Anyone else submitting to McSweeneys and sites like it?

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RainbowDragon

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I got an encouraging rejection on one piece, still waiting to hear on the follow-up submission (been several months, now :)
 

Q.Rious

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Sweet.

Can you tell us more about how the process worked? You sent it to them, they told you to

a) change it a little
b) change it a lot
c) do a little dance, make a little love, get down tonight
d) mix four rabbit's nails, fairy dust, and a Pabst, and pray to the Gods of McSweeney's?

And, for anyone who's interested, McSweeney's is having a Get Out of Bankruptcy party. Get yer t-shirt now, while it's on sale.
 

RainbowDragon

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No, they rejected that piece but encouraged future submissions--the "you may be good enough to one day be published in our magazine" form rejection I presume...I always follow up on those when I have another piece available...
 

Q.Rious

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OMG OMG the cool kid (Timothy) talked to me the other day. You know, the one who's always ignoring me?

He said I was one teeny tiiny teensy-weensy bit funny, but not funny enough. And, he said he didn't like me in that way, but he might come over and hang out when nobody else was around to see.

It's hard being in love with the cool kid. You just want him to finally take notice and like you.
 

mburbank

They accepted something of mine once, but never ran it, which made me sad. I'm a staff writer at I-mockery.com, a fine e-publication that runs something by me every week. Cracked.com hosts my 'Blog' and have purchased one or two artciles from me. They are worth submitting to, but their needs these days are pretty particular.
 

RGame

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If it's been several months since you sent something to McSweeneys and they haven't responded yet, you're probably not going to get one. They usually get back quick, no more than a couple weeks. I've had at least two pieces that they never responded to. After a couple months, I consider that piece history and send another.
 

DaveyT503

They accepted something of mine once, but never ran it, which made me sad. I'm a staff writer at I-mockery.com, a fine e-publication that runs something by me every week. Cracked.com hosts my 'Blog' and have purchased one or two artciles from me. They are worth submitting to, but their needs these days are pretty particular.

I'm not sure if I'm missing something or if this is just an issue with the website but the submissions page on CRACKED.com won't allow you to submit data. There is no button to press to send over the information and no alternate email listed. I just want to make sure I'm not missing something as I have some work I'd like to send over to them. Any assistance would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Dave
 

DonnaDuck

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Thus far I've submitted a list to the website and a short to the paper publication for McSweeney's. I'm still waiting to hear back from both. I was just at the I-Mockery site not too long ago and they're not accepting outside pieces but I'll have to check out the other sites. Writer's Market doesn't list much for specifically humor and I always feel that the other places that do list humor as a genre for publication, they're too "prestigeous" to publish something funny but list the topic anyway knowing that they'll only get "adademically enabled" pieces of work.
 

WendyNYC

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Stupid question time -- I know there is a printed McSweeney's and an online McSweeney's. I can't find the printed one here (Phoenix, not the smallest burg out there, but also not NY or LA), but may be looking in the wrong places (like bookstores). So this question comes because I haven't been able to take a look at a physical McSweeney's yet.

When you all are submitting to McSweeney's, are you going for online or printed? And, why is or isn't one better than the other? Does the hard copy take longer pieces? Does one have more "cachet" than the other? Is this the humor version of The New Yorker, where the better expectation is that you'll get rejected but at least gave the best the first shot? Have I run over my question limit yet?


I have a subscription to the printed McSweeney's (Quarterly Concern). You can also get individual copies on Amazon if your local bookstore doesn't carry it. I'm submitting to the print version and they do take longer pieces. It's one of my favorite lit mags--I literally rip the plastic cover off the moment it arrives.
 

WendyNYC

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I am giving this thread mouth-to-mouth resucitation to see if there are any other McSweeney's fans out there. Or people who got "in," or people who know of sites JUST LIKE McSweeneys, but not, y'know, McSweeney's.

I am enjoying the links to other sites listed earlier though...


How about Hobart and Barrelhouse? They are not really "just like" McSweeney's, but are sort of McSweeney-esque.
 

RGame

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I don't think anyone mentioned TheMorningNews.org yet. They're not really a humor site, but they feature it a lot and have a section called Spoofs and Satires. And they get back to you in a day or two.
 
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KingOblivionPhD

If anyone's interested, I and a friend run a humor site called The International Society of Supervillains and we accept submissions. We got started earlier this year and are gaining some momentum. We're currently just above The Phat Phree in our Alexa ranking.

I think our humor style is kind of in between McSweeneys and CRACKED (I'm a former CRACKED guy myself). A look at our site can give you a little better idea, though. Anyway, anyone who's interested can send submissions of less than 1,000 words inline in an email to [email protected]. Also send a supervillain pseudonym (we'll put your real name at the end if you want).

We can't pay you (our Google ads barely cover our costs), but it's a lot of fun, and it's some exposure.
 

JeanneTGC

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RGame

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Thanks, Jeanne. It's late, but congratulations on getting an agent. I haven't been around much lately and only recently found out about you writing a book every month. I can't even wrap my mind around that. It's taken me over an hour just to write this post.
 

CaptainCanard

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Ralph,

I just read the piece at McSweeney's this morning and thought it was very funny. It's the type of piece I wish I had written.

Jeanne,

I'm late with the congratulations, too, concerning your writing success. So, as one fellow FLYMF (RIP) writer to another, congratulations.

Dan
 

CaptainCanard

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TrainofThought

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I'm resurrecting this ancient thread to announce I finally received an acceptance from McSweeney's - http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2010/6/14burt.html.

I guess I'm a horn tooter like Ralph (I still have a ways to catch up with him on McSweeney's though).

Another site I've had luck with lately is Sillymess:

http://sillymess.com/?p=592
http://sillymess.com/?p=711
Congrats on McSweeney's and sillymess. Nothing wrong with a tooter as long as you're not doing it around me. ;)

As a writer, you're supposed to get as many people as possible to read your works. Word of mouth is a big deal with writers, it's part of the survival manual.
 

RGame

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I'm resurrecting this ancient thread to announce I finally received an acceptance from McSweeney's - http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2010/6/14burt.html.

I guess I'm a horn tooter like Ralph (I still have a ways to catch up with him on McSweeney's though).

Another site I've had luck with lately is Sillymess:

http://sillymess.com/?p=592
http://sillymess.com/?p=711

Congratulations on the McSweeneys piece, Dan. I remember reading the Howling Baby Journal piece a little while ago.

I haven't been to this forum in so long. Kind of surprised to see this thread back after years. Years. That's how fascinating the stuff I write is. It sticks around for years.
 

shortstoryteller

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I've been submitting to two blogs: "The Fine Writings of Lunatics" (a comedy short story blog, which is similar to McSweeney's) and "(Short) Fiction Collective" (a more blog for more serious stories).
 

RGame

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This thread is still going?
 

Lavern08

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This thread is still going?

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