Rejectomancy

fihr

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Yep. I queried at 444 days and was seriously thinking about withdrawing at 666 days. Since then I've been looking at it every day thinking, well, should I? Like some weird submission game of Chicken, I'm glad they flinched first.

It was a really nice and deeply personal rejection, so that's helped. And I'm excited to get to sub this story again, I really love it.

I'm glad it was at least very personal, after all that time. It really must be an excellent story for them to hold it for so long. Such a shame they didn't take it in the end, but congrats for getting so close with Tor. That's no small deal.

And sorry for the R's, Sai, Eliza and O'Dandelo. Especially the ones coming in quick succession. Ouch.
 

Sai

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Yep. I queried at 444 days and was seriously thinking about withdrawing at 666 days. Since then I've been looking at it every day thinking, well, should I? Like some weird submission game of Chicken, I'm glad they flinched first.

It was a really nice and deeply personal rejection, so that's helped. And I'm excited to get to sub this story again, I really love it.

Yikes. I hope on your story's next outing you get a nice, quick acceptance :).
 

J.W. Alden

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Consolations on the painful ones, troop. March ever onward.

My most recent is a 14-day from Strange Horizons, yesterday.
 

Eliza C

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After a week of silence, tonight I just got a 42-day form reject from Flash Fiction Online followed by a 675-day personal reject from Tor.com

Forgive me if I seem short of breath.

675 - pretty harsh for a market that doesn't allow sim subs.
 

renard79

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Ouch on the slew of Rs, particularly that long one from Tor! Ouch.

14 day R from Not One of Us. I can't seem to hit the right note with them.
 

Marzioli

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Something like 107-day from Wily Writers and 2-day from Nightmare.
 

akaSylvia

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Yikes. I hope on your story's next outing you get a nice, quick acceptance :).

I've submitted to Lightspeed as a kneejerk response to bring the average wait time for this story down. :D Soon, I'll send it to the market I think will love it (i hope i hope) but I have something else with them now so not yet. *sigh*
 

renard79

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Back into confused space with Star*Line. The poem I submitted was shortlisted for the SFPA contest, but they say it isn't speculative enough. *shrugs*. Oh well, try, try again!
 

Eliza C

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Sign me up for one of those band-aids. Condolences and commiserations to everyone else in the ouch rejectomancy boat lately.
 

V1c

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i got a years end kazka rejection too, saying it didn't fit their vision for the antho. *gives self a band-aid*

i find cartoon band-aids soothe wounds faster. Many good wishes for the next outing on all these stories!
 

caliph

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Got my due from At Year's End as well. Disappointing, but eh, annoyance is silliness. Is there any other market for <500 word holiday stories, though? Would markets like FFO, DSF, and Stupefying stories be interested? As any stories accepted would be published outside of the season.
 

Marzioli

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Today I queried a market after I felt they had sat on my story long enough (well beyond the rest of the slush submitted at a similar date). Their response was that they rejected it on the 4th of October. I don't doubt it, but I read through every email I receive before I erase it, including the spam, so this one just plain got lost in transit. Lesson learned anew. Holding off a due query helps no one.
 
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Brynn

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Do you know how many days it was "under review" before they cut you loose?

No idea, sorry. I only checked on it once, and at that point it was "under review", but I don't remember how many days that was before the rejection.

Got my At Year's End rejection today as well.
 

fihr

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...so this one just plain got lost in transit. Lesson learned anew. Holding off a due query helps no one.

You've just convinced me to get off the fence and query one of my crickets. A significant number of emails do just get lost.

Sorry for all the R's everyone.

If anyone's interested, On The Premises next competition is for holiday themed stories - might be relevant for expanding some of those 'Year's End' stories, depending on the guidelines.
 

Marzioli

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You've just convinced me to get off the fence and query one of my crickets. A significant number of emails do just get lost.
Fingers crossed for you! On a side note, I'm out at 10 days for another query from a well known fledgling market... With the lack of response, I don't know if they ever got the query. And now I'm also worried they never got my sub to begin with. :eek:
 

defcon6000

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I received a rejection saying my story was close, but the ending failed, then the editor goes on to explain why the ending failed... and it's not the ending I wrote. I even double-checked the sub to make sure I hadn't sent in the wrong thing. So somewhere along the line, editor misread my ending and rejected me for it. : /

Also, 102-day R from Shroud.

Aaand I know this is the wrong thread but they bought the story. *faints*
That's super-awesome! Congrats! Hopefully it makes up for the terribly long wait.