2019?

zanzjan

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Anyone planning some W1S1-ish writing goals for 2019?
 

pdichellis

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Great to see W1/S1 discussions active again.

My overall writing goals (shorts) set a target for how many stories I want to have published in a year, with secondary goals for specific markets and types of markets. This goal-setting approach followed an online discussion with a prolific shorts writer who has sold hundreds of stories, and it requires making rough estimates of acceptance rates, response times, inventory of stories/WIPs, etc. based on past experience, publisher guidelines, Duotrope response times, etc. Basically, how many subs, stories, WIPs do I need to reach goal of x stories published in markets that interest me?

More specific to S1/W1, whenever a submitted story is either accepted or rejected -- removing it from the "pipeline" of submitted stories -- my goal is to send out a submission to replace it right away so I can maintain the total number of submissions in the pipeline.

Interested to hear how others are approaching 2019.
 

zanzjan

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Yay! Glad to see someone is still about the place!

I've been very bad about having definable goals over the last few years because going down the novel road was some unfamiliar territory, and it's definitely been a learning experience. Now that I have a better sense of it, in addition to writing a new novel in 2019, I'd also like to get about 50k of shorts out into the world, however that divides up. I don't know that I can pin down anything further than that, which I suppose makes me a terrible W1S1er. :(
 

Tamlyn

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:hi:

I still check the W1S1 subforum, but as I'm not really much of a poster, I'm afraid I contribute to the silence!

This has been a pretty bad year (or two) for me short story wise. I've just gotten so worn down by not only not being able to sell anything, but not even improving enough to get to second rounds/higher tier rejections/etc . So I've barely had any subs out and I've only written a couple of new flash pieces since Sisyphus in the SFF forums. Next year, I hope to do better. I'll use Sisyphus as the kick off point, and I will write at least a few new stories. I'm not putting numbers on it yet, but there will be new stories. I'll also going to go back over my other stories and either retire them properly, edit them again (there's one I don't need to edit, I just need to decide which version to send out - and I haven't even managed that!), or sub them. Do something with them.

At least that's the plan. Need to get out of my no-point-can't-write funk first. One of my Sisyphus stories is the only thing that's given me any hope this year so maybe I can replicate that.
 

BethTanner

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This is interesting to me - would you mind talking a little more about the math? (I'm curious how you'd predict acceptances reliably enough to have that as a goal, but you may have a ton more data than I do.)
 

BethTanner

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Maybe?

I need to think about this. I might be up for a monthly attempt, but let me look at the calendar and my life. I really wanted to do this back in the day but then got waylaid by life.
 

pdichellis

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This is interesting to me - would you mind talking a little more about the math? (I'm curious how you'd predict acceptances reliably enough to have that as a goal, but you may have a ton more data than I do.)

Hi Beth, If my overall acceptance rate -- and/or Duo/Grinder stats --was for example 10% for the markets I normally submit to, then reaching an annual goal of (examples) 6 stories published I would need 60 submissions (60 submissions not 60 stories, because I would expect 90% of the submissions to be rejected and submitted elsewhere).

So if Market A typically responds within 6 months (no sim subs) they are good for 2subs/year, Market B estimated 3-4 subs/yr, usually can find 2-3 anthologies for a sub each, etc. (Personal experience plus Duo/Grinder stats). Considering all that, I would need to have or write enough stories/WIPs to cover that many subs -- which sometimes leads to a flurry of mid-year writing, FYI.

So the publishing goal (usually a range, example 5-7 stories re: the discussion above) needs to balance typical acceptance rate (from personal experience plus Duo/Grinder stats) with number of subs needed vs. stories/WIPs available. Once those factors are in balance, I set the goal and monitor and pursue it for the year. Sometimes achieve it, sometimes not, but I prefer this goal vs. a goal for number of stories written or subbed because my end-goal is getting stories published, not simply written and subbed.

This goal-setting approach was the result of online discussions with a prolific writer who has published hundreds of stories in dozens of markets. Made sense to me so I stole it.

Good luck!

Note re: balancing acceptance rate vs. subs/stories/WIPs - the point is to maximize publishing opportunities using resources available. So if I have lot of stories/WIPs/ideas and discovered a new market or two, publishing goal goes higher. If fewer stories/WIPs/ideas and some of my usual markets closed/hiatus, the goal goes lower.
 
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Aphotic Ink

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I'm going to try to W1S1 a month for short stories in 2019 (admittedly I'm going to want to be subbing more than that, but it seems like a good minimum to aim for). Still gearing up and being a little quiet - I suspect I'll be lurking a bit.
 

vicky271

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I've never considered this part of the forum and getting some short stories published. However, I feel the experience will help me with my longer projects so I'm considering it for 2019 ^^