Rejectomancy - Page 103

KitCat · 01-22-2012, 12:17 PM

Crickets were interrupted tonight by mail! Again the wrong kind

R from Shock Totem

ohthatmomagain · 01-22-2012, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexshvartsman

My personal R from them kind of felt the same way. I'm guessing they're sending the criticism rather than the praise, to help us improve the stories perhaps?

Hugs for all the Rs, people. It's been quiet for me in the last couple of days, which is just as well since the conundrum on my blog has been sucking up some of my writing energy this weekend.

Alex, I've never read your blog before, but got curious after reading this. Wow... is all I have to say lol. I mean, really, how DARE you have a different opinion, write about it on your blog in a very nice manner btw (no hate in your post), and then spout falsehoods about an essay that 'obviously' was made of gold. You rock, sir

BTW (to keep this relevent in this thread) no R's today. I kinda wish some of mine would move from slush/recieved to you know, read, sometime soon lol. *patience*

ohthatmomagain · 01-22-2012, 05:24 PM

General question for all: What markets do you sub in? Do you stick with paying? Or do you shake it up and just sub to anywhere that you think would accept your story?

OtterFactory · 01-22-2012, 05:54 PM

Alex, you have my sympathies. What a psychopath! I'm tempted to change my user name to FJCohort. Also, you mentioned Anatoly Belilovsky somewhere recently-- tell him I'm a big fan of his "Chresthomathy" story! So cool that you know him.

Momagain: I start with high-tier markets that pay well, and work my way down. Of course, I'm quite new to this and am STILL waiting for those high-tier rejections, so I can't try other markets as yet, but I plan to!

alexshvartsman · 01-22-2012, 06:05 PM

Thanks, ohthatmomagain and OtterFactory.

Anatoly hangs out on here sometimes. You can also follow him on Twitter @loldoc

As to the subs question--personally I don't sub to 4-the-luv markets. It's not that I need the money to buy that extra cup of coffee, selling short fiction at $0.01 per word; it's the principle of the thing. Time and effort and a lot of love goes into the stories we write, and someone running a 'zine should acknowledge that with a payment, even if it's a very small amount.

If you're confident in your work you should indeed start out at the top (pro-paying, well-known markets) and work your way down. Never submit any place where you'd be embarrassed to see your name appear, and you'll be fine

Aggy B. · 01-22-2012, 06:27 PM

@Momagain: I always sub to markets that pay. Sometimes it's a market that pays a token amount (like Every Day Fiction). Sometimes it's a pro-paying market (like Daily Science Fiction/Strange Horizons). But they always pay something.

(I take that back. I will send Twitter fic to markets that don't pay because A) there's only one or two that offer payment and B) most of my Twitter stories are written in under a minute so I can handle trading exposure for publication.)

Which market I sub to depends a little on the story. Some I feel are clearly worth more. Others are either older or perhaps just not as strong or as widely appealing. But you should be paid for your work. Even if it's a very small financial nod. Because writing is work and no one should work for free.

ohthatmomagain · 01-22-2012, 06:32 PM

I start with paying too, then work down. Aggy, I LOVE twitter fiction. I write one (and sub) every week. I think I spend more time on twitter fiction/flash fiction than I do the novel (probably because they are new and different)

My first sub was to a paying site. Then I read more about their site, and well... lets say I was glad it was rejected lol.

JenWriter · 01-22-2012, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ohthatmomagain

General question for all: What markets do you sub in? Do you stick with paying? Or do you shake it up and just sub to anywhere that you think would accept your story?

So far I've only subbed to paying markets.

loldoc · 01-22-2012, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexshvartsman

Thanks, ohthatmomagain and OtterFactory.

Anatoly hangs out on here sometimes. You can also follow him on Twitter @loldoc

As to the subs question--personally I don't sub to 4-the-luv markets. It's not that I need the money to buy that extra cup of coffee, selling short fiction at $0.01 per word; it's the principle of the thing. Time and effort and a lot of love goes into the stories we write, and someone running a 'zine should acknowledge that with a payment, even if it's a very small amount.

