Rejection and a Question

Status
Not open for further replies.

ArcticFox

The Childlike Empress
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 17, 2008
Messages
449
Reaction score
61
Location
Texas
Hi! Well, I got a rejection yesterday *insert obligatory sad face* and I sent the story out again today. Now, if you check my blog you see that I have recently begun submitting after a sporadic and small history of submitting before. I don't have a heck of a lot of experience with submitting (the sum total of my submitting experience being 7 times). My question is how many times do you get rejected on a story, on average, before you say 'Hmm, this might need to be re-worked' and edit the story?
 
Joined
Aug 29, 2008
Messages
174
Reaction score
2
platform---- great for how-to-books. my thoughts are that 'platform' is crud. where were platforms twenty-thirty even ten years ago. platform is just a 'cover their a.. excuse for untalented editors. if the writer has 'platform' the editor can point at that aspect and claim that despite the poorly received book being poorly written, the risks were inherently reasonable because the author talks at a ton of conferences and pitches his books at those events so it was worth the risk. whatever happened to 'talent'. you-who, oh editor... read the manuscript. if the writing is sub-par-dont publish it. every time you do, you do the art of literature a disservice. i for one am not going to put my energies into constructing a platform, then spend the advance on promoting/advertising my own book. it stands or falls on its own. if i write good enough, an editor, somewhere will appreciate that and tell the board-- this guy has zero platform but writes his ass off. the blog world is powerful. join the revolt against 'platform' the king has no clothes. just say that. it's true. think of all those no talent big names getting books published. dr. phil couldn't write his way out of study hall. his wife? what qualifies her to write a book? her wifely duties to phil? see the ridiculous nature of publishing by platform? Bill O'Reilly? give me a break. phil is a great tv host... bill is awesome in his tv field, but books. stop it. they probably contributed ten pages in actuality. the writers are the 'writing community'. when they somewhere along the line capitulated to this farce called platform, all that did was dilute the quality on the shelves. The bums masquerading as authors are really counterfeit. they should be ashamed of themselves, but aren't. unmask these frauds, then you who are truly talented will get published or get a fair chance. if not... you are doomed to be rejected for 'lack of platform'. The 'platformers' will hate this--- the true writers will embrace.
 

Mumut

Well begun is half done...
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 1, 2008
Messages
3,371
Reaction score
399
Location
Brisbane, Australia
I'm re-working my work continually. There are days I'm not in the mood to continue my WIP so I read over any of the other stories I one day hope will be published. When I did submit my work to publishers I perstered that work to death. So I don't think of editing or reviewing my work as a separate episode. It's a habit I indulge in continually.
 

Red-Green

KoalaKoalaKoala!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 21, 2007
Messages
4,392
Reaction score
3,782
Location
At the publishing party, whacking the piñata
Website
www.bryngreenwood.com
It's hard to tell. I mean, typically with lit mag submissions I'm getting form rejections, so it's hard to know if the story needs to be revised or if I haven't found the right market. I always re-read a story before I send it back out, just to be sure it can't be improved. Typically, once a story has racked up five rejections, I shelve it for a few months and revisit it for possible improvement.
 

Clair Dickson

A dark core to every cloud
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 28, 2008
Messages
2,557
Reaction score
571
Location
SE Michigan
Website
www.bofexler.blogspot.com
For me it's time, not so much number. If a couple weeks have passed, I've usually forgotten enough of the story that I can read it anew. Sometimes I realize why it's getting rejected. Sometimes I curse the publishers who rejected it and send it elsewhere as I fantasize about how those publications will some day regret the day they rejected one of my stories... =D
 

ArcticFox

The Childlike Empress
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 17, 2008
Messages
449
Reaction score
61
Location
Texas
Thanks, guys. So far this story has had two rejections. After the first, which was three years ago, it was revised. So I will continue to send out four or five more times. After that I'll read it again. See if I can make it better. Anyone else out there is welcome to weigh in to. I'd like to hear lots of opinion. How do you tell need to revise versus not right market yet?
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.