The One That Won't Sell

The first short I ever wrote, that I thought was pretty good at the time (it sucked), didn't do squat, nor should it have. It did, however, turn into parts of three other shorts I wrote, two of which sold. So there's always that possibility. Even if you only borrow a sentence or a phrase, it can be valuable.

I'm curious, do you have the short stories you haven't sold available for reading? (Perhaps this is a ridiculous question given the fact that most magazines/anthologies won't consider works even if they've been hosted on a personal website/blog.) I've never considered the idea of selling or not showing the short story, as I'd much rather get the story out there than let it languish in my head if a few editors don't dig it.

I've got two categories of unsold stories: Ones I like that haven't sold (yet) and disappointments I don't like and think I shouldn't sell.

For the first category I keep scouring markets, looking for new opportunities. And also revise the stories if I see ways to strengthen them. The second category I try to learn from so I don't repeat my mistakes: What the heck was I thinking? I like the idea there might be bits and pieces of those I can eventually use somewhere else. Fortunately, most of my unsolds are in the first category. Hope is alive.

Good luck!

Speaking of looking for those new opportunities - congrats on Murder in Malibu getting published!

p.s.w. gear said:

Speaking of looking for those new opportunities - congrats on Murder in Malibu getting published!

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Thank you, I celebrated the entire day I got the WW acceptance!

Maybe you should take some of the elements and put it into a new story. That way, you get to keep the idea you love and start something new.

I have this problem with all of 'em.

caw

revise, rewrite, or try submitting to different markets.

Super_Duper said:

revise, rewrite, or try submitting to different markets.

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Took the words right out of my mouth. Or off my keyboard, in this case.

I had a short story that no one seemed to like. A few tweaks later and it found a good home. Other shorts have become parts of longer stories. Some I just borrow a paragraph or two that I particularly like. I never delete my work, even if it's been dead for over a decade.

How many magazines or journals did you try before calling these stories as the ones that won't sell?

I've quit soon on some and than have others that have been rejected more than 20 times and that are still going. Sometimes I wonder if it would make any difference if I put everything out there on submissions. So, I was going to give it a go, but ended up making major revisions on each piece before I felt good about them again. I didn't get through all my stories, but I did put a few more out there after giving them a fresh coat of paint.

Or lower your standards. Seems like there's plenty of smaller, more obscure online literary mags that will take darn near anything.

Super_Duper said:

Or lower your standards. Seems like there's plenty of smaller, more obscure online literary mags that will take darn near anything.

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Why would anyone want to publish at a place with such low standards? I sure wouldn't. I've not submitted to places after reading an issue because the writing was such poor quality. That's not the kind of place I want to publish. In fact, I think I would feel embarrassed to have my work in a place like that. It certainly doesn't seem like much of an accomplishment.

My own experience is that just about every story will find a home if you are persistent. One of mine, as an example, I sent to well over a hundred journals and mags before I got a hit. And much of the time until then, I was getting notes that said the story made it to the final cut, or that it was close but not quite right. Many from pretty big lit journals.

The editor who ended up taking it, a small magazine, made huge edits -- from 27 pages cut down to 20. But by then I had been through the thing so many times, and had written so many different drafts, that I would NEVER have seen, or been able to make, those edits on my own. I was completely "story blind."

I have been a lurker here for many years (but just joined). In that time, I have found that people often give up after about 20-30 submissions of a story. But, again, in my experience, that is just warming up. I have had some stories take way over a hundred subs to find some love, whereas others to get picked up in a handful of tries. There seems to be little rhyme or reason. At least none that I can pick out.

gettingby said:

Why would anyone want to publish at a place with such low standards? I sure wouldn't. I've not submitted to places after reading an issue because the writing was such poor quality. That's not the kind of place I want to publish. In fact, I think I would feel embarrassed to have my work in a place like that. It certainly doesn't seem like much of an accomplishment.

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Didn't say the market has low standards, but rather the writer should lower their standards. Aim lower. Try one that does not pay, or only offers token payment, for example.

Super_Duper said:

Didn't say the market has low standards, but rather the writer should lower their standards. Aim lower. Try one that does not pay, or only offers token payment, for example.

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Personally, I just don't really see a point in lowering my standards. Some people really want to publish just to publish. That's not for me. I want to me good enough to publish in places I love to read and have a lot of respect for. Rather than lowing my standards for where I want to publish, I want to elevate my writing to the level they look for in work they accept.

Super_Duper said:

Or lower your standards. Seems like there's plenty of smaller, more obscure online literary mags that will take darn near anything.

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I don't particularly want my writing associated with a place "that will take darn near anything." What kind of achievement is that?

caw

blacbird said:

I don't particularly want my writing associated with a place "that will take darn near anything." What kind of achievement is that?

caw

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It's really a question of what you want. If you write so that people can read your things, publishing in a magazine which has writing you don't love: well, it still gets your story out to people (and is a wider audience you probably hadn't reached before). If you write so that people will look at where you're publishing and think: My my, very impressive. Well, then that isn't going to help.

And it's not like anyone ever looked at a good piece of writing and then looked down on the author because they had published a story in a crappy place. I think some people are a little too precious about this.

I say: if the story is in need of revision, then keep revising it. If the story is done, then send it everywhere, and accept publication at "worse" places. You are in no way damaged, as a writer, and you may find an unexpected benefit.

Getting something accepted for publication in a publication that "publishes everything" is an achievement like high-jumping over a curbstone. Whoopee, look what I done!

caw

blacbird said:

Getting something accepted for publication in a publication that "publishes everything" is an achievement like high-jumping over a curbstone. Whoopee, look what I done!

caw

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The problem with this is it assumes the cream will always find its way to the top.

In my experience this is not true.

For a time I was sending my stories to about 20 journals at a time. One of these stories was rejected by many low-end, no-name journals. Then, magically, this same story -- evidently not good enough to find a home in these low-curbstone journals -- was accepted by one of the very top lit mags. Same story, no changes. No real reason other than luck.

Check out the short story thread entitled, Writing a Gripping First Line. There are some great success stories posted there, revolving around changing the opening sentence of stories that don't sell.