the March submissions now.
That means their response time is running closer to 6mos rather than the 2-3mos stated on their website.

Are they really that much more popular a market than Asimov's? I got a rejection (a different story) from Asimov's after a few days.

Adam Israel · Aug 15, 2015

Response time has no consistent bearing on popularity, unfortunately. Sometimes the editor employs slush readers. Sometimes, the editor is just a really fast reader, or not busy, et al.

zanzjan · Aug 15, 2015

FWIW, it's generally a good idea to look at actual stats on a market (Duotrope and the Submission Grinder are two good market statistics trackers) before getting too worried about a sub, especially in August when markets all tend to slow down. Same for December.

(ETA: also, unless a market explicitly states otherwise in their sub guidelines, it's generally considered Very Bad Form to submit more than one story at a time to a single market.)

Introversion · Aug 16, 2015

CharlyT said:
Are they really that much more popular a market than Asimov's? I got a rejection (a different story) from Asimov's after a few days.

Ditto the suggestion to check Duotrope (behind a paywall though) or The Submission Grinder (free). The latter suggests 4+ months is normal for Analog.

I don't think its popularity so much as how aggressive a market is at pruning their incoming stream of slush. Asimov's has gotten aggressive about it. Clarkesworld apparently always has been. Some markets just take a long time to apply even the first-level slush filters, Tor.com and Analog among them.

CharlyT · Sep 29, 2015

This is a bit of a late response, but...

Thanks to the suggestions here, I checked out Submission Grinder. I didn't really look that hard at it except for Searching up whichever market I was about to submit to until this past Friday. Geez LOUISE, I wish I'd known about this much sooner! I love it and will be donating. Any suggestions on what an acceptable donation is? I need to be careful with my $$, but I don't want to be a cheapskate either.

thekingsguard · Oct 15, 2015

Analog is one of the most high profile sci-fi markets there is. A wait is normal I wager - and worth it.

Introversion · Oct 16, 2015

thekingsguard said:
Analog is one of the most high profile sci-fi markets there is. A wait is normal I wager - and worth it.

Perhaps. Tor.com is notoriously slow as well, but they pay far better so that's understandable.

OTOH, Asimov's is another high-profile SF market, and they're much, much faster to respond than Analog.

Aggy B. · Oct 16, 2015

Introversion said:
Perhaps. Tor.com is notoriously slow as well, but they pay far better so that's understandable.

OTOH, Asimov's is another high-profile SF market, and they're much, much faster to respond than Analog.

One of them is essentially an SF only market, while other will consider things that are speculative/fantasy based. (I can never remember which without checking the guidelines.)

There are only a handful of propaying markets. The options are either try smaller markets (with smaller pay) in order to get a faster response or wait it out. For those that are seeking SFWA membership going for pro markets is a must.

Personally, I prefer to start at the top, even if it means a longer wait.

Introversion · Oct 16, 2015

Aggy B. said:
One of them is essentially an SF only market, while other will consider things that are speculative/fantasy based. (I can never remember which without checking the guidelines.)

One would think the markets accepting a broader category might take longer to respond, just going by volume?

Asimov's will accept "borderline fantasy", but they clearly angle for SF submissions.

Analog's guidelines seem pretty clear: They want SF, full stop.

Whatever the reasons, Asimov's tends to at least reject faster -- wouldn't know how long they take to accept, not having sold anything to them yet.

Aggy B. said:
There are only a handful of propaying markets. The options are either try smaller markets (with smaller pay) in order to get a faster response or wait it out. For those that are seeking SFWA membership going for pro markets is a must.

Personally, I prefer to start at the top, even if it means a longer wait.

All three I mentioned are pro-paying, SFWA markets, so I tend to aim first at the market I think is more apt to like what I'm submitting.

Analog Magazine

CharlyT

Myrealana

I aim to misbehave

Introversion

Pie aren't squared, pie are round!

CharlyT

Adam Israel

Formerly known as StoneTable

zanzjan

killin' all teh werds

Introversion

Pie aren't squared, pie are round!

CharlyT

thekingsguard

Soldier, Scholar, Writer, WebVoyeur

Introversion

Pie aren't squared, pie are round!

Aggy B.

Not as sweet as you think

Introversion

Pie aren't squared, pie are round!