Questions about Submissions/Queries that have gone Astray or Wait Times

Melinda Moore

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Anyone heard from Crossed Genres about the flash fiction submissions?
 

Batspan

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I think this fits here. Part question about Submittable, part possible superstition, so I'm curious what the rest of you have experienced.

I have three subs sitting in Submittable on "Received" status, all many weeks old. After the one to LampL!ght was 3 months old & a few days past the expected response time according to the Grinder I sent a query. I got an immediate response that they'll be responding to subs "soon."

Out of more than 100 subs since last May, with many personal Rs and bumps, I've never had anything positive come of anything I subbed via Submittable. Yeah, it isn't a large enough sample to draw conclusions.

Wondering two things:

Do some/many/most editors not change the status on Submittable subs? I thought these were all unread because that status hadn't changed from Received, but the L editor said he read mine.

Does anyone else notice a lack of positive results from markets requiring Submittable? Part of my brain figures this is a coincidence, yet the lizard brain suspects otherwise.

Feel free to note the best color of socks to wear while submitting, and favorable moon phases, talismans, or physical positions.
 
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alexshvartsman

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Batspan: I've sold a few stories via submittable. It's as good as any other way to get your work to the editors. In fact, it's a bit better than email because it's much less likely to become lost.

It is indeed possible not to change the status of the story when it's read, so don't make assumptions based on the status displayed.
 

V1c

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I've had a few stories that used submittable accepted. It's like everything else. I have a friend who swears by submittable and only submits through them now, to each their own lucky or unlucky charm.

Now, I'm at 90 at Ap3x- I beleive we had a few people accepted there, I'm just wondering how long it takes once you get past the initial stage? Or what's average, another 60 days? more?
 

alexshvartsman

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I hear from a bunch of friends who have long-standing submissions at Apex. It seems that Sigrid is running behind a bit (keep in mind this is hearsay and I have no personal experience nor inside knowledge of this market).
 

Tamlyn

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I recommend no socks, but I haven't yet managed to figure out which moon phase is best.
 

Aislinn

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Do some/many/most editors not change the status on Submittable subs? I thought these were all unread because that status hadn't changed from Received, but the L editor said he read mine.

Does anyone else notice a lack of positive results from markets requiring Submittable? Part of my brain figures this is a coincidence, yet the lizard brain suspects otherwise.

Feel free to note the best color of socks to wear while submitting, and favorable moon phases, talismans, or physical positions.

I always suspect Submittable isn't completely up to date (but I also suspect that with DSF etc - I know I wouldn't be updating it all the time if I was an editor, it must add another layer of work, and one that is fairly pointless as far as subs administration goes).

I have had my own hideous experience with Submittable - a story that was basically a rewrite request but was switched to 'accepted' on Submittable and then, when they didn't like the rewrite, the second version was 'declined'.

I had to delete the 'accepted' row on Submittable or I would not have been able to cope - the mixed messages just too bruising and confusing. I don't really check Submittable much anymore, and that's very unlike me when it comes to rejectomancy ;) That row of red rejections is not an an encouraging sight!
 

Batspan

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Alex -- Good to know, and thanks for confirming that status might be left unchanged. From now on, I'll ignore that aspect of it. Useful point that subs are less likely to get lost on Submittable.

V1c -- Helpful to hear. Part of my brain works too hard to make sense of things that can't really be predicted. It seems that on average things I send through Submittable sit a lot longer, yet if I went through and did the math, I'd probably find similar waits on any other form of sub.

Wishing you good news from Ap3x. My only bump there was at the time of the editor change, so not typical. That sub went 77 days from sent to resolved. I've noticed a few older Rs this week (a 67-day today) on Grinder, along with the usual few-day ones. So they may be starting to catch up. My current one there is at day 27, longest I've gone without a word from them.

Tamlyn -- We're about to have a heatwave, so I'll try it barefoot. Clear sightings of Mars and Jupiter lately, so there's hope. :)

Aislinn -- I can see why you'd be bummed after putting the work into a rewrite and having it go from accepted to R. Ouch. Yeah, I don't like checking in and seeing the list of Rs. Same on DSF. Especially lately because I'm in a discouraged zone.

Given that the status changes aren't reliable and there will be an email *eventually* -- it's a waste of time to keep checking all these sub systems. I'm prone to looking at the As!mov's and even An*log's -- talk about silly things to do with my time. You've clearly survived without checking Submittable much; I think I'll do the same.

Thanks everyone for your responses. I keep reminding myself that a lack of bumps & personal Rs don't mean I don't have a shot, any more than positive responses mean I'll ever make a sale to that editor. Two of my three sales in the past year came from editors I'd never submitted to before. So much for being able to predict anything.
 

summontherats

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Anyone heard from Crossed Genres about the flash fiction submissions?