If you're confident in your work you should indeed start out at the top (pro-paying, well-known markets) and work your way down. Never submit any place where you'd be embarrassed to see your name appear, and you'll be fine

I haz a fan! Great! This brings fan count to... four. Maybe five. No, four. More precious do we hold that which we haven't in surfeit. Thank you!

Is there cricketomancy? Right now I own longest pending times on at least four submissions according to Duotrope.

As far as paying markets - it's the principle. When a published/editor says, "I want to spend money on your story rather than on... [insert cheap thrill here]" - it's a validation of what you are doing, right?

OtterFactory · 01-22-2012, 07:03 PM

Hello! I was browsing Ideomancer a couple months back, and stumbled on "Chrestomathy," and it's stayed with me sever since-- such an awesome concept, and I found it very inspiring! So when Alex dropped your name I was like "CHRESTOMATHY!!"

/off-topic

Project Deadlight · 01-22-2012, 07:21 PM

Gosh Alex, that guy sounds rather unstable. :/

mhaynes · 01-22-2012, 09:59 PM

Like others have said, I start with top-paying markets and work my way down. With as many stories as I have circulating right now, though, I'm not trying to necessarily hit all the big markets with each story (unless it's one I'm really confident in). Probably the most apt description is that I send a story off to the top-paying market where I don't already have a story on submission.

There are a few exceptions even to this. I tend to avoid markets that take more than three months to respond. (Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine is the main exception to that rule.)

And there's the Twitter-fiction exception Aggy mentioned, though even there I'm going to send it to the paying markets first. You just run out of them really fast.

I might make an exception for mystery stories that I've written since there are so darn few paying markets. On the other hand, I might also just hang onto them in case there's a big surge of new semi-pro/token mystery markets in upcoming years.

For a spec-fic story, I should be able to send it out at least 10-20 times before running out of paying markets that I'd want to sub to. I figure if I pile up that many R's for a story, maybe it's a sign.

Lillie · 01-22-2012, 10:12 PM

I don't like the idea of giving a story away.
I haven't yet. I might in the future, but really I could put it up on my blog, couldn't I?

I'd sub to somewhere that paid a couple of dollars, or even just one single dollar. But just giving it away for free would piss me off a bit.

If it's not worth paying for, then maybe it's not worth publishing.
And if it is worth publishing, then shouldn't I get something for it?

I do top down, usually.
None of my stories have got to the point where there are no more paying markets to send them to. Ask me again when that happens. I might have changed my mind.

Marzioli · 01-23-2012, 12:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loldoc

Is there cricketomancy? Right now I own longest pending times on at least four submissions according to Duotrope.

How can you find this kind of information out at Duotrope? Is it just the Max Days number, or is this a special bit of information?

Aggy B. · 01-23-2012, 12:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marzioli

How can you find this kind of information out at Duotrope? Is it just the Max Days number, or is this a special bit of information?

If you look at the individual market page (not your submissions manager) you can see more detailed info on the number of submissions pending, including the shortest, median and longest pending. (Make sure to click "include outliers".) If the longest pending number matches yours....

It also shows you when the most recent response was sent.

I had that honor over at GUD for a while. Of course, now I'm not certain they will ever publish another issue, but there's no point in stressing about that right now. :/

Marzioli · 01-23-2012, 01:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aggy B.

If you look at the individual market page (not your submissions manager) you can see more detailed info on the number of submissions pending, including the shortest, median and longest pending. (Make sure to click "include outliers".) If the longest pending number matches yours....

Oh, thanks Aggy! I've seen those numbers many times and I don't think I quite knew how to interpret them. So, for instance, when I include outliers in the pending at Apex and they say "374 max days waiting," that means an actual person is sitting on a 374 day submission non-response? Wow. Good to know.

12 day R from DSF and 50-day R from AE.

Aggy B. · 01-23-2012, 01:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marzioli

Oh, thanks Aggy! I've seen those numbers many times and I don't think I quite knew how to interpret them. So, for instance, when I include outliers in the pending at Apex and they say "374 max days waiting," that means an actual person is sitting on a 374 day submission non-response? Wow. Good to know.

