Rejectomancy

alexshvartsman

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I made the mistake of not reading their entire lengthy tome of instructions and ended up including my name and contact information on the manuscript itself. That led to a speedy 7-day rejection. I don't suppose I was the only one to do that in this case?

I submit to ASIM all the time, and always include my contact info--can't find anything in the guidelines that requests otherwise. Are you sure you weren't thinking Flash Fiction Online?
 

alexshvartsman

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Okay,skilled rejectomancers.

What do y;all make of these stats for my YA novel:

I completely gutted it and rewrote it back in November. Then I did the same for the query. Started querying in November. So far I have the following:

2 partial requests
1 Full request. R but a very nice and detailed R
Second request for a full came today

Does this mean I'm at mid slush,close,etc?

That sounds quite promising, actually. Send those MS out!
 

Marzioli

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Are you sure you weren't thinking Flash Fiction Online?
Lol, sadly I was just confused by the line that read, "DO include name, address, phone number, email etc at the top of the document." I read it as "DO NOT." In which case, my only mistake was a header. However, I can't believe they'd insta-reject on that one thing alone, so I imagine they just didn't like mine too. :D
 

alexshvartsman

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Don't be discouraged by a 7-day rejection from ASIM. I've received 2- and 3- day rejections from them multiple times. They're just very fast about such things. If you ever submit to Lightspeed, you might face a 0- or a 1-day rejection.

Personally, I prefer that to waiting several months for the same result :)
 

mhaynes

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Damn.

Got my R from FFO tonight. I suppose I should be mostly pleased. Final round, virtually all of the comments were positive with the exception of a general sense of "been there, read that" about the (dystopic) genre of the piece.

So, yeah.
 

mhaynes

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Sorry to hear that, Michael. Was that one of the stories I've read?

No, I don't think anyone's read it here.

I'm confident it'll sell somewhere. It got an "almost" PS comment from DSF and now the (if I'm looking at it rationally) really rather positive R from FFO.

I know that coming close all these times with stories is a good thing. I really do.

That's one of the downsides of the whole Duotrope thing. I get myself thinking "Oh, maybe this is the one" and then it's not.

*shrugs* This too shall pass.

On a totally different note, I got a three day rejection on an e-Sub to Buzzy Mag, who has a 67-day average on Duotrope. So, either they're responding to e-Subs a lot faster than the paper subs in the past or I did something really wrong here. ;)
 

alexshvartsman

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Sorry to hear about the R's Michael. These near-misses are wins, and you'll get a pro sale really soon. I know, because I've read your stuff :)

You've now scared me about Buzzy. I have an e-sub there for 12 days now and I wasn't *planning* on worrying about it for months yet!
 

Lillie

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((((Michael))))

Sorry about the Rs :(
 

mhaynes

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Thanks, Alex and Lillie. I've brushed myself off and gotten both of today's Rs back out to different markets.

Alex, I was completely shocked to get a reply already from Buzzy. I figured it would be a month-plus before I heard back from them.

It's sort of interesting how variable some of these places are. And then you've got IGMS which is just a 29-32 day rejection machine! :)

OK, off to do some writing. I got a new story idea today and though I think it might be a bit... hmm... cheesy... I'm going to write it up anyway and see how it turns out.
 

Marzioli

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Personally, I prefer that to waiting several months for the same result :)
True enough. I appreciate Lightspeed and Clarkesworld for their speed. In fact, I'm expecting a potential R in a few days from Clarkesworld as we speak.


Okay,skilled rejectomancers.

What do y;all make of these stats for my YA novel:

2 partial requests
1 Full request. R but a very nice and detailed R
Second request for a full came today

Does this mean I'm at mid slush,close,etc?
I'm not sure about ranking your position in regards to requests, but I do know a full request is the best compliment an agent/editor can give your work. The other possible responses, of course, are partial requests, a compliment of your query/concept rejection, and a form rejection.

The real key, of course, is getting them to accept your work, but you can only tell that based on their response. The great thing about, at least some, agents is that they'll be willing to help you shape your novel into perfection if they think there's enough talent and story there to warrant the time. Good luck with that! And, judging by the response, it sounds like you're on the right track with that query letter.


And mhaynes, sorry about the rejections. But it's news to me BuzzyMag is doing esubs now! Good to know. (Although, for the record, I see they've just closed to subs until February 8th).
 
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pangalactic

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Sitting on a pile of crickets, which is good as I just announced I'll be taking submissions for the university anthology I'm editing as of Monday - and of course, some people have already started sending stuff in and nobody is following the guidelines -.- Bloody writers ;)
 

loldoc

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An R from Scout and Engineer - which, per Duotrope, has yet to accept *anything*. [shrug]. Picky. Which, by an odd coincidence, is the name of my story in Stupefying Stories October 2011.

