Rejectomancy

alexshvartsman

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Anatoly, I think it's the same for all of us. I've sold stuff that I was on the fence about submitting in the first place, but some of my favorite stories are still circulating in various slushpiles.
 

W.L. Marks

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Does anyone know if Pedestal Magazine sends out an e-mail to acknowledge receipt of submission from their online system? I've got a piece waiting there that I was expecting to hear back on by now, but I haven't. Since I never got a "thanks we got your submission" e-mail, I assumed it was one of those markets that don't send one, but maybe it didn't go through? I'd hate to wait out the full query time and then find that they never received it.
 

mhaynes

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Does anyone know if Pedestal Magazine sends out an e-mail to acknowledge receipt of submission from their online system? I've got a piece waiting there that I was expecting to hear back on by now, but I haven't. Since I never got a "thanks we got your submission" e-mail, I assumed it was one of those markets that don't send one, but maybe it didn't go through? I'd hate to wait out the full query time and then find that they never received it.

I don't believe they do send acknowledge e-mails.

Also, I've heard that sometimes their rejections don't come until after the accepted pieces for an issue have been posted.
 

defcon6000

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Does anyone know if Pedestal Magazine sends out an e-mail to acknowledge receipt of submission from their online system? I've got a piece waiting there that I was expecting to hear back on by now, but I haven't. Since I never got a "thanks we got your submission" e-mail, I assumed it was one of those markets that don't send one, but maybe it didn't go through? I'd hate to wait out the full query time and then find that they never received it.

I've never received an email acknowledgement from them, but they did receive my story. How long has you story been with them? You can only query them after 6 weeks, I think. Though, they're a slow market to respond, which to me, says they can't handle the volume of stories they receive.

ETA: it's 6 weeks that you can query
 
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alexshvartsman

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I don't think they send acknowledgement e-mails but in my experience they've been prompt to respond. Got a 10-day personal rejection from them today, as a matter of fact :)
 

Aggy B.

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Rejection for Love Like Dysphoria from DSF this afternoon. Now I just have to remember where I was thinking I would send it next.
 

defcon6000

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I don't think they send acknowledgement e-mails but in my experience they've been prompt to respond. Got a 10-day personal rejection from them today, as a matter of fact :)

Boo, I'm still waiting for mine, and I'm at 34 days. It better not come 2 weeks after the issue goes live.
 

Sai

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I got a DSF rejection today. Sent it to Asimov's, even though I don't think they flash too often. Oh well, worth a try.
 

mhaynes

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I got a DSF rejection today. Sent it to Asimov's, even though I don't think they flash too often. Oh well, worth a try.

Not too often, but I believe that the most recent issue had a 3-pager which should have been flash or very nearly so.
 

Opinionated Ant

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Been crickets for two weeks but just got my R from Nanoism (my second from them). I saw it right after tonight's Once Upon a Time- which was far more upsetting!

Hey it's worth a shot Sai!

Have a good night.
 

Marzioli

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Glimmer Train and Shock Totem rejections. I was expecting both, so it's no harm done. However, I made changes to both that I really love, so when/if I get rejected again I'll be crushed! :D
 

mhaynes

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@Project Deadlight: DSF has published some dark fantasy/horror stuff before, but I imagine that to be a really tough sell there. Dark fantasy without much of a horror element would fare better.

Today's email story (Lures, Hooks and Tails) was pretty close to that dark fantasy/horror line, too, IMO.

Also, for what it's worth, Deadlight: If you're not getting their story emails, I'd highly recommend it. There's some really good stuff being published there.
 

mhaynes

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Also for those, like me, who have been waiting a while on a response from The Pedestal, it looks like their new issue should be up right around December 22nd. (Based on the descriptor "October 21-December 21 (2011)" for their current issue...)

So, we should be either hearing something, or seeing that our story isn't in the ToC in the next 10 days.
 

Aggy B.

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Rejection from Barge Journal yesterday for Bourgeoisie. Thinking I may just bundle all the 200 words stories together and try someplace like Ambit.
 

victoriajakes

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Aggy, how long were you at Barge for? I've been sitting there for over 100 days now, getting antsy.
 

Aggy B.

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Aggy, how long were you at Barge for? I've been sitting there for over 100 days now, getting antsy.

About 10 days. When are you allowed to query them? ('Cause I would take that as a sign you might want to see what's up.)

And I wound up submitting three of my 200 words stories to EDF. Because I'm cheap and lazy and though I like the looks of Ambit I don't feel like printing anything out OR mailing it to England. :p
 

Marzioli

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25-day R from Stupefying Stories. Sad. This is one of my only novelettes and it's horror (or dark fantasy if I run out of horror markets), so it doesn't have a lot of places left to go.
 

victoriajakes

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About 10 days. When are you allowed to query them? ('Cause I would take that as a sign you might want to see what's up.)

No query until 180 days. But it seems to me they have a two tier system, because there's a bunch of short responses and then fewer long responses, like around 90 and 110 days. I'm just worried it is lost and I won't know for another 80 days.
 

loldoc

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A form R from Apex. Sent the story onward on its merry rounds. We Shall See.

Also, just read a TOC for a publication that I submitted and heard nothing from. I'm not on that TOC. Just queried. We SHall See.
 

Aggy B.

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No query until 180 days. But it seems to me they have a two tier system, because there's a bunch of short responses and then fewer long responses, like around 90 and 110 days. I'm just worried it is lost and I won't know for another 80 days.

Ah, yes. That sucks. I've had that happen twice (not with Barge, though). Both times the response after I resubbed was much faster. Which only partly made up for having Chi-Zine forget to put my story in the reading queue after they received it. >_<
 

Project Deadlight

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Guys help me, I'm at my wits end. So Black-Static had a story of mine for 110 days then after ignoring my queries told me they lost it. So I sent them two more after they said send it through and it's now been another 50 days?!! Their usual response time is 30 days and they are pretty much like clockwork. I don't want to give up on them as I love this market but frankly this seems lame behaviour.
 

mhaynes

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FYI, I subbed to Apex through their new e-mail queue recently.

I got a 4-or-5 day R this morning. They must have really hated this one. j/k

More seriously, it looks like the e-mail queue might get you a faster response, at least for the moment...