Rejectomancy

Sai

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Third rejection today! 21 day from Three-Lobed Eye. On the bright side, I'm already much better with Excel.
 

Marzioli

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Noooo! CP4 rejection. It had been held aside for consideration, but now it's got the boot.
 

sarahthegrey

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39-day R from CWP. Really had my hopes up on this one. This story's scored a half dozen higher-tier and personal rejections from pro markets, but none with any kind of guidance. Wish I knew what the dealbreaker was, so I can avoid it in the future.

Even on the good days, this feels more like luck than skill. Sad face, etc.

EDIT: Apparently I'm not the only one. He's culling the herd. :(
 

Eliza C

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Two this afternoon - 7-day form from Clockwork Phoenix and 38-day personal from Plasma Frequency.
PF said "After reading your manuscript the first time, we moved it to a second read editor for an addition reading. After a complete second reading of your manuscript, we decided not to accept it." In my little world of wishful thinking I first read it as "we decided to accept it." Kind of the reverse of Marzioli's experience today, though it only lasted a moment.
 

Marzioli

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Sarah, yeah, it looks that way. Our dreams of glory have vanished (only not really)! Condolences.

Eliza, I've misread rejections like that before. Condolences to you too.
 
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Tienci

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Penumbra was ultimately not impressed--38 day form R.
Darn it! Second time this story made the next round with a pro market (first time with Apex) and still no go...
 

johemedel

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Sorry for the Rs, all. Just received a 14 day form R, myself, from a first reader at Strange Horizons.

Onward.
 

V1c

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Cartoon bandaids all around!

I got one from Penum saying they were sorry couldn't fit my story into the issue (and am wondering if that's the form?) but look forward to more. There are a couple topics far enough down the year that intrigue me, so we'll see!
 

Eliza C

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131-day form R from WotF 4th quarter.
 

squeaky pram

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Hey Squeaky! Nice to see you up this part of town!

Thanks, PD! I've noted that you've had some successes (I read here, I just don't write much). Well done!

70-day form rejection from Ninth Letter. This was one of my best, maybe even my best. Breaking into the literary market is proving to be very hard, and I might be at me breaking point. I just can't get any short story published.

You are eager, gb, which is great. I've never in my life been as prolific or as ambitious as you seem to be. It will happen for you. In the meantime you'll continue to improve. Also, what zanzjan says below:

Literary is hugely difficult. Which stinks, but will make it all the sweeter when you sell one. And a story is only your best until you write a better one. Stick to it if you can, and good luck!
 

squeaky pram

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re: Duotrope

I understand the reasons people have given for withdrawing from dt, but I'm wondering if anyone here plans to continue there? I'm on the fence.
 

Eliza C

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Welcome Squeaky Pram
Over in the Duotrope thread you'll see that most who have weighed in are not willing to pay the $50 (up front or in installments), but a couple of us (myself included) are thinking of trying $5/month, at least for a month or two to see how it goes.
I'm pretty annoyed by their implied attitude in recent statements that 90% of their users are useless deadbeats and they'll be better off without them (and the arrogance that their stats will actually improve, which I seriously doubt), and I've come to believe that they're charging such a ridiculous price to intentionally lose most of their users. On the other hand, I hate change, I'm pretty addicted and I currently have a few subs out at markets that I'm hopeful about that I never would have found without Duo. If any of those sell, I'll stick with it just for the obscure listings.
 

Marzioli

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I'm pretty much in agreement with Eliza. I'll go a few months and see if it's worth it, because I'm still grateful for the information and service they gave me for free (not including donations).
 

fihr

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20 day R from Shimmer.

I can't quite bear to let go of dt yet, even though I think $50 is way too much. I'll try $5per month. Not a lump sum, in case they become useless after the deadline. Basically, delaying my decision.
 

Eliza C

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Sigh - 35-day R from BCS. A personal rejection from S.H. Andrews. He read it through and had some very nice things to say about it and invited me to sub again, but this had been my target market for this story, so it's one of the ouchy rejections. The upside is that it came back just in time to go out to CWP before their deadline!
 

Datepalm

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Sigh - 35-day R from BCS. A personal rejection from S.H. Andrews. He read it through and had some very nice things to say about it and invited me to sub again, but this had been my target market for this story, so it's one of the ouchy rejections. The upside is that it came back just in time to go out to CWP before their deadline!

Ouch. Good luck with it at CWP. I've got a 40 day with them, and I have the depressing feeling i'm just going to miss the CWP cutoff. (I had the impression it was open until Dec. 31st when I sent it off to BCS.)
 

squeaky pram

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Mazioli, Eliza C, and fihr: thanks for your responses re: dt.

I think that's what I'll do, too: 5 dollars a month and see how it goes. I don't mind paying for something I value (in fact, I donated to dt for that reason), but who knows what dt will become post-fees. I'll do the month by month thing with y'all..
 

Eliza C

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Ouch. Good luck with it at CWP. I've got a 40 day with them, and I have the depressing feeling i'm just going to miss the CWP cutoff. (I had the impression it was open until Dec. 31st when I sent it off to BCS.)

40-days at BCS is a hopeful sign, considering recent response times listed there. Best of luck, and if it doesn't work out, well there's still until end of tomorrow to get it in with CWP.
 

Datepalm

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... there's still until end of tomorrow to get it in with CWP.

Would you believe I tried to work out how that goes in terms of time zones? (I'm trying not to get my hopes up with BCS. I'm just not optimistic about this one, for some reason.)
 

Sai

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135-day from TOR, which is actually pretty short for them. It was a very nice personal rejection. I know a lot of rejection letters ask people to submit again in the future, but from TOR it actually rang true.