I queried them last week, actually! Apparently they're behind on reading those, since they got twice as many entries as they usually do on top of an already busy month. They said they'd start contacting people as soon as possible.
 
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StormChild

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Unfortunately it doesn't look like they'll ship postage stamps to non-US addresses (I'm pretty sure I tried this before), unless I'm doing something wrong. There's a drop-down box for 'Country' in the checkout form, but the only option is United States (and if I don't check this, it tells me my address is 'undeliverable').

I had a look and it seems like they've removed that aspect of the web order (it's about 18 months since I bought mine), although they do still accept international orders as telephone orders: +1-816-545-1000

They don't accept PayPal, unfortunately.

None of which is an issue, though, if F&SF are willing to reply by email. :)
 

Melinda Moore

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I queried them last week, actually! Apparently they're behind on reading those, since they got twice as many entries as they usually do on top of an already busy month. They said they'd start contacting people as soon as possible.

Thanks for passing that on. I appreciate it.
 

summontherats

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Thanks for passing that on. I appreciate it.

No problem!

Man, I shouldn't be worrying about this in the middle of a move. But I just checked Submission Grinder, and it looks like Crossed Genres has started out acceptances. Has anyone gotten any rejections for the flash fiction issue?

EDIT: Nevermind! Got my rejection the day after I wrote this.
 
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LolaVelo

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Hi everyone,
I heard back on a query about a story I submitted six months ago - they had lost it completely, apparently in an editor change over and said I should "feel free" to resubmit it. My immediate thought is "nope." Am I being hasty? Do you resubmit in these kinds of circumstances? It all seems pretty cavalier, and it was the only place that story was sitting all those months...
 

alexshvartsman

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Hi everyone,
I heard back on a query about a story I submitted six months ago - they had lost it completely, apparently in an editor change over and said I should "feel free" to resubmit it. My immediate thought is "nope." Am I being hasty? Do you resubmit in these kinds of circumstances? It all seems pretty cavalier, and it was the only place that story was sitting all those months...

Did they offer to bump it up to the top of the slush pile?

If not, I would probably feel free to lose this market.
 

dachshund

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Do you resubmit in these kinds of circumstances? It all seems pretty cavalier, and it was the only place that story was sitting all those months...

I'm desperate enough that I would. If you're fairly new at this game, then I could understand blowing them off. I can live with stupid, sloppy and/or disorganized.
 

alexshvartsman

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I'm desperate enough that I would. If you're fairly new at this game, then I could understand blowing them off. I can live with stupid, sloppy and/or disorganized.

I don't see the correlation here. Being new would cause one to expect the market to treat them with dignity, as though that is some kind of an amateur expectation?

It should be the other way around. Once you've done this for a few months and got your bearings, you should view the markets with a more critical eye and submit less indiscriminately.
 

dachshund

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If you're new and hopeful, it's easy to blow off stupid publications. There's still a million other places to try. If you've been doing this for a few years and the rejections have piled up, you might be more inclined to let crap slide for a possible sale. At least that's how I feel...
 

alexshvartsman

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If you're new and hopeful, it's easy to blow off stupid publications. There's still a million other places to try. If you've been doing this for a few years and the rejections have piled up, you might be more inclined to let crap slide for a possible sale. At least that's how I feel...

You have W1S1 ensuring that you never run out of good markets to try with fresh stories :)

If a story has been around the block, I'd still rather sit on it and wait for an appropriate anthology to pop up than send it to a sub-par market.
 

LolaVelo

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Thanks for your input - I really appreciate it! I think I'm going to hold the piece until another appropriate market pops up. I probably wouldn't be as annoyed if they didn't prohibit simultaneous submissions, and if there had been some sort of indication they'd actually read it if I resubmitted it (as per Alex's point), it would have made a difference.

Thanks again!
 

Witch_turtle

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Does anybody happen to know anything about The Misfit Journal? They accepted one of my stories in March for their third issue and said they would get to the editing/contract stuff "soon", but I haven't heard anything. I've been patient because I know the organization does a lot more than just the magazine, but I noticed their submission info (link: http://misfit-inc.com/the-misfit) hasn't been updated and still includes a statement that "Issue 2 will be published in January 2014"...and as far as I can tell, it wasn't. I'm starting to think I should query, but I'm really not sure what to say or ask. Thoughts? Advice?
 

Melinda Moore

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Witch_Turtle, I queried awhile ago about a piece I submitted in November, but I never heard back. I meant to requery, but it's on the bottom of my to do list. I hope you've heard from them by now.

Re: Read Short Fiction-I just saw some responses today. Not for me but for other people.