Rejectomancy

Eliza C

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77 day R from Wastelands 2 anthology.

Feel weird not to be reporting this on Duotrope.

Ack - This hadn't occurred to me yet. I've been dreading the changes to Duo come January, but failed to consider that folks not planning on subscribing will already be pulling out. I'm a bit over normal days out at a couple of markets and have been obsessively checking stats but, of course, they may already be less reliable. I'm still very sad about what I see as them shooting themselves in the foot with all this. Whatever they become, I'll miss what they were.

Oh - and sorry for the R, Alex.
 

Marzioli

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Nuts! 83-day rejection from Penumbra. The "although enjoyable to read" form. (This is only the second time it's made it past the slush, and has now been dropped a whopping 24 times! And yet I still believe in it. Go figure).

And for the record, I updated Duotrope on the matter. They've been a good service and deserve the chance to prove themselves.
 
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Eliza C

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Nuts! 83-day rejection from Penumbra. The "although enjoyable to read" form. (This is only the second time it's made it past the slush, and has now been dropped a whopping 24 times! And yet I still believe in it. Go figure).

And for the record, I updated Duotrope on the matter. They've been a good service and deserve the chance to prove themselves.

Ugh - 83 days - Sorry about that :-(
 

alexshvartsman

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Thanks Eliza. I think it feels worse than it usually would because it's at the end of its submittable life, so much appreciated. :)

Sorry about the R, but there's no such thing as the end of a story's submittable life.

If YOU still think the story's good, keep sending it out there. New semipro markets pop up almost weekly. I have a few stories that accumulated 20+ rejections that I'm still sending out because I love them. I also have sales for stories that circulated that much, so it's NOT a lost cause!
 

alexshvartsman

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Ack - This hadn't occurred to me yet. I've been dreading the changes to Duo come January, but failed to consider that folks not planning on subscribing will already be pulling out. I'm a bit over normal days out at a couple of markets and have been obsessively checking stats but, of course, they may already be less reliable. I'm still very sad about what I see as them shooting themselves in the foot with all this. Whatever they become, I'll miss what they were.

Oh - and sorry for the R, Alex.

I stopped recording my submissions on Duotrope as soon as they made the announcement. Why should I provide them with data to resell which I will no longer have access to myself?

I know a number of writers who went through the trouble of deleting their submission history from DT, already degrading their statistics somewhat. I'm still undecided whether or not I want to delete my data, but I sure am not recording my new subs anymore.
 

Marzioli

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Yeah, you're right Alex! But I may stop at 50. :D

I know a number of writers who went through the trouble of deleting their submission history from DT, already degrading their statistics somewhat.
Hmmm, that doesn't seem like a nice thing to do. Duotrope may be wanting money now, but they still provided many of us with months of free services and introduced us to a lot of great new markets. In other words, Duotrope at least earned the right to keep old statistics if nothing else.
 
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Eliza C

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I stopped recording my submissions on Duotrope as soon as they made the announcement. Why should I provide them with data to resell which I will no longer have access to myself?

I totally understand - why would you report if you will no longer use the service? - I just hadn't thought about it starting this month until I saw yours and Zan's posts. Yet another ack moment over this whole can of worms.
 

zanzjan

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I would have continued to report the outcomes of existing subs I had with them as long as I could, it just so happened this was the only one I had out at the time of the announcement. (It's been a crazy-busy year.) I'm not going to pull my data either; that seems unfair and I do wish them continuing success. They just don't get anything new, because I don't expect to be able to follow up on those, making the report useless to us both.
 

Marzioli

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Uh... Regarding the Penumbra rejection? I just got an email taking it all back. More deets in a more appropriate thread for those that are interested. :D
 

V1c

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congrats! I love this newtrend of rejections being taken back (are two a trend?)

and hugs to the rest.
 

Eliza C

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Uh... Regarding the Penumbra rejection? I just got an email taking it all back. More deets in a more appropriate thread for those that are interested. :D

I don't see the details posted yet but sounds like congratulations may be in order...
So, what -- they were just messing with your head??
 

