Tor.com Opening to Novella Submissions

I'm down to 109 myself. Guess someone's Thanksgiving break is possibly riding on getting their batch done.

I really need to quit obsessively checking the queue and get off this rejectomancy roller-coaster ride.

Eh, who am I kidding.



WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Welp, I am officially (finally) out. But I got a super nice rejection with a lot of detail on why it didn't work (too rushed) and a recommendation to resub it to Tor Books if I decide to revise at a slower pace, so... <3

Well, damn. Sorry Maggie. But that's the next best thing to an acceptance. I mean, a personal R with some helpful feedback, plus an invitation to R&R to Tor Books? Sweeeeeeet. And that means they read the whole thing, which is no small feat for an editor with a kilometre-high slush pile--full of novellas, no less! They must have really liked it.

I gotta admit, I really love Tor.com rejections. Both of the ones I've gotten have been the best, friendliest, most detailed rejections. I may seriously sit down and look at how I can slow things down... after NaNo, of course. And yeah, it's definitely a booster to know they read the whole thing (and explains why the queue has taken so long. I doubt I made it past round 1 since I was still so high in the queue.)

Good luck everyone still in the queue!

Maggie Maxwell said:

And yeah, it's definitely a booster to know they read the whole thing (and explains why the queue has taken so long. I doubt I made it past round 1 since I was still so high in the queue.)

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Oh, I think you made it past round one. I'd be REALLY surprised if they read each novella in its entirety. I'll bet they received thousands of subs, so it just doesn't seem practical. Or even possible.

And since the queue seems to drop in different increments for different people here, I'm thinking they've assigned batches to different slush readers. So the position in the queue likely doesn't mean much. I dunno. All I know is I want another hit off the rejectomancy crack pipe. *refreshes browser* Ooooohhh yeaaaaaah. Numbah 75!

Sorry about the R, Maggie… But that’s wonderful you got such useful, friendly feedback and a chance to resub!! Also, nice to know they are kind people in general.

I am #5. It only dropped one spot for me in that last round.

So sorry to hear about the R, Maggie. But I'm so glad they're interested in seeing it again once you've made some tweaks, though -- that's amazing news!

(I also would think you'd for sure got past round 1, given the feedback you got!)

I'll agree with the personal R being the next best thing to an acceptance. Just checked mine and I'm at 102 in the queue. Hope I make it to at least the low double digits before they decide on mine. I also hope that it was entertaining for them, even if, when looking back, my cover letter was a bit rough and template-like. It'd only be my second submission ever, but an answer that isn't form would be nice.

In the month since I last posted, my queue position has tumbled to 88. How has everyone else been doing in the queue?

I'm at number 67, so I dropped eight. Progress, I guess!

81 here - down from 99 since the last time I posted.

I got ticked down to 83 now since November. Guess they're working on higher up in the queue at the moment. How's everyone's position looking since the new year hit?

I'm at 66, so I dropped a grand total of... one.

4.

I think it's time for an update! I dropped five while AW was down, from 66 to 61.

Last I talked to Spar, she was on #2...

Aaagh, she's so close!! Fingers crossed her wait's almost over.

I got an answer a few weeks ago while AW was down. It was a personal R, and said that they were looking for more subtle work than the tell-all tone that I had. I wonder if that's a nitpick/style thing. Anyways, now that it's free, I can tweak it and send it off to the next publisher or agent. But, do SFF agents even represent novellas? I haven't even heard if they do, as most of the chatter is novels.

Harlequin said:

Last I talked to Spar, she was on #2...

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Wow. I think that's a hella good sign! *bounces*

Siwyenbast said:

I got an answer a few weeks ago while AW was down. It was a personal R, and said that they were looking for more subtle work than the tell-all tone that I had. I wonder if that's a nitpick/style thing.

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Sorry for the R, Siwyenbast. But I think a personal R is really encouraging! They had so many subs that they couldn't possibly respond to every one with a personal R (IMO). And even if a work is amazing, it can still get rejected cuz it's just not what they're in the market for at the mo.

Siwyenbast said:

Anyways, now that it's free, I can tweak it and send it off to the next publisher or agent. But, do SFF agents even represent novellas? I haven't even heard if they do, as most of the chatter is novels.

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They don't, as far as I know, unless you're already a client. Although I haven't really queried anything in a while, so someone please correct me if I'm wrong (and then I'll start querying the novellas sitting on my hard drive ). I think all we can do is keep looking for markets that accept novellas.

I dropped another point in the queue, down to 60.

I mean they do for litfic, so I would think you could at least try. No one will be cross that you queried them However, a lot of novella markets don't need an agent so I'm not sure if they're that useful. Many novella markets overlap with short fiction markets in general.

I'm hoping to finish a novella later this year and get it put on sub if I can but I'm already repped for full length.

All this talk of querying novellas got me curious, so I googled it, and Janet Reid's post popped up. Here it is in part:

Novellas are making a comeback.
Short fiction in general is experiencing a resurgence.

For querying an agent, generally a novella is paired with several short stories to make a "book length" book.

You'd query the entire project if you're going the agent route. At least a few of the short stories should be already-published to demonstrate you've got an audience.

And a fan audience is key here. To get fans you publish stories and build your name recognition. That can be through smaller presses first, then when you've gotten started, editors and agents are more likely to take a look.

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The post is from 2018, which, incidentally, is when I subbed my novella to Tor.

Sorry about the R, Siwyenbast, but personalized is a great sign.

I am indeed #2. In a couple months, this sub will be two years old!

oh my god i can't believe I've known you for 3 years, i'm sure we met last april LOL

Has it been 3?? lol Publishing sure messes with one's sense of time.