Angry Robot 2017 Open Door

I haven't submitted anything in years. (Nor have I posted to these forums.) But I just today (12/14) sent Angry Robot my best SF novel. Might as well play the publishing lottery one more time...

Howdy peeps. I shall throw my hat into the ring with a WTF I submitted on the 16th of November. Good luck everyone!

I really wanted to submit, but my MS still needs polishing. Could I submit the same MS this year, and if it gets rejected, a better version next year too?

phantasy said:

I really wanted to submit, but my MS still needs polishing. Could I submit the same MS this year, and if it gets rejected, a better version next year too?

Click to expand...

Probably not. That's generally frowned upon.

phantasy said:

I really wanted to submit, but my MS still needs polishing. Could I submit the same MS this year, and if it gets rejected, a better version next year too?

Click to expand...

Afraid not. You would need to choose this year or possibly next year if they run open submissions again - sometimes they skip a year. I'd recommend polishing it as much as you can before submitting since it really has to be strong to get picked up. You've spent so much effort writing it it seems to shame to rush things at the last minute when it is not yet as good as you can make it, and while waiting for the next open submission period you could try and land an agent.

My book isn't finished, yet. Noooo.....

phantasy said:

I really wanted to submit, but my MS still needs polishing. Could I submit the same MS this year, and if it gets rejected, a better version next year too?

Click to expand...

Their FAQ for this year explicitly says NO to that. I don't know if they use the same rules every time they do it - but this year at least they said anything previously submitted is an automatic rejection (even if substantially re-written).

I admit I am in the same boat as you but I will be submitting mine (I asked about future open doors on the comments section of the submission page and they said they don't know if or when they will hold another one so if I am interested I should go ahead and submit).

The odds at first blush are 1/500 or thereabouts. Another year of polishing makes the manuscript better, but the odds will still be 1/500.

There will be other options in a year, too.

My manuscript will never be completely polished, but I'm popping it in on the deadline, even though it won't be 'as good as it can be.'

I am looking forward to rejection, so I can get on with the business. Having said that, I know I wrote something good. It's not done, but it's exactly right.

Patty said:

The odds at first blush are 1/500 or thereabouts. Another year of polishing makes the manuscript better, but the odds will still be 1/500.

There will be other options in a year, too.

My manuscript will never be completely polished, but I'm popping it in on the deadline, even though it won't be 'as good as it can be.'

I am looking forward to rejection, so I can get on with the business. Having said that, I know I wrote something good. It's not done, but it's exactly right.

Click to expand...

1/500 would be the odds if it was an entirely random process and the editors were only acquiring one manuscript from 500 submitted.

Ha! yes, excellent point. Isn't math (and statistics) fantastic?

I would be thrilled to be in the top 10 percentile, but this year or next I doubt I will be in the top 0.2 percentile. (1/500) no matter how polished. If my bones are good, that's worth something, the polish may be something akin to a pipe dream.

Every endeavor has an element that is beyond our control. That's part of the really cool inter-relational quality of the human experience.

The value to me personally - - to submitting this year - -is getting it right, not worrying about the judgment. And moving on.

Everyone that is considering it has to do their own calculus.

Submitted under WTF, 17 Dec 2017.

And.... trunked.

kaysa said:

Probably not. That's generally frowned upon.

Click to expand...

CameronJohnston said:

Afraid not. You would need to choose this year or possibly next year if they run open submissions again - sometimes they skip a year. I'd recommend polishing it as much as you can before submitting since it really has to be strong to get picked up. You've spent so much effort writing it it seems to shame to rush things at the last minute when it is not yet as good as you can make it, and while waiting for the next open submission period you could try and land an agent.

Click to expand...

crystalizing said:

Their FAQ for this year explicitly says NO to that. I don't know if they use the same rules every time they do it - but this year at least they said anything previously submitted is an automatic rejection (even if substantially re-written).

I admit I am in the same boat as you but I will be submitting mine (I asked about future open doors on the comments section of the submission page and they said they don't know if or when they will hold another one so if I am interested I should go ahead and submit).

Click to expand...

Thanks for the replies, all! Looks like I'm holding on for another year!

My Fantasy submission went in on the 15th. To celebrate I got myself an early chrimbo prezzie of Scrivener 3 and pasted my word submission back into it to have a play around. Sound plan... but I've discovered half a dozen weird typos in Scriv 3 that word is ignoring (mac 365 and Windows 2016) and I've also not picked up on them in editing with missing a squiggle. Sooo anyone yet to submit - check it again is the lesson =P. I've resubmitted again and feel happier (despite my numptiness) so time will tell on that.

Wait, you can resubmit? I found a typo, but I wasn't sure of or how we could do thay.

afaik you can re-upload through the same online system and they will delete the older version (so Marc says in comments).

I'm gonna be submitting here by the end of this week, just doing a few housekeeping things before I upload.

I know it isn't as perfect as I would like but I just submitted my WTF.

Alright, my hat is finally in the ring! Submitted my science fiction today (Dec 21). Maybe I'll get some solstice magic!

Really fretting my synopsis here for this contest, it's stopped my from submitting all week.

EDIT: Good luck on all the submissions this week.