Rejectomancy

pangalactic

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Just got a rejection from Lightspeed for a piece I sent to them yesterday. Their site did say that they usually try to get things back after a few days, so I'm not taking it as a sign that it evoked instant revulsion, but still. I don't even have the next market decided on yet!
I guess their name is pretty appropriate.

I had a 2-hour form response from Lightspeed. Don't worry about it. If seems to me that if you happen to sub as JJA is looking at his emails then you'll get a fast response. My last one there was held for 8 days, and I was ecstatic; I've never had one last more than about 30 hours there before.
 

Marzioli

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My last one there was held for 8 days, and I was ecstatic; I've never had one last more than about 30 hours there before.
Nice! Does he give you more feedback when he holds it for consideration, but ultimately passes, or does he still form-R it?
 

Polenth

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Nice! Does he give you more feedback when he holds it for consideration, but ultimately passes, or does he still form-R it?

I've had a couple at Lightspeed which lasted longer than the usual response times. I got form rejections for them. I don't know if they were held or not, but they were certainly sitting at the top of the queue while other stories were being rejected.
 

Adam Israel

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I've had a couple at Lightspeed which lasted longer than the usual response times. I got form rejections for them. I don't know if they were held or not, but they were certainly sitting at the top of the queue while other stories were being rejected.

From experience, I've seen three levels of rejection from Lightspeed. Two forms, the standard and one that invites you to submit more. The third (my pride and joy) was a rewrite request and that was the only one that included any specific feedback about the story I submitted.
 

JenWriter

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Hi all. *pokes head in* I participated in this thread very briefly in August hoping to get into the W1S1 thing, but didn't really get going with it. But I've jumped back in now, hoping to get out a solid number of stories this year.

Right now, I have 3 out. One at Shimmer (12 days), one at Clarkesworld (1 day) and one at Title Goes Here: Print Edition (141 days, god help me).

The one out at Clarkesworld went out to Shadows and Tall Trees first, early this week, and I got a prompt, 0-day rejection. Ouch. Oh well, onward and all that. Working on my next story now so I can get another one out at the beginning of next week.
 

zanzjan

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Bah, another F&SF rejection to add to the stack. I knew better than to get my hopes up, really I did, but 21 days is just enough to crack open that bottle of what-if.

I have no idea whatsoever where to send this one next.
 

mhaynes

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Bah, another F&SF rejection to add to the stack. I knew better than to get my hopes up, really I did, but 21 days is just enough to crack open that bottle of what-if.

Just curious, if you don't mind saying, did the 21-day one appear to be a higher tier of R?

I have no idea whatsoever where to send this one next.

What length, "type" of story, etc. -- would be happy to help you brainstorm that.
 

Pemako

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Bah, another F&SF rejection to add to the stack. I knew better than to get my hopes up, really I did, but 21 days is just enough to crack open that bottle of what-if.

I have no idea whatsoever where to send this one next.

Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, 21 days would definitely get my hopes up. I hate it when that happens!!!
 

zanzjan

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Just curious, if you don't mind saying, did the 21-day one appear to be a higher tier of R?

It was the "nice writing here / didn't grab my interest" one. I think that's mid-slush.

What length, "type" of story, etc. -- would be happy to help you brainstorm that.

It's a fairytale-style fantasy, 11k. Yeah, awkward. Maybe I'll ebook it.
 

defcon6000

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Hey, in case anyone is wondering what the F&SF tier R's are, I found this thread on their forums (scroll down to the 3rd post), that's helpful -- well, not helpful if you got the R, of course. :tongue
 

Marzioli

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Hey, in case anyone is wondering what the F&SF tier R's are, I found this thread on their forums (scroll down to the 3rd post), that's helpful -- well, not helpful if you got the R, of course. :tongue
Hey, hope that's true! That means I got second tier. If he(/she/they) read the full thing, that must be worth something. ;)
 

mhaynes

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It's a fairytale-style fantasy, 11k. Yeah, awkward. Maybe I'll ebook it.

Two things that spring to mind -- and I don't know if you'd find either of these preferable to ebooking it -- would be Giganotosaurus and Musa Publishing. Both, I believe, would consider works in this range though I'm not personally circulating anything over about 5000 words other than one mystery novelette.
 

GCU_Dramatic Exit

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got a rejection from Flash Fiction Online

I don't know where to send this story now. I think it's pretty good and it got to the second round with DSF & Ideomancer thought the narration was beautiful but not enough to accept it :( so it must have a slimmer of merit.

Oh well, never mind

sorry for all the rejections people!
 

Sai

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got a rejection from Flash Fiction Online

I don't know where to send this story now. I think it's pretty good and it got to the second round with DSF & Ideomancer thought the narration was beautiful but not enough to accept it :( so it must have a slimmer of merit.

Oh well, never mind

sorry for all the rejections people!

It sounds like you have a good story, you just need to find the right editor (in the right mood, on the right day, while s/he is eating the right doughnut). Is it sci-fi or fantasy? Lots of mags are looking for flash fiction, even if they don't specialize in it. Good luck!
 

SmallThing

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FWIW, BCS does sometimes buy stories over 10K. I think the wording on his subs page may be a little vague on that, but it does happen so it may be worth a query.
 

pangalactic

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Nice! Does he give you more feedback when he holds it for consideration, but ultimately passes, or does he still form-R it?

Mine was the higher-tier "please submit more" form. I don't expect personals from Lightspeed though, so I was happy with that. (Unlike places like Shimmer, who I've come to expect very detailed personals from. The one time I got a form R from them it destroyed me.)
 

JenWriter

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Question for those who have subbed to Shimmer. Did you receive an email confirmation at all that they received the story? I haven't, I've been out there 13 days, and I'm seeing very recent responses on Duotrope for 1, 2, 4 and 7 day responses, just in the past few days. It's making me twitchy.
 

Pemako

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Question for those who have subbed to Shimmer. Did you receive an email confirmation at all that they received the story? I haven't, I've been out there 13 days, and I'm seeing very recent responses on Duotrope for 1, 2, 4 and 7 day responses, just in the past few days. It's making me twitchy.

I've submitted to them three times and I've never gotten a confirmation. Good luck!