[ezine] Strange Horizons

[fall09]

Anyone have any experience with the ezine Strange Horizons? I'm thinking of submitting a short story there. Thanks!

 

[Unimportant]

They're a very tough market to crack, but they're highly respected, pay well, have a wide readership, and the editors are very nice to work with.

 

[Izz]

One of the best ezines in the spec fic industry. One of the best markets in the spec fic industry, period.

 

[CaoPaux]

Adding link: http://www.strangehorizons.com/

 

[PeterL]

I tend to agree with the other posters. I submitted there twice and was rejected twice, so I disagree with their taste in literature.

 

[TWErvin2]

I agree with the others above. Good market, tough to break into.

I sent to them this summer. Took about 50 days for a reply. They rejected with a brief note included indicating what they liked but also found lacking.

Terry

 

[Izz]

I tend to agree with the other posters. I submitted there twice and was rejected twice, so I disagree with their taste in literature.

Only rejected by them twice? Come now, man, where's your fighting spirit?

 

[eqb]

I rather like them. (Then again, they bought three of my stories. *g*)

 

[PeterL]

Only rejected by them twice? Come now, man, where's your fighting spirit?

That isn't the only market. I got the second rejection last week, and haven't decided what else to submit.

 

[V. Greene]

Duotrope lists them as having a less-than-one-percent acceptance rate, which is something to keep in mind when they don't take your story. They've not taken two of mine, one of which is now accepted somewhere else. If at first you don't succeed, etc.

Their rejection letters are nice to have, though. They critique your pacing or plot or and-the-kitchen-sink-ness instead of just adding another form email to your collection.

 

[Izz]

Their rejection letters are nice to have, though. They critique your pacing or plot or and-the-kitchen-sink-ness instead of just adding another form email to your collection.

Depends who you get. There's three editors at SH and one tends to give personal Rs while the other two generally give form.

 

[eqb]

Depends who you get. There's three editors at SH and one tends to give personal Rs while the other two generally give form.

It also depends on when your story gets rejected. If yours arrives along with a flood of others, you get the form.

 

[Kitty Pryde]

Anybody have any recent experience about how long they take? I submitted a story 8 weeks ago (their site says they take up to 10 weeks) and I have a major case of ants in the pants waiting to hear back from them!

 

[Izz]

Anybody have any recent experience about how long they take? I submitted a story 8 weeks ago (their site says they take up to 10 weeks) and I have a major case of ants in the pants waiting to hear back from them!

I know they were closed for a few days recently because one of the editors was getting married (at least, i think that's the reason i read on the site), so that might have slowed up the response times a bit. It could also mean they're giving your story serious consideration

56 days is towards the upper end of their response time, but still not an uncommon length. But, like their guidelines say, query the moment the story's been there longer than 70 days.

 

[Polenth]

Anybody have any recent experience about how long they take? I submitted a story 8 weeks ago (their site says they take up to 10 weeks) and I have a major case of ants in the pants waiting to hear back from them!

I once had a story held a bit longer. Never found out if the person assigned it was just slower or they'd actually held it (though I did get a personal rejection). But either way, the timing changes day-to-day. The way to have some idea is to check the recent responses on Duotrope and see if your story is older. The bigger the gap between your story and the responses coming through, the more likely it is that it's been held.

 

[Izz]

You can also check this page to give you a general idea of where your story might be sitting in the queue: SH Fiction Department Response Status

 

[Kitty Pryde]

Thanks! The statistics on duotrope are encouraging, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up. I am a total noob at the whole story submitting thing so it is hard not to worry excessively

 

[MumblingSage]

I haven't got a story accepted by them (yet) after perhaps half a dozen submissions over the years, but I still reccomend them wholeheartedly. Almost every rejection I've received has been personal and helpful. They do take some time, though--I've had stories held up to around 70 days in the past, a little higher than their 'official' response time on Duotrope.

 

[eqb]

I've sold three stories to them. All three responses took 60 to 70 days. Rejections took 30 to 50+ days. However those response times are from a couple years ago.

 

[FOTSGreg]

SH is considered one of the Big Ones - Analog, F&SF, Asimov's being the top 3 and SH being among tbe top 5 (the last 2of which I can't remember right now).

 

[Kitty Pryde]

Personalized R after an even 8 weeks. It was an awfully nice one though, TBH. My very first one!

 

[Izz]

Somehow i missed SH upping their pay rates from 5c a word to 7c a word. Kewlness.

 

[Manuel Royal]

Wow. I gotta try them again. (They've rejected me three times, in a professional and polite manner.)

 

[AmandaHelms]

Strange Horizons submission form question

Hi all,

I've got a somewhat odd question for those who've submitted to Strange Horizons. What browser were you using? I think I'm likely in my 2nd failed sub to them--first one put me on the "your story was submitted" page, but I never received an email confirmation. Checked with SH, and they said something went wonky on their end; story never made to the slush pile; please resub.

I did. Again saw "your story was submitted" page but still haven't received an email confirmation, though I do need to wait another 12 hours to be sure it doesn't come through before querying SH.

Yes, I did the triple-check to ensure my email address was listed right, that I was submitting an .rtf and not another file version, and I've checked my spam folder.

I'm on Chrome. Wondering if perhaps it doesn't play well with their web submission form.

 

[Drachen Jager]

I've used Firefox in the past and had no problems (all were "successfully" rejected).