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jazzman99

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A better 2013?

Been a long, long time since I posted here. 2011 was a great year for me; I sold a handful of stories, including one to Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. That made me eligible to join the Mystery Writers of America, which in turn made me eligible to submit a story to their annual anthology. The deadline to submit for the 2013 anthology was the end of January 2012, and the theme for the anthology was "What Lies Within."

I had what seemed to me to be a pretty good idea, but I dithered around with it, never getting more than a few pages into before feeling like everything I was writing was dreck. Maybe it was, or maybe I was just intimidated by competing with pros. Anyway, I never finished the story, and somehow missing that deadline seemed to throw me off balance for the rest of the year. In all of 2012 I only finished and submitted one short story, as compared to 12 the year before.

So this year I was determined not to miss the deadline. The theme this year was the Cold War, and once again I came up with an idea I liked, and this time, by god, I finished it. It's called "Pillbug," it's 6800 words long, and I think it's good enough that I at least am not embarrassed to have other people read it. Definite progress. It went in the mail today.

Now, the key is to build on this and make 2013 the Year of the Story . . .
 

soapdish

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In all of 2012 I only finished and submitted one short story, as compared to 12 the year before.

So this year I was determined not to miss the deadline. The theme this year was the Cold War, and once again I came up with an idea I liked, and this time, by god, I finished it. It's called "Pillbug," it's 6800 words long, and I think it's good enough that I at least am not embarrassed to have other people read it. Definite progress. It went in the mail today.

Now, the key is to build on this and make 2013 the Year of the Story . . .
Hmm, I see a few of us have been in this same rut. One good year for subs, one off year. (myself included) Best of luck with your most recent one!

I finally got out a couple out yesterday and today. This after a year of not subbing much at all. I ditto the "2013 Year of the Story" Or...stories. :D
 

Tienci

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You're right about that soapdish! I was guilty of 1 new story in 2012 too (although I kept subbing older stories), whereas the year before I wrote 18.

I'm hoping this year is more like 2011 and so far, so good--2 new stories thus far, and January isn't over yet! :tongue
Hoping to get one more in by the 31st...(or at least get last year's story sub-ready).
 

soapdish

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So, I managed to get two subs out last month (revisions of stories that'd been sitting around for over a year). And I have been working away at revising another story that's been sitting around for over a year. Hopefully I'll have it out this week. But I think I may have to have a beta reader or two look at it. I'm just dragging my feet on that for some reason.
 

Tienci

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As of today, I have officially beaten my 2011 record number of stories out in Submission Land:
20 then, 23 now :yessmiley.
Next goal: 30, which I'm gonna go ahead and hope to hit by April (a mix of new stories, finished/revised old 'dusted off' stories, and adapted stories).
 

soapdish

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That's awesome, Tienci! I don't think I even have 20 stories completely *written*, let alone on submission. LOL

Best of luck with all of them and in reaching your 30 goal.
 

Eliza C

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For those who've subbed to these markets:

7 days at N@ture - no acknowledgement of the sub yet - should I be worried?

24-hours at Shimmr - no acknowledgement of the sub - should I be worried?

and lastly - planning to sub to Buzzie this morning but a bit confused by the guidelines which say "On a cover page, include the title of the work, its word count, a brief synopsis, your writing experience, and contact information." Do they literally mean a 'cover page to the ms' that includes a synopsis or do they mean a cover letter in the body of the e-mail, as I normally do? I've only subbed there once before and I don't remember how I handled this, but I do remember I didn't get a response to my sub and had to query, so maybe I did the wrong thing.
 

O'Dandelo

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For those who've subbed to these markets:

7 days at N@ture - no acknowledgement of the sub yet - should I be worried?

24-hours at Shimmr - no acknowledgement of the sub - should I be worried?

and lastly - planning to sub to Buzzie this morning but a bit confused by the guidelines which say "On a cover page, include the title of the work, its word count, a brief synopsis, your writing experience, and contact information." Do they literally mean a 'cover page to the ms' that includes a synopsis or do they mean a cover letter in the body of the e-mail, as I normally do? I've only subbed there once before and I don't remember how I handled this, but I do remember I didn't get a response to my sub and had to query, so maybe I did the wrong thing.

I've never submitted to Nature so I can't help you there.

