Middling It

I simultaneously submit stories when allowed. It just takes too long to here back from most of them not to. However, I did one story very fitting for one publication that I decided to wait and see what they think even though they allow simultaneous submissions. If it gets rejected, I will wish I sent it other places as well. Unless a publication has a very fast response time, I think it is silly and a little unfair not to allow simultaneous submissions.

I never sim sub.

I have enough trouble coping with one place/one story, without complicating it even more.

Also I do spec fic, and a lot of those markets don't allow it, so that would just make it even more complicated.

Literateparakeet said:

Thanks Alex. I did wait the time they said on the website, but now that I read your advice, next time I will wait a little longer...but 90 days, yikes!

I didn't sim sub this because their response time is so fast or so I thought. Do you (all of you) sim sub your stories?

I'm really crossing my fingers for you about Penumbra. I think their covers look so cool. Haven't had an opportunity to read it yet.

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Thanks! Penumbra is a very nice market, and I keep getting passed up to the second round there (though Ive yet to actually sell a story to them) so I'm definitely excited to keep submitting there.

As to sim sub, most Speculative Fiction markets don't allow it, and I rarely take advantage of the opportunity to do so even with the ones that do. (I think I sim-subbed 2 or 3 times, ever.) Fortunately spec markets also reply super fast (most under 2 months) so you really don't have to go the sim-sub route. I don't even bother submitting to places that take a year+ like TOR.com

Thanks everyone. I write mainstream/literary. I love fantasy, but I can't seem to write it for anything. I have tried!

Alex, my fingers are crossed and let's see what else can I do to help...lucky rabbit's foot? Ewww, nevermind. Lucky pencil eraser? That sounds better.

About TOR, yeah I saw a story on duotrope that was rejected after 400 or so days. I couldn't believe it. They need some more sluch readers or something. Geez!

My tiny brain can't be bothered to figure out which markets sim-sub or not (and then actually sub a piece to two places at once) so I just take it one market at a time.

Thanks Sai.

Following up...I got an nice email from Washington Pastime the day after I queried. They said thanks for contacting them and they had gotten my story, but it got "caught in the undertow. They would look at it that day. One hour later...R...but it was a personal one.

I made some changes to the story based on the comments in the R, and sent it out again. Sim sub this time! (only to markets that said sim sub is ok.)

Literateparakeet said:

Thanks Sai.

Following up...I got an nice email from Washington Pastime the day after I queried. They said thanks for contacting them and they had gotten my story, but it got "caught in the undertow. They would look at it that day. One hour later...R...but it was a personal one.

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Washington Pastime's so-called "personal" rejections are actually form. We've all received something along the lines of "prose is uneven" or "needs smoothing out".

defcon6000 said:

Washington Pastime's so-called "personal" rejections are actually form. We've all received something along the lines of "prose is uneven" or "needs smoothing out".

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Ah, thank you! I wondered about that. She said the beginning was slow. That seemed odd to me since the MC is planning suicide and that is in the second line. Should I put the knife in her hand LOL And yeah, that the prose needed 'fine tuning.'

I received a note from Nature today letting me know that Dr. Gee is out of the office for a few weeks and the responses are delayed. The story has already been there for over a month, so I hope he gets back soon Also hope it's a vacation and not some unfortunate reason to be away from the office.

alexshvartsman said:

I received a note from Nature today letting me know that Dr. Gee is out of the office for a few weeks and the responses are delayed. The story has already been there for over a month, so I hope he gets back soon Also hope it's a vacation and not some unfortunate reason to be away from the office.

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Ah, so you're one of the other two people with a Duotrope entry for a story sitting over there.

mhaynes said:

Ah, so you're one of the other two people with a Duotrope entry for a story sitting over there.

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38 days and counting! You got their e-mail about Dr. Gee being out of the office for a few weeks, right?

I wonder what the 2-day rejection someone reported recently was all about.

alexshvartsman said:

38 days and counting! You got their e-mail about Dr. Gee being out of the office for a few weeks, right?

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No. I had figured you had queried or something...

I wonder what the 2-day rejection someone reported recently was all about.

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Yeah, I saw that and wondered the same. Could be just about anything, though.

I finally have a story that turned from "received" to "in-progress." I find it so exciting to know that an editor is reading my story tonight. How long does it usually take for an "in progress" status to turn into an answer?

It depends on the magazine. Some magazines will keep a story "in progress" for weeks, so it might not mean much.

mhaynes said:

No. I had figured you had queried or something...

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Nope, they sent me an e-mail saying that responses are being delayed, twice in a period of a few days, about a week ago.

Maybe they only sent that to subs that are older than 30 days.

Anyone know if there's usually an autoreply at Orson Scott Card's IGMS?

I never got one, and I reread the submissions email they send you and the "do not modify the subject line of this email when replying" line stood out, as I think my client added "RE:" automatically and I'm wondering if that meant my submission got nixed unopened.

J.W. Alden said:

Anyone know if there's usually an autoreply at Orson Scott Card's IGMS?

I never got one, and I reread the submissions email they send you and the "do not modify the subject line of this email when replying" line stood out, as I think my client added "RE:" automatically and I'm wondering if that meant my submission got nixed unopened.

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No, there is no autoreply.

My client has always added RE: to the subject line as well, and it has never been a problem.

J.W. Alden said:

Anyone know if there's usually an autoreply at Orson Scott Card's IGMS?

I never got one, and I reread the submissions email they send you and the "do not modify the subject line of this email when replying" line stood out, as I think my client added "RE:" automatically and I'm wondering if that meant my submission got nixed unopened.

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No autoreply. Expect 30-35 wait to be read and potentially a much longer wait if you make it past the initial reading.

alexshvartsman said:

Nope, they sent me an e-mail saying that responses are being delayed, twice in a period of a few days, about a week ago.

Maybe they only sent that to subs that are older than 30 days.

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I'm at 42 days currently.

I know they got the story, because I received an initial "I got your story and will review it soon" email from Dr. Gee. I'll just wait and see what happens.

Thanks, guys.

Project Deadlight said:

So... Washington Pastime have a story of mine under review. I no longer know if this is such a good thing after recent debates on this forum. Especially as I subbed under the impression they have a decent pay rate. Hmmm...

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Good luck! Do keep us posted.

I'm planning to submit there again. One of us has to get in there and give everyone the scoop, you know?!

Hopefully, this is a prelude to Braggage... I received a note today letting me know that my current Shimmer submission was being passed along to the full editorial board. I don't know how often this happens, but it's the first time one of my stories has made it to that level there.