12 day R from DSF and 50-day R from AE.

Yup. Of course, that could be someone who either forgot to report a response (or stopped using Duotrope at some point within the past 12 months) or whose story was never received but never queried or anything.

I always query because I've had one story (Twitter fic) lost and one that was overlooked. >_<

And, in rejection news, I still only have crickets. Anticipating a response from Apex and Stupefying Stories soon.

Aggy, polite but persistent with editors

pangalactic · 01-23-2012, 02:21 AM

Bag full of crickets here. I really need to start producing some more work as well, but I just can't bring myself to write at the moment. /emo

ohthatmomagain · 01-23-2012, 03:30 AM

One of the markets I sub to that I thought was non-paying is actually paying. Good news for the day (not that I've ever sold anything to them lol).

pangalactic · 01-23-2012, 04:18 PM

Form R from Daily Science Fiction today. Gah.

GCU_Dramatic Exit · 01-23-2012, 05:07 PM

ah man

got a form r from lightspeed...totally expected but worth a try

Lillie · 01-23-2012, 05:13 PM

((((hugs for you both))))

I got a 7 day R from ASIM. That was sadly quick. They might have hated it!
Lol. Well, worth a go, eh?

Marzioli · 01-24-2012, 12:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lillie

I got a 7 day R from ASIM. That was sadly quick. They might have hated it!
Lol. Well, worth a go, eh?

I made the mistake of not reading their entire lengthy tome of instructions and ended up including my name and contact information on the manuscript itself. That led to a speedy 7-day rejection. I don't suppose I was the only one to do that in this case?

Lillie · 01-24-2012, 12:46 AM

Oh damn. Did I?

I remember taking the headers off. Maybe I left the rest on.

Hmmmm.

Lol. I just checked.
I did.

Ha! That's funny

EDIT.

No, just checked. It looked like the example here.
http://www.andromedaspaceways.com/su...ing-guideline/

They must have just not liked it.
It's an odd sort of story. Probably just wasn't their sort of thing.

But I'm glad I got the formatting right. I hate to mess that stuff up.

Niteblade is the worst. I'm always terrified I'll go mad and leave the indents.

Kitty27 · 01-24-2012, 01:09 AM

Okay,skilled rejectomancers.

What do y;all make of these stats for my YA novel:

I completely gutted it and rewrote it back in November. Then I did the same for the query. Started querying in November. So far I have the following:

2 partial requests
1 Full request. R but a very nice and detailed R
Second request for a full came today

Does this mean I'm at mid slush,close,etc?

01-22-2012, 12:17 PM	#2551
KitCat practical experience, FTW Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: State of Insanity Posts: 678	Crickets were interrupted tonight by mail! Again the wrong kind R from Shock Totem __________________ Dreams soar on the wings of imagination. ~Unknown ************************************* Newly released from BlushingBooks: The Spanks You Missed WIPs: Novella for A Genie's Wish- Ero Death in Time - UF ************************************* Usually on Twitter More usually on AW Chat Part of AW's own North American Crit Circle And part of Steam's AW Group (Gaming)

01-22-2012, 05:24 PM	#2553
ohthatmomagain writing, working, weeping, winning Join Date: Nov 2011 Posts: 589	General question for all: What markets do you sub in? Do you stick with paying? Or do you shake it up and just sub to anywhere that you think would accept your story? __________________ available now CROSSING THE DEEP-- Out Now SAINT SLOAN ...every saint as a past... Twitter: @martieKay

01-22-2012, 05:54 PM	#2554
OtterFactory figuring it all out Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 68	Alex, you have my sympathies. What a psychopath! I'm tempted to change my user name to FJCohort. Also, you mentioned Anatoly Belilovsky somewhere recently-- tell him I'm a big fan of his "Chresthomathy" story! So cool that you know him. Momagain: I start with high-tier markets that pay well, and work my way down. Of course, I'm quite new to this and am STILL waiting for those high-tier rejections, so I can't try other markets as yet, but I plan to! Last edited by OtterFactory; 01-22-2012 at 06:01 PM.

