Rejectomancy

SaucyPaladin

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I'm at 80 days at Terraform. I have queried at around 65 days (since their stated response time was something like two weeks) and haven't heard back. I queried again a couple of days ago. Again, silence. If I don't hear back 90 days in, I'll be withdrawing.

Serious question. How does one withdraw a story from a market that doesn't respond? As in, how can one be certain that an unresponsive market has received one's withdrawal (short of registered snail mail)?
 

Ty Schalter

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Fastest rejection I've ever received from Asimov's. Wonder if I inadvertently did something wrong. Bummer.

I think they've recently committed to killing slush as it comes in the door. Grinder stats for the last 12 months show a 2-3 month wait for everything, but looking at the most recent pieces they've been turning around most Rs in just a day or two.

Can't say it isn't appreciated!

Peace
Ty
 

Aggy B.

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Serious question. How does one withdraw a story from a market that doesn't respond? As in, how can one be certain that an unresponsive market has received one's withdrawal (short of registered snail mail)?

Withdrawing a story is a courtesy, not a legal requirement. You send an email stating that as of X date the story is being withdrawn. Then you save the copy in your "sent" folder.

If for some reason they don't see the email and contact you to offer a contract, you simply tell them the story has been withdrawn and forward the previous email. Not withdrawing a story doesn't mean you have to accept a contract offer if one should eventually materialize, it just means you don't look as professional as you do if you send that notification.

At least, this is my take. I had to do something similar with GUD a couple of years back.
 

Gnome

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38 day form from flash fiction online. Apparently my story made it to the last round. Frustrating.
 

SaucyPaladin

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...and it's moot. 63 day personalized rejection from T3rraf0rm.
 

JJ Litke

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8-day form R from Fantastic Stories of the Imagination. They're damn fast. Which is nice.
 

Kweei

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I think they've recently committed to killing slush as it comes in the door. Grinder stats for the last 12 months show a 2-3 month wait for everything, but looking at the most recent pieces they've been turning around most Rs in just a day or two.

Can't say it isn't appreciated!

Peace
Ty

Nope, it's not just you. I got one last week within 24 hours.


Thanks! That's good to know. I am always for faster response times anyway. :)
 

pdichellis

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108-day dejection from Spinetingler. Editor's note said he liked the writing, but the story wasn't right for the market.

I made lots of year-end subs and am starting to get responses. So far, a couple of acceptances and a couple of rejections. (Lamplight post above.) Seems okay, but I really wanted the spot at Spinetingler because the editor had encouraged me in past Rs. Gotta figure out how to crack the code there.

Best wishes,
Peter
 

ACFantasy

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Rejection from Urban Fantasy Magazine, with a couple paragraphs of very helpful comments from the slush readers.

Really liking the detailed feedback I get from them. They've pretty much become the first place I send... well, all my urban fantasy stuff that wasn't specifically written for another market.
 

Gnome

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Got a revise and resubmit from pl@sma frequency. They like my concept but seem to want a completely different story so I don't know if I will bother.
 

William Green

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I can think of nothing more frustrating than rejection via no response. At first you think, "Wow, they've had this a long time, they must really be considering it" and slowly it sinks in that, "No, either they just didn't send a response." Time to move on to someone else.
 

JJ Litke

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William Green, double-check their current standings on Submission Grinder if you haven't already. Some markets take a super-long time. But if you are past their average, query them about status. Most of their sites have a time frame for that (that is, if it's past so much time, contact them).
 

William Green

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William Green, double-check their current standings on Submission Grinder if you haven't already. Some markets take a super-long time. But if you are past their average, query them about status. Most of their sites have a time frame for that (that is, if it's past so much time, contact them).

Good advice, however in this case, the confirmation email I received upon submitting said if I don't hear back in two months it means something has gone wrong and I should resubmit.

Lately, I've been wondering if there is something wrong with my email and I'm not getting all my messages, as there have been a couple places I never heard back from even after sending polite follow-up messages (on the plus side, I sold two stories in January, so at least THOSE emails got through.)
 

JJ Litke

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Huh. There were several people who never got a response from DSF in recent weeks if that was one of the markets you had trouble with (in that case I'm assuming it was a problem on their end). And I'll bet you already checked your spam folder.

On the other hand, congrats on those sales, that's always nice!
 

Hapax Legomenon

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5 day R from @cidic f1ction.

Has anyone heard from F1ction V@le recently?
 

Aislinn

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First rejection for the year - 48 hours from Asimov's. Glad I had read about the new slush blitz here before I got that one!
 

JJ Litke

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Heh, I got a two-day R from Asimov's yesterday. And today I got a nice personal R from BCS. I'm going to do a bit of revision before sending that one back out.
 

Capability

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Two Weeks (give or take) at Cl@rkesworld. Sent it out again. I really thought this was The One..!
 

Tamlyn

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All my rejections this year have come from publications closing due to ill health.

Hm. Maybe I'm jinxing the places.