Rejectomancy

Sara K.

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Just got a lovely 16-day personal(?) R from F&SF. "I like the voice of this story and the writing in general, but overall the premise just didn't grab me. I'm going to pass on this one for F&SF, but I wish you best of luck finding the right market for it. I hope I'll see more stories from you in the future."

Nothing I can do about the premise really, so I'm just going to have to hope another editor is grabbed by it.

For anyone wondering, went out at 74.
 

eyeblink

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Just got a lovely 16-day personal(?) R from F&SF. "I like the voice of this story and the writing in general, but overall the premise just didn't grab me. I'm going to pass on this one for F&SF, but I wish you best of luck finding the right market for it. I hope I'll see more stories from you in the future."

Nothing I can do about the premise really, so I'm just going to have to hope another editor is grabbed by it.

For anyone wondering, went out at 74.

That does sound like a personal reject to me and you should send it somewhere else. I suggested this market to another poster on here, but if you're writing slipstreamy SF as I remember you described your work as, you could try Interzone - in the UK but do take online submissions nowadays.

In short, if your story was a complete miss and he didn't think you could write, he wouldn't be encouraging you to send him more.
 
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JJ Litke

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Oh cool, I should count mine as a personal, too, then.

It's nice to get good response from pro markets, but with six stories out since the beginning of the year, I haven't made a sale yet. The acceptance rates aren't very encouraging, and I just noticed lately that the acceptance rates for the semi-pro markets don't seem any better.
 

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It's so nice to see Finlay's still able to give useful advice in his rejections, despite the crazy numbers over at F&SF. I finally subbed another story there and am hoping for feedback (I'm trying to cultivate disinterested fatalism regarding, like, an acceptance. Dream small, etc).

And I feel like I'm due a rejectolanche. A month at Str@nge Horizons! Nearly two at Abyss&Ap3x! Coming up on the window at Ideomancer! SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE, REJECT MEEEEE!
 
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ACFantasy

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Rejectolanche time!

Double R from CG, single R from Escap3 P0d, and single R from Sh1mm3r.
 

Tamlyn

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Pretty immediate Fireside rejection.

It'll have to wait to go back out until I'm back from holiday though.
 

Ty Schalter

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25-day personal from Terraform. Rack up another lengthy, glowing, detailed, thanks-so-much-and-please-send-us-other-stuff-but-this-one's-not-a-fit R for this story. So awesome, yet so awful.

I keep hoping to sell this scene as a flash/short-short while I develop it into a novel, but every editor wants to see a much deeper dive into the world and emotions of these characters. I need to quit submission-grinding the short and just write the stupid novel.

From a Rejectomancy perspective, the Terraform editors "are currently pickaxing their way out of an inbox avalanche," and profusely apologetic for long/erratic turnaround times. Considering the Grinder stats, it feels like maybe they're starting to get a handle on it?

Thanks,
Ty
 

DetectiveFork

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If you mean from CC/F&SF, his can be pretty personal. All of mine thus far have talked about different aspects of the story and why he's passing. Hope that helps.

Just got my first rejection from C.C. Finlay after about two weeks. His personal comments were very helpful, even if they made me realize that the style of voice I used in the story (which I use in many stories) is probably not going to grab him in other submissions.

Does anyone have any experience submitting to Asimov's? I'm considering them next. (Well, after I likely get rejected from Clarkesworld; the sub started at a low queue number but hasn't moved at all in the last 24 hours.) I saw there have been short response times from Asimov's, but any personal feedback from the readers?

Oh, hello, by the way. :)
 
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Aislinn

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A painful morning - form rejections from IGMS and Cricket. And the 's' key on my keyboard is sticking.
 

William Green

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Received a handful of rejections this past couple weeks:

SF&F: "I like the writing in this but the premise just didn't convince me"

Shimmer: "Stories involving gender politics/explorations are definitely in Shimmer's wheelhouse, but overall this one just didn't win me over; it felt a little less lyrical than we typically lean toward."

Forms from Apex, Betwixt and Nightmare.

UFO was nice enough to let me know they found the story they were rejecting "delightfully creepy".

Carousel sent me a form R for a story I withdrew months ago.
 

Gnome

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85 day form from k@leidotrope. The rest of my submissions seem to have vanished into the twilight zone.
 

pdichellis

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102-day veto on a mystery reprint from Strange Mysteries anthology. Nice note from the editor, liked the writing and invited me to sub more, but the story wasn't quite the kind of sff/horror strangeness she wanted.
 

DarkSongofErrin

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7 month, 29 day rejection from the New Yorker for a poem. Can't remember why I tried there, forgot it was even out. According to rejection wiki it's a tiered response, but I think they may have just changed their rejection slip.
 

StormChild

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41-day form nope from BCS; 3-day form from Clarkesworld.

And out they go again.
 

Ty Schalter

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IGMS slapped the story that's gotten all my nicest personals with their formiest form. 38 days. They REALLY don't dig my stuff over there!

Peace
Ty
 

StormChild

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4-day "didn't quite work for me" from Nightmare.

Ty, I agree that there's something chillingly absolute about the IGMS form
 

JJ Litke

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Uh oh, I have a story out at IGMS. What does their form say? I mean, I'll probably find out soon enough, but it'd be nice to know if I'm not getting customized disdain.

pdichellis, I've only gotten rejections, too. A couple of nice personal ones, but still rejections. Only recently have I gone through all the suitable pro markets for a couple of stories and sent them down to the semis. Still waiting to see if that works out.
 
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StormChild

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My IGMS rejection was "We're sorry to tell you that we will not be using it; you are free to submit it elsewhere."

Clear and to the point.