01-22-2012, 06:05 PM	#2555
alexshvartsman Benefactor Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 1,698	Thanks, ohthatmomagain and OtterFactory. Anatoly hangs out on here sometimes. You can also follow him on Twitter @loldoc As to the subs question--personally I don't sub to 4-the-luv markets. It's not that I need the money to buy that extra cup of coffee, selling short fiction at $0.01 per word; it's the principle of the thing. Time and effort and a lot of love goes into the stories we write, and someone running a 'zine should acknowledge that with a payment, even if it's a very small amount. If you're confident in your work you should indeed start out at the top (pro-paying, well-known markets) and work your way down. Never submit any place where you'd be embarrassed to see your name appear, and you'll be fine __________________ Alex Shvartsman Twitter: @AShvartsman Blog: http://www.alexshvartsman.com Bibliography: https://sites.google.com/site/alexsh...nbibliography/

01-22-2012, 06:27 PM	#2556
Aggy B. not as sweet as you think Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: in a chilly place Posts: 6,001	@Momagain: I always sub to markets that pay. Sometimes it's a market that pays a token amount (like Every Day Fiction). Sometimes it's a pro-paying market (like Daily Science Fiction/Strange Horizons). But they always pay something. (I take that back. I will send Twitter fic to markets that don't pay because A) there's only one or two that offer payment and B) most of my Twitter stories are written in under a minute so I can handle trading exposure for publication.) Which market I sub to depends a little on the story. Some I feel are clearly worth more. Others are either older or perhaps just not as strong or as widely appealing. But you should be paid for your work. Even if it's a very small financial nod. Because writing is work and no one should work for free. __________________ _________ A.G.C. In-Progress: Miranda Shade and the Hell-heads - YA Southern Gothic Thingbreaker - Magicpunk The Gear'd Heart - NA Steampunk (QUERIES SENT - 136, PARTIAL REQUESTS - 3, FULL REQUESTS - 8, REJECTIONS - 78) A.G. Carpenter : updated 6.14.13 @Aggy_C : mostly updates on what I'm writing/eating/cleaning

01-22-2012, 06:32 PM	#2557
ohthatmomagain writing, working, weeping, winning Join Date: Nov 2011 Posts: 589	I start with paying too, then work down. Aggy, I LOVE twitter fiction. I write one (and sub) every week. I think I spend more time on twitter fiction/flash fiction than I do the novel (probably because they are new and different) My first sub was to a paying site. Then I read more about their site, and well... lets say I was glad it was rejected lol. __________________ available now CROSSING THE DEEP-- Out Now SAINT SLOAN ...every saint as a past... Twitter: @martieKay

01-22-2012, 07:03 PM	#2560
OtterFactory figuring it all out Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 68	Hello! I was browsing Ideomancer a couple months back, and stumbled on "Chrestomathy," and it's stayed with me sever since-- such an awesome concept, and I found it very inspiring! So when Alex dropped your name I was like "CHRESTOMATHY!!" /off-topic

01-22-2012, 07:21 PM	#2561
Project Deadlight practical experience, FTW Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: The Midlands, UK Posts: 609	Gosh Alex, that guy sounds rather unstable. :/ __________________ Latest Blog: 2 Years of Writing and Submitting

01-22-2012, 09:59 PM	#2562
mhaynes practical experience, FTW Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Ohio Posts: 656	Like others have said, I start with top-paying markets and work my way down. With as many stories as I have circulating right now, though, I'm not trying to necessarily hit all the big markets with each story (unless it's one I'm really confident in). Probably the most apt description is that I send a story off to the top-paying market where I don't already have a story on submission. There are a few exceptions even to this. I tend to avoid markets that take more than three months to respond. (Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine is the main exception to that rule.) And there's the Twitter-fiction exception Aggy mentioned, though even there I'm going to send it to the paying markets first. You just run out of them really fast. I might make an exception for mystery stories that I've written since there are so darn few paying markets. On the other hand, I might also just hang onto them in case there's a big surge of new semi-pro/token mystery markets in upcoming years. For a spec-fic story, I should be able to send it out at least 10-20 times before running out of paying markets that I'd want to sub to. I figure if I pile up that many R's for a story, maybe it's a sign. __________________ Flash Fiction Editor, Kazka Press My Overall Publication History. I can be found on Twitter and My Writing Blog Most recent publication: "An Alien Named Tim" (Nature, May 22 2013)