I'm pretty sure Shimmer doesn't acknowledge submissions. At least, I've never received a "We got your story" email.

With Buzzy I've always just added a synopsis to my usual in-email-body cover letter. No one's ever said anything about it.
 

SpiderGal

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Silly question, but where am I supposed to post my subs and find other subs to crit?
 

soapdish

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Buzzie this morning but a bit confused by the guidelines which say "On a cover page, include the title of the work, its word count, a brief synopsis, your writing experience, and contact information." Do they literally mean a 'cover page to the ms' that includes a synopsis or do they mean a cover letter in the body of the e-mail, as I normally do? I've only subbed there once before and I don't remember how I handled this, but I do remember I didn't get a response to my sub and had to query, so maybe I did the wrong thing.
This is a question I've had, too. Not about this market, but another. Stupifying Stories submission guidelines ask you to put your contact info etc. on the first page of your MS (which I do anyway) but then they also say:
We receive a lot of submissions, and cover letters are routinely separated from manuscripts. Having to hunt through our email logs to try to match up a story submission with an email address is an easily avoided annoyance. Please help us avoid it.
So...do they mean for you to send a cover letter, like ACTUAL cover letter attached separately (or as the first page of your MS)? Or are they thinking you'll do your cover letter in email and they don't necessarily print this out to go with the MS? I'm a little confused.

Sometimes I think that publishers use the words "cover letter" because they also take mail in submissions. (Which Stupifying does, I'm not sure about Buzzy). But that if you're submitting electronically that the cover info in the email is just fine...

It feels weird to me submitting something with a skimpy body of an email and basically just saying: You can find all the rest of the info when you open the docs attached.

Any insight from others?
 

soapdish

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Silly question, but where am I supposed to post my subs and find other subs to crit?
:hi: SpiderGal

If you're looking to post your work and critique others, you'll want to hit the Share Your Work boards here (make sure you read the guidelines before posting if you're new to it).

I'm a little confused by what you mean by "subs", though. If something is already on submission, wouldn't it be a little late to be asking for/giving feedback on them? Or do you mean rejected ones that you need another look at before resubbing?

Maybe I'm not understanding the question correctly.
 

SpiderGal

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Sorry for the confusion, Soapdish!

It's acceptable to call submissions "subs" in another list I'm a part of. So just didn't realize.

By subs, I simply meant pieces I seek feedback on.

I've posted in SYW before, but I thought Write 1/Sub 1 might have their separate forum for posting submissions.




:hi: SpiderGal

If you're looking to post your work and critique others, you'll want to hit the Share Your Work boards here (make sure you read the guidelines before posting if you're new to it).

I'm a little confused by what you mean by "subs", though. If something is already on submission, wouldn't it be a little late to be asking for/giving feedback on them? Or do you mean rejected ones that you need another look at before resubbing?

Maybe I'm not understanding the question correctly.
 

soapdish

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Gotcha. Well, there's the beta read/crit request thread in W1S1, if you don't what to post in SYW. You can check that thread out and see if that fits your needs.
 

O'Dandelo

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This is a question I've had, too. Not about this market, but another. Stupifying Stories submission guidelines ask you to put your contact info etc. on the first page of your MS (which I do anyway) but then they also say:
So...do they mean for you to send a cover letter, like ACTUAL cover letter attached separately (or as the first page of your MS)? Or are they thinking you'll do your cover letter in email and they don't necessarily print this out to go with the MS? I'm a little confused.

Sometimes I think that publishers use the words "cover letter" because they also take mail in submissions. (Which Stupifying does, I'm not sure about Buzzy). But that if you're submitting electronically that the cover info in the email is just fine...

It feels weird to me submitting something with a skimpy body of an email and basically just saying: You can find all the rest of the info when you open the docs attached.

Any insight from others?

I take that to mean simply make sure your contact info is both in the body of your email--your "cover letter"--and at the top of the manuscript itself. That way no matter which they're looking at, they have it. I could be mistaken but that's my understanding.
 

soapdish

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I take that to mean simply make sure your contact info is both in the body of your email--your "cover letter"--and at the top of the manuscript itself. That way no matter which they're looking at, they have it. I could be mistaken but that's my understanding.
I hope you're right, because that's how I did it. :tongue
 

zanzjan

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It's acceptable to call submissions "subs" in another list I'm a part of. So just didn't realize.

