Big-market e-sub misfire... advice?

Ty Schalter

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Hey, all.

Last Thursday I subbed to Asimov's (first time subbing to them). A splash screen came up giving me a ticket number, and telling me I should expect a confirmation email with the number and tracking link within two hours. It said to query if I don't get the email within two hours.

I didn't write down the ticket number. :e2paperba

Three hours later, no email. I queried. Four days later, no automatic email, no response to the query. Several pieces (per The Grinder) have been subbed and rejected since then... so do I take no news as good news?

I recently went through a "yay they're considering my piece oh no actually they lost it" snafu; don't want to repeat the experience—but I also don't want to send multiple queries and/or re-sub if that's going to tick the editors off.

Advice?

Peace
Ty
 

Marlys

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You've probably already thought of this, but just in case: have you checked your spam folder? It seems odd that two pieces of email didn't get to you, so maybe something is filtering them out.

Also, do you have a gmail account? If not, get one. From everything I've read, it's the most reliable.
 

Ty Schalter

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Thanks! Yeah, I checked my spam folder. Yeah, it's a gmail account. Super weird.

Peace
Ty
 

Ty Schalter

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Can you open up your internet browser history and find the page that gave you the ticket number? It's probably still there somewhere.

Yeah, good thought, but it just brings me back to the submission form.

Peace
Ty
 

OJCade

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The same thing happened to me recently - no confirmation email from Asimov's, that is. It wasn't in the spam folder either. Luckily, I noted my tracking number so I was able to see where it was in the queue.

Might just be best to chalk it up to an odd system and note the number in future.
 

Ariella

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Ty, I made exactly the same mistake as you on January 18th and ran into exactly the same problem. I've been squirming for the last 29 days, wondering if I somehow made a typo in my e-mail address on the submission form, and debating whether I should query them so soon and admit that I may have made a silly mistake. It sounds like there's a bug in their system.
 

Ty Schalter

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The same thing happened to me recently - no confirmation email from Asimov's, that is.

Ty, I made exactly the same mistake as you on January 18th and ran into exactly the same problem. I've been squirming for the last 29 days.

Looks like we actually have an issue here. Since the splash screen did say to query if no confirmation email, I already queried to the main address, asimovs @ dellmagazines, with no response. Maybe they're swamped with queries because of this?

Looks like that's the correct address for regular queries ("within three months"), too... I'd be squirming, too, but if you haven't queried yet I'd say it's worth a shot. No sense waiting for three months if they don't have it, and they do say to query if you don't get the automatic email.

Peace
Ty
 

Ariella

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OJ, did you receive a response to your story eventually?

If it's just the automatic confirmation that's misfiring, I'm willing to live in suspense for a few more days so that the editors can concentrate on evaluating stories rather than answering repetetive queries. I see on the Grinder that Asimov's median response time is 38 days.
 

OJCade

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I never received a response. Because I'd noted down the tracking number, though, I could see that they'd rejected it near two weeks after I sent it in.

Signing into their tracking system requires both email address and tracking number, so I know they've got the right email. It's just their system seems to be shot.
 

Ty Schalter

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Well, I got my R today—so Ariella, if the same thing happened to both of us, you're in great shape!

Peace
Ty
 

Ariella

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Oh boy, now I have Schrödinger's Story. Either it was rejected weeks ago like OJ's, or they just haven't sent me a response yet because it's in the second round. To open the box or not to open the box?
 

zanzjan

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I know there have been problems with email to and from hotmail. If you don't hear back after the average response time has solidly passed, I'd either query again or politely ping Sheila on the Asimov's FB page, as she does seem to check in on that fairly regularly.

FWIW I tend to note tracking numbers in my submission spreadsheet as a matter of habit, because a similar thing happened to me with a different market a while back.
 

Aislinn

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zanzjan, can you help me to find the Asimov's FB page? I've looked for it a number of times but I can only find a topic page for the magazine.
 

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I recently subbed to As1m0v's and also didn't get a confirmation email. I do have my ticket number, so I was able to log in and see that my story has a status of 'received'... but no queue number. I didn't get a reply when I querried about the missing confirmation.

Should I be worried about the lack of queue number?
 
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Ty Schalter

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Oh, I forgot to point out, they responded to my query a week or two ago.

Yes, a month after they sent the R.

I chuckled.

Peace
Ty
 

zanzjan

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Should I be worried about the lack of queue number?

The Asimov's sub page has never had a queue number, as far as I know. Having been deeply obsessive over the minute movements of my queue number at two other markets recently, I'm thinking they have the right idea.
 

ACFantasy

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Zanzjan: Thanks! I'll stop worrying, then. :)
 

OJCade

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The problem's definitely with Hotmail. I got a very kind email from Asimov's editor letting me know that's why I hadn't got a response. Very impressed that she'd take the time to do that.

I'll submit from an alternate email in future.
 

ACFantasy

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I've submitted a couple stories via an aol account and have not gotten confirmations either.
 

zanzjan

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AOL still exists? Whoa. *says the person on dialup internet, pot and kettle and all that*
 

OJCade

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I just subbed a story through my student (non-Hotmail) account and the ticket response came back perfectly. So, if anyone's needing further confirmation... sub through another email provider.
 

OJCade

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Just an update: Asimov's have moved to an online submissions form. Subbed something to them today, so have only just noticed it.