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Well it's not two weeks since I've submitted it, it's two weeks after the end of the submissions period. They've actually had the piece for ~50 days.
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I understand that, but if they don't respond during the submission period, only after it closes then you're still early in the process. Naturally, it's up to you whether or not to poke them now or wait another two weeks, but if it were me, I would wait a little longer. Especially since it seems they haven't started responding to anyone yet.
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Well I guess it's kind of moot because I just got my rejection today...
At what point do I start submitting to nonpaying markets?
At what point do I start submitting to nonpaying markets?
Hapax:
Never, I would say. Even if you have exhausted every pro market, I would vote to keep it un-pubbed and wait for:
* A new pro market to open up. (I seem to recall someone from here saying that they had a story rejected 26 times, but got it accepted on the 27th to a new market that had just opened up... don't remember who, though.)
* An anthology call with a theme related to your story.
* You to become well known-enough through other stories that you become able to sell sets of your unpublished stories as collections.
(All 3 of those are from advice I've gotten at conferences from editors on panels. Of course, I'm not published yet myself, so YYMV).
Never, I would say. Even if you have exhausted every pro market, I would vote to keep it un-pubbed and wait for:
* A new pro market to open up. (I seem to recall someone from here saying that they had a story rejected 26 times, but got it accepted on the 27th to a new market that had just opened up... don't remember who, though.)
* An anthology call with a theme related to your story.
* You to become well known-enough through other stories that you become able to sell sets of your unpublished stories as collections.
(All 3 of those are from advice I've gotten at conferences from editors on panels. Of course, I'm not published yet myself, so YYMV).
Never. There is nothing to be gained from them. Publication at such places will not be seriously considered as a "credit" by editors at respectable markets, or anyone else with any kind of knowledge of the industry. And you will probably have the story read by more people if you simply post it on your own blog or Facebook account.
Also, new paying markets pop up faster than you can have your story rejected, ensuring that you will never run out of viable markets.
Also, if even the token markets won't take it, perhaps set the story aside, work on something else and continue to improve your craft and submit, then revisit this story in a year or so and see if you can improve it.
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zanzjan
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Alex and AC have got the right of it. Non-paying markets are not only essentially you throwing your story away, but later, when you're selling to higher markets and people start looking for your older stuff, potentially a huge embarrassment you'll never quite shake.
You can post it on your blog, but it is unlikely to find much of an audience there and it'll blow your chance of ever selling first-pub rights. This may not be a problem to you, though -- it's your call. I put a lot of my poetry on my website because I'm totally at peace with being a not-very-good poet, and largely poems aren't things I've ever considered making a serious effort to sell/publish. Some of this comes down to what sort of return you want out of the effort you've put in, which is ultimately your own call, but do it out of mindfulness about what you do want, rather than despair or pessimism.
If you've exhausted all the token and up markets, I'd say trunk the story. Wait until markets change, or you can look at it with a fresh eye further down the line and maybe see where it can be improved.
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The only exception to the non-paying market is the literary markets. They have low circulation, don't pay, but agents go through them. These are generally ones the MFA programs put out. Stories from there end up in pushcart, best american, best nonrequired reading, o'henry, etc.
Genre's a different story.
Also, I'm with setting it aside to marinate and going back to see how what you've learned in the passed time can improve the story or at least tackle the 'what do I do with this' issue.
Genre's a different story.
Also, I'm with setting it aside to marinate and going back to see how what you've learned in the passed time can improve the story or at least tackle the 'what do I do with this' issue.
Hapax, have you considered posting it on SYW for revision? Sometimes people there give you suggestions for your story that essentially turns it into a different story when you're done. And then you could wait a while and resubmit it, maybe with different character names. Just a thought.
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Friday was my best writing day of the 2014 to date. I wrote a complete 2k+ word story (which had been commissioned and pre-accepted, yay! Will brag about it when permitted to do so.) Then I did over 3000 words of translation and finished the novelette I was translating, at 9100 words. And I got a lot of other stuff done, too.
Now, how do I replicate this in the future? (I know caffeine is part of the answer!)
Now, how do I replicate this in the future? (I know caffeine is part of the answer!)
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Hello everyone! It's really great to see people writing so hard and sending stuff out. I've missed being on AW, specifically this sub-forum 
. Seeing how driven and mutually supportive everyone is here really inspires me.
I had a very busy summer: I attended Clarion West in Seattle where I wrote a short story a week and read over a hundred stories by my classmates. Now that I'm back home I'm just trying to get back into a familiar groove. This week my main goal is to work on a story outline for Choice of Games, a text-adventure site that is looking for new writers (you can check them out here: https://www.choiceofgames.com/) and maybe get one of my CW stories into submittable shape.
. Seeing how driven and mutually supportive everyone is here really inspires me. I had a very busy summer: I attended Clarion West in Seattle where I wrote a short story a week and read over a hundred stories by my classmates. Now that I'm back home I'm just trying to get back into a familiar groove. This week my main goal is to work on a story outline for Choice of Games, a text-adventure site that is looking for new writers (you can check them out here: https://www.choiceofgames.com/) and maybe get one of my CW stories into submittable shape.
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I subbed the SF Western today since I should have the rights back on it.
Also wrote up a query/proposal for a super-secret project* (one of two I'm working on at the moment) and got that sent off. And recommended The Spider Thief and The Sorcerer to Years Best Feminist SF and F.
And now I'm ready to eat something.
Aggy, hungry
*These are things written under a pseudonym due to more adult content. They are not guaranteed to be especially secret or super.
Also wrote up a query/proposal for a super-secret project* (one of two I'm working on at the moment) and got that sent off. And recommended The Spider Thief and The Sorcerer to Years Best Feminist SF and F.
And now I'm ready to eat something.
Aggy, hungry
*These are things written under a pseudonym due to more adult content. They are not guaranteed to be especially secret or super.
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You could always suggest it to them. They are a pretty cool bunch, and generally open to suggestions (though try to keep it short and polite, they get a lot of rude e-mails).
Hello everyone! It's really great to see people writing so hard and sending stuff out. I've missed being on AW, specifically this sub-forum
I had a very busy summer: I attended Clarion West in Seattle where I wrote a short story a week and read over a hundred stories by my classmates. Now that I'm back home I'm just trying to get back into a familiar groove. This week my main goal is to work on a story outline for Choice of Games, a text-adventure site that is looking for new writers (you can check them out here: https://www.choiceofgames.com/) and maybe get one of my CW stories into submittable shape.
Sounds like you had a great summer. Hope you get back in the groove. The text-adventure site looks cool. I've always wanted to try my hand at something like that.
To get more writing practice in, I'm going to try a short write one/sub one challenge for myself. I want to do one short story a week between now and the end of November, and aim to have edited & submitted each short to at least one place by the end of December. I need more practice of finishing things I think, and getting writing out into the world, while I work on edits of the novel in the background, as it were.
So, I thought I would come to say hi here
So, I thought I would come to say hi here
zanzjan
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Okay, I did it. My very first submission. It was a 1300 word piece on property to On the Premises.
It's surprising how difficult that was to do.
It's surprising how difficult that was to do.
Congratulations! Now keep the momentum going -- write and submit the next one!
Mailed hardcopy of a 53K fantasy novel to my agent today. Logically, I know there's a sea of red ink to go through when she gets finished shredding it, and it's nowhere near on-sub to, say, Tor Books yet. But I still feel both exhilarated and terrified.