01-22-2012, 10:12 PM	#2563
Lillie practical experience, FTW Official AW W1S1 Badge Wrangler Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Wales Posts: 1,586	I don't like the idea of giving a story away. I haven't yet. I might in the future, but really I could put it up on my blog, couldn't I? I'd sub to somewhere that paid a couple of dollars, or even just one single dollar. But just giving it away for free would piss me off a bit. If it's not worth paying for, then maybe it's not worth publishing. And if it is worth publishing, then shouldn't I get something for it? I do top down, usually. None of my stories have got to the point where there are no more paying markets to send them to. Ask me again when that happens. I might have changed my mind. __________________ Published stories Most recent publications Far From Shore at Bent Masses Heads you Win at Comets and Criminals Blood and Water at Every Day Fiction The random blog of randomness http://lydiasgray.blogspot.com/

01-23-2012, 02:21 AM	#2568
pangalactic Gargling blasters Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 721	Bag full of crickets here. I really need to start producing some more work as well, but I just can't bring myself to write at the moment. /emo

01-23-2012, 03:30 AM	#2569
ohthatmomagain writing, working, weeping, winning Join Date: Nov 2011 Posts: 589	One of the markets I sub to that I thought was non-paying is actually paying. Good news for the day (not that I've ever sold anything to them lol). __________________ available now CROSSING THE DEEP-- Out Now SAINT SLOAN ...every saint as a past... Twitter: @martieKay

01-23-2012, 04:18 PM	#2570
pangalactic Gargling blasters Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 721	Form R from Daily Science Fiction today. Gah. __________________ http://www.chrisbissette.com I'm writing a story a day for a year. Come say hello! @pangalactic

01-23-2012, 05:07 PM	#2571
GCU_Dramatic Exit practical experience, FTW Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Northern Ireland Posts: 104	ah man got a form r from lightspeed...totally expected but worth a try

01-23-2012, 05:13 PM	#2572
Lillie practical experience, FTW Official AW W1S1 Badge Wrangler Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Wales Posts: 1,586	((((hugs for you both)))) I got a 7 day R from ASIM. That was sadly quick. They might have hated it! Lol. Well, worth a go, eh? __________________ Published stories Most recent publications Far From Shore at Bent Masses Heads you Win at Comets and Criminals Blood and Water at Every Day Fiction The random blog of randomness http://lydiasgray.blogspot.com/

01-24-2012, 12:46 AM	#2574
Lillie practical experience, FTW Official AW W1S1 Badge Wrangler Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Wales Posts: 1,586	Oh damn. Did I? I remember taking the headers off. Maybe I left the rest on. Hmmmm. Lol. I just checked. I did. Ha! That's funny EDIT. No, just checked. It looked like the example here. http://www.andromedaspaceways.com/su...ing-guideline/ They must have just not liked it. It's an odd sort of story. Probably just wasn't their sort of thing. But I'm glad I got the formatting right. I hate to mess that stuff up. Niteblade is the worst. I'm always terrified I'll go mad and leave the indents. __________________ Published stories Most recent publications Far From Shore at Bent Masses Heads you Win at Comets and Criminals Blood and Water at Every Day Fiction The random blog of randomness http://lydiasgray.blogspot.com/

01-24-2012, 01:09 AM	#2575
Kitty27 So Goth That I Was Born Black AW Moderator Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: In The Darkside's Light Posts: 3,840	Okay,skilled rejectomancers. What do y;all make of these stats for my YA novel: I completely gutted it and rewrote it back in November. Then I did the same for the query. Started querying in November. So far I have the following: 2 partial requests 1 Full request. R but a very nice and detailed R Second request for a full came today Does this mean I'm at mid slush,close,etc? __________________ Tupac Shakur,the greatest rapper of all time,is now in the National Recording Registry NIGHT CALLS(Finally have a title! )YA Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy Novel,Coming 2013. Vampire/Horror novel,Coming 2013.

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