Thoughts for an Alternate History Horror prompt:

Dostoevsky hunting vampires in St Petersburg by gaslight?

Waffen SS land a team by Uboat in Tulum to perform a human sacrifice?

I have a mostly written story about TE Lawrence going to Jerusalem to talk a monk named Dzhugashvili into assassinating Chairman Trotsky - maybe crank up the horror in that and submit it?

What to do? (which, by an odd coincidence, is a title of one of Lenin's essays).
 

loldoc

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Sitting on a pile of crickets, which is good as I just announced I'll be taking submissions for the university anthology I'm editing as of Monday - and of course, some people have already started sending stuff in and nobody is following the guidelines -.- Bloody writers ;)

Well, what ARE the guidelines? Link plzkthxby.
 

Pemako

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An R from Scout and Engineer - which, per Duotrope, has yet to accept *anything*. [shrug]. Picky. Which, by an odd coincidence, is the name of my story in Stupefying Stories October 2011.

Thoughts for an Alternate History Horror prompt:

Dostoevsky hunting vampires in St Petersburg by gaslight?

Waffen SS land a team by Uboat in Tulum to perform a human sacrifice?

I have a mostly written story about TE Lawrence going to Jerusalem to talk a monk named Dzhugashvili into assassinating Chairman Trotsky - maybe crank up the horror in that and submit it?

What to do? (which, by an odd coincidence, is a title of one of Lenin's essays).

Wow, loldoc, those all sound great. I think you need to write all three of them (and let us know where we can read them).

R from Pedestal. Finally. Hooray. :hooray:
 

Kitty27

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An R from Scout and Engineer - which, per Duotrope, has yet to accept *anything*. [shrug]. Picky. Which, by an odd coincidence, is the name of my story in Stupefying Stories October 2011.

Thoughts for an Alternate History Horror prompt:

Dostoevsky hunting vampires in St Petersburg by gaslight?

Waffen SS land a team by Uboat in Tulum to perform a human sacrifice?

I have a mostly written story about TE Lawrence going to Jerusalem to talk a monk named Dzhugashvili into assassinating Chairman Trotsky - maybe crank up the horror in that and submit it?

What to do? (which, by an odd coincidence, is a title of one of Lenin's essays).

I like the first idea a lot!
 

loldoc

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R from Pedestal, form. Seem to run in packs. R from Buzzy. Ditto. 95 days - I guess it gave them pause. back to the drawing board...
 

alexshvartsman

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Thoughts for an Alternate History Horror prompt:

Which publication is that for? Not that I have anything that fits, I hardly ever do either Alt Hist or horror. But maybe it'll give me some inspiration, too ;)

Sorry about the R's. I got an 18 day R from Izz for a tiny story. But, on the bright side, I can haz story back! I know exactly where it is going to next. Now to figure out what else to annoy Izz with :)
 

loldoc

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Which publication is that for? Not that I have anything that fits, I hardly ever do either Alt Hist or horror. But maybe it'll give me some inspiration, too ;)

Sorry about the R's. I got an 18 day R from Izz for a tiny story. But, on the bright side, I can haz story back! I know exactly where it is going to next. Now to figure out what else to annoy Izz with :)

http://www.darkmoonbooks.com/Alternate_History_Horror.htm

Who's Izz? I need more people to annoy!
 

defcon6000

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Who's Izz? I need more people to annoy!
Our lovely sub-forum moderator, of course. ;) You can find some his posts/threads stickied up top. He runs Comets and Criminals, a very awesome webzine.

Sorry about all the R's, guys. *hugs* I'm back in cricketville. Though I'm surprised about Buzzy. I have a story with them at 8 days.
 

Marzioli

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Painful 43-day form rejection from Apex. After it passed the thirty-five day mark I had hope it was going places, what with the common 5-15 day rejections they have been serving for the past few months. No such luck.
 

alexshvartsman

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Sorry about the Apex R, Sam.

And Anatoly, you should definitely give Izz's Comets & Criminals a shot. It's a new market, but it publishes quality stuff.
 

Lillie

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I just looked at their guidelines. It says this.

By submitting your horror short fiction work to Dark Moon Books, you are assigning Dark Moon Books exclusive First World Rights for both print and electronic versions for a period of six months after publication. After that time period, you are free to resell your story as a reprint as long as first publication information is included. You keep all other rights including the original copyright.

To me it sounds like they have rights to your story from the moment its submitted, regardless of whether they accept it or not.
Am I reading it wrong?