- Joined
- Jun 30, 2012
- Messages
- 933
- Reaction score
- 129
Aaaaand another short story rejection. This is the other half of the "if I'd only waited a day, I could've sent that story to that magazine and this story to the other magazine and they all would've suited each other better" -- so that was just a whole big bunch of the universe dinging me for not procrastinating and doing things at the last minute. Yeah, thanks, universe.
I gotta say, I'm really getting fed up with the calendar games involved in submitting. It used to be you wrote the best story you could, picked the magazine that best suited it, sent it off, and hoped the editor agreed with you. Now it seems like who's open when, or likely to open soon, or about to close for who knows how long, is much more of a deciding factor in what goes where than what's actually the best fit. One of the stories referenced above I really think would be exactly right for one of the magazines referenced above -- but apparently the only way I'll ever find out if they think so too is to sit on the story indefinitely and never send anything else to that magazine again, in hopes that someday their submission window will correspond with the story being available.
Yeah, I'm cranky. I get that magazines have to control their slush piles somehow, and I'd certainly rather they close occasionally than take years to respond. But playing pin-the-tail-on-the-submission-window on top of all the other challenges of getting the right story into the right editor's hands is a pain in the proverbial.
And yet, subbing short stories is still easier than querying agents. Jeez, this business.
I gotta say, I'm really getting fed up with the calendar games involved in submitting. It used to be you wrote the best story you could, picked the magazine that best suited it, sent it off, and hoped the editor agreed with you. Now it seems like who's open when, or likely to open soon, or about to close for who knows how long, is much more of a deciding factor in what goes where than what's actually the best fit. One of the stories referenced above I really think would be exactly right for one of the magazines referenced above -- but apparently the only way I'll ever find out if they think so too is to sit on the story indefinitely and never send anything else to that magazine again, in hopes that someday their submission window will correspond with the story being available.
Yeah, I'm cranky. I get that magazines have to control their slush piles somehow, and I'd certainly rather they close occasionally than take years to respond. But playing pin-the-tail-on-the-submission-window on top of all the other challenges of getting the right story into the right editor's hands is a pain in the proverbial.
And yet, subbing short stories is still easier than querying agents. Jeez, this business.