Marzioli

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I don't see the details posted yet but sounds like congratulations may be in order...
So, what -- they were just messing with your head??
They said it was an error, but didn't specify. I think the reversal kind of makes me shy to talk about it, just in case they reverse it again. :)
 

sarahthegrey

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They said it was an error, but didn't specify. I think the reversal kind of makes me shy to talk about it, just in case they reverse it again. :)

My god, editors DO send "nevermind" emails! I KNEW IT!!! My paranoia just deepened.

At least this one is the right kind of nevermind. Congrats!
 

O'Dandelo

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Eeeeeeeee, Samuel! Great job! Penumbra must have gotten my email earlier today. IT consisted of only "RE: Marzioli rejection" and a 150-point-font >:O.
 

alexshvartsman

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Hmmm, that doesn't seem like a nice thing to do. Duotrope may be wanting money now, but they still provided many of us with months of free services and introduced us to a lot of great new markets. In other words, Duotrope at least earned the right to keep old statistics if nothing else.

Again, I have not decided to pull my data yet, but let me play devil's advocate:

1) I paid DT for their services i.e. donated well more than $5/year they suggested and do not feel that I "owe them". I felt that way previously, but their obvious disregard for their user base and change in model have moved them from "that cool web site I'd like to support" to business transaction territory. And a business transaction is judged on its value. I won't spend $50 on what they're selling, just like I won't pay $10 for a really good cup of coffee, even if I might pay $4 for it.

2) I was interested in providing statistics not to benefit Duotrope directly, but to share the information with the rest of the community. Since DT is no longer offering me the opportunity to do that, why should I let them make a profit from my data?

In a way it's like writing a blog post. I'd gladly write one gratis for a popular web site that's free to read and asked for one... but if said site was behind a pay wall and asked me to write a blog post for them, I would *only* do it if they paid me.

Perhaps DT should reduce their annual rate by $0.10-0.25 for every reported submission recorded in the previous year/billing cycle. That way they'd be rewarding users who are most active on the site and provide the lion's share of the data... but even then it would disenfranchise users like Suzanne who are reporting quality data but don't send all that many subs out at one time.
 

johemedel

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Duotrope may be wanting money now, but they still provided many of us with months of free services and introduced us to a lot of great new markets.

This is a two-way street. They provided us with a service, sure. They listed markets. But this information is easily attainable with a modicum of internet research (see: Ralan.) In terms of other services, tracking, etc -- that was all the fruits of our labor. We provided them with statistics (which they will now sell) for years.

And I mean, come one, we're writers. This is the last demographic I'd ever hit up for money. It seems to me that they would have done better going the advertising route. Loathe as I would be to see ads on the site, it would certainly be preferable to a money wall.
 

Sai

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9-day form rejection from Clockwork Phoenix. Now to do a test run of Ralan and find another market for it.
 

J.W. Alden

The King Who Bore the Sword
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Well thanks, Marzioli. Now I have to compose queries for all of the markets that have rejected me in the past six months and ask if they really meant it. ;)

Congrats! The odd bit of good news in this thread is refreshing.
 

kalevin

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7-day rejection from CWP. This story is racking up a lot of 2nd-round bump, "this is just what we want but not quite" sort of feedback. Hrmm.
 

Sai

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39-day form rejection from Penumbra for the Bradbury issue. I'm glad I heard back now as I was starting to get my hopes up. I'm still looking forward to reading the anthology when it comes out :).
 

Marzioli

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Alex & johemedel, I can understand your points, and this is only my personal opinion, not any sort of judgement. But at the end of the day many of us benefited from a symbiotic relationship with DT with the explicit understanding that they needed donations and our information in order to maintain themselves. Many of us lived up to our part, but not enough users donated, and so DT ended up losing money for 5 straight years. As such, I believe they paid us for those stats by keeping the business running. Look, obviously they're not a necessary service, but they were a convenient middle man that made the process far simpler than Ralan and spreadsheets.
 

MeretSeger

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Well, the crickets have roared. 11 day R from Ellery Queen (I get seriously fast Rs from them, clearly my style isn't quite right!); 19 day R from Clockwork Phoenix; 50 day R from TM magazine. 2 checked over and back out, looking for a target for number 3.

As for Duotrope: they can have and use my previous stats as I always considered my faithful reporting to be part of my donation. No taking my ball and going home. But I will be 'going home' ...