By subs, I simply meant pieces I seek feedback on.

Ah. Okay.

In general, when people talk about subs they mean pieces they've sent on submission to a market to be considered for publication. Pieces you want feedback on aren't generally on sub, although there are places like Zoetrope and Baen's Bar (if that's still alive?) that serve both a critique and submission function.

W1S1 doesn't have a separate forum for critiques, but there's SYW and if you hang out for a bit you might find someone here willing to beta for you or vice-versa.
 

fihr

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planning to sub to Buzzie this morning but a bit confused by the guidelines which say "On a cover page, include the title of the work, its word count, a brief synopsis, your writing experience, and contact information." Do they literally mean a 'cover page to the ms' that includes a synopsis or do they mean a cover letter in the body of the e-mail, as I normally do? I've only subbed there once before and I don't remember how I handled this, but I do remember I didn't get a response to my sub and had to query, so maybe I did the wrong thing.

I made the first page of my manuscript into the cover page by adding the synopsis below the contact information, and having a page break before the story began. They didn't complain about that, and appeared to accept the submissions. I received R's in due course. :)

Must say, I don't like writing a synopsis for a short story. Makes me feel as though it might be rejected unread if the synopsis is not adequate. Though for a novel, I completely understand the need.
 

soapdish

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Must say, I don't like writing a synopsis for a short story. Makes me feel as though it might be rejected unread if the synopsis is not adequate. Though for a novel, I completely understand the need.
I agree. What is the reasoning behind this, I wonder? Is that really it? Will they reject it based on that alone?

I have a heck of a time writing synopsis for short stories. Though, I do find it a good exercise in narrowing down what the heck the story is REALLY about. :tongue But I hate to think that it would be rejected based on just that.

Does it merely help them sort them into thematic piles for the slush readers, you think? So they can take only the BEST of the "haunted house" or "lost love" ones for example?
 

alexshvartsman

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For those who've subbed to these markets:

7 days at N@ture - no acknowledgement of the sub yet - should I be worried?

24-hours at Shimmr - no acknowledgement of the sub - should I be worried?

and lastly - planning to sub to Buzzie this morning but a bit confused by the guidelines which say "On a cover page, include the title of the work, its word count, a brief synopsis, your writing experience, and contact information." Do they literally mean a 'cover page to the ms' that includes a synopsis or do they mean a cover letter in the body of the e-mail, as I normally do? I've only subbed there once before and I don't remember how I handled this, but I do remember I didn't get a response to my sub and had to query, so maybe I did the wrong thing.


Liz,

Nature used to send acknowledgments under Henry Gee's reign, but I don't think Colin Sullivan has kept that going. They do respond reasonably fast (my last 2 subs were a 6 day acceptance and a 24 day rejection). I currently have a sub there at 6 days and also did not receive a confirmation.

Shimmer does not send notifications -- you will get either a round 2 bump or a rejection, and the response should come either way now. Their round 1's take anywhere between a couple of days and nearly 30 days, depending on whose slush pile you end up in.

And as far as Buzzy goes, I send a normal cover letter (in the body of the email) and MS in a standard format. Never had a complaint from them.
 

zanzjan

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Wait, seriously? Buzzy wants a synopsis of short stories?

Are they paying a buck a word to make up for that bit of ridiculousness? No? *crosses them off list of markets to take seriously*
 

alexshvartsman

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Wait, seriously? Buzzy wants a synopsis of short stories?

Are they paying a buck a word to make up for that bit of ridiculousness? No? *crosses them off list of markets to take seriously*

Again, their guidelines are worded in a wonky way, but they're good to work with.

I sold two stories to them. Never bothered with a synopsis or anything out of the ordinary. Normal, standard MS format submissions. They treated me with utmost professionalism every step of the way, did a great job with copy-edits, paid promptly, and even allowed me to break exclusivity early on my first story so that it could be included in the Campbell reading anthology.
 

Eliza C

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Thanks so much for all the feedback on my questions. W1S1 is the awesomest. :)
 

ravenlea

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Hi all! Boy I wish I had found this place last year. I wrote about a dozen short stories during down time at work but submitted none all year. I am trying to get back on track in 2013 and have already submitted one short story. I have two more I just finished rewriting and plan to send out this week. This may be what I need to keep myself accountable.