Rejectomancy

[AnnieColleen]

Personal R from SH; you're ahead of me, then.

(Also, Daily SF's form is very...no-fault-sounding?)

[Izz]

Originally Posted by AnnieColleen

Personal R from SH; you're ahead of me, then.

(Also, Daily SF's form is very...no-fault-sounding?)

The R i get from DSF is always:

*name*

Thank you for submitting your story, "*story name*", to D@ily Sc!ence F!ction. Unfortunately, we have decided not to publish it. To date, we have reviewed many strong stories that we did not take. Either the fit was wrong or we'd just taken tales with a similar theme or any of a half dozen other reasons.

Best success selling this story elsewhere.

*editor names*

Is that the one you mean, Annie?

[MattJ]

Going through some of the forums, the editors say the best rejections include something along the lines of "send us your next story."

[AnnieColleen]

Originally Posted by Izz

Is that the one you mean, Annie?

Yep, that's the one.

[Izz]

Originally Posted by AnnieColleen

Yep, that's the one.

Yeah, it doesn't really say anything, does it?

[alexshvartsman]

Izz:

DSF adds "Your story has made it to our 2nd round" to the bottom of that form occasionally to indicate a "close" rejection - at least that's been my experience a couple of times.

[Izz]

I love the feeling that comes with sending a submission out. Even if the story's been rejected by 15 other markets (as this one has), clicking the send button to get it back out there brings with it a feeling of optimism.

[shelleyo]

I checked my email first thing this morning, so I woke to a rejection. This is rejection #6 for this literary story. Originally I posted it here verbatim, except identifying information, but I felt strange about that, so I'm going to mostly paraphrase.

It said, a re-drafting of the narrative to make sure that the theme flows more freely, with a focus on the epiphanies in the end, would make the strength of the work even stronger. Only it said it all in surprisingly stiff, formal language, given the publication.

It ended with the 'feel free to submit more and good luck' ending that personal rejections often come with.

I know it's at least slightly complimentary, but I really thought this place might be the one for it. Time to have another look at this story, which I've truly fallen into hate with.

I just sent it through a workshop a couple of weeks ago, and though I only got a few replies (because it's usually the 1000-worders that people reply to en masse, while mine is just above 3000), they didn't have much to say beyond tightening a line or two.

This one frustrates me more than any of the others, I'll admit.

Shelley

[Nathaniel Katz]

I just sent the SH-rejected story to Realms of Fantasy. I've always wanted to give them something, though postal subs, two month wait times, and a zero percent duotrope rate doesn't leave me all that confident.

For DSF, I got the 'second round' comment on the 21st day of my first story's submission (why, duotrope, must you lie to me! that should have been an acceptance!). Since, like at F&SF, every subsequent rejection has been quicker (and, at F&SF, plainer) than the last. Progress!

I just sent it through a workshop a couple of weeks ago, and though I only got a few replies (because it's usually the 1000-worders that people reply to en masse, while mine is just above 3000), they didn't have much to say beyond tightening a line or two.

If you want more eyes on it, I'd be glad to take a look in SYW. Though my normal stomping ground is SFF/H, so I might not be the most use.

[MattJ]

You've been fooled by the average time.

Following Izz's advice, I've been checking the RSS feed. DSF has been running about 3 weeks now.

Originally Posted by Nathaniel Katz

For DSF, I got the 'second round' comment on the 21st day of my first story's submission (why, duotrope, must you lie to me! that should have been an acceptance!). Since, like at F&SF, every subsequent rejection has been quicker (and, at F&SF, plainer) than the last. Progress!

[shelleyo]

For DSF, I got the 'second round' comment on the 21st day of my first story's submission (why, duotrope, must you lie to me! that should have been an acceptance!). Since, like at F&SF, every subsequent rejection has been quicker (and, at F&SF, plainer) than the last. Progress!

Definitely progress!

I may send the story through SYW eventually, though I'm not a big one for using the board.

What's so frustrating is that the few people who've read it and the personal rejections I've gotten on it generally say they enjoyed reading it, it's a good story, but. So it's a good story, just not good enough. And I'm not quite sure how to fix that.

This last rejection, though, may be the key. This is a story from 2004 that I only recently dug out and revised, and finally rewrote the ending in a way that I like, that feels right. It could be that I stayed too married to the opening on the original story, and didn't revise that and the middle enough to lead it all logically to the end, so the theme isn't as strong as this place would have liked.

I do get married to my original openings. It's a flaw I know I have. I have revised the opening, but mostly only in tone. Maybe where I start it isn't the best place, given the better point of the ending. Maybe I just need to think on the theme a while and see if I can't open it in a way that seems better.

I so want to get it right. When it comes to some literary stories, though, I feel like I'm missing some piece of knowledge that would help me figure out what to do. Like I just don't get it. I feel very fail-y in that way, particularly with this story. Today's been a discouraging day on about 3 different fronts, and it's not even 9 am. Today's probably not the day to try to work on this particular story.

I'll get over it.

Shelley

[MattJ]

Sorry, that was sooooo three days ago. They're back to two weeks.

Originally Posted by MattJ

You've been fooled by the average time.

Following Izz's advice, I've been checking the RSS feed. DSF has been running about 3 weeks now.

[Aggy B.]

Got a form reject on a piece of Twit Fic from One-forty Fiction. Have resubbed to Nanoism. (Hah. Can tell I'm a NaNoWriMo. My fingers automatically tried to write "NaNoism.")

Still waiting on word from Clarkesworld and DSF. (Though the latter prolly won't come for another week or two.)

[Nathaniel Katz]

I just got a very, very detailed rejection from Triangulation: http://stephenvramey.wordpress.com/2...ursday-slushy/ (mine's the one on the bottom). In the email, they mentioned me submitting another, but their deadline's close and all of my appropriate pieces are elsewhere (and Triangulation doesn't do sim subs). I guess all I can do is hope for a speedy rejections everywhere else.

[Izz]

Well, as Rs go, that sounds like a good one, Nathaniel.

(hugs and encouraging expressions to all those who've had Rs in the last few days)

Last night i got funky over at my blog and did some pseudo-maths in an attempt to work out how many rejections i'll get this year. This morning i'm thinking of creating a blog page to track my rejections month by month (and possibly rejection by rejection). No reason for this, except that i like stats

[Gray Rose]

Today I am a cricketeer. I think I will query SH on Monday if I don't hear anything before that. I've never before had a reason to query them, and not sure if I should now, but they do say "query immediately", so why not.

[MattJ]

My story was "well received, but" at Abyss and Apex.

Nice form, though.

[AlwaysJuly]

Two new rejections today, but nothing much to discuss as they're both forms. *Shakes fist at the gods of rejection*

[alexshvartsman]

Originally Posted by Nathaniel Katz

I just got a very, very detailed rejection from Triangulation: http://stephenvramey.wordpress.com/2...ursday-slushy/ (mine's the one on the bottom).

Steve Ramey is great in that he offers really detailed feedback on the stuff he reads. Having said that, always remember that one editor's trash is another editor's treasure. He kind of savaged the story I submitted to Triangulation, and assigned it a pretty low Slush-O-Meter rating. The story sold to the very next market I sent it to (Every Day Fiction) with virtually no changes.

Even though I did not agree with Steve's criticism strongly enough to change my story, having an editor take the time to point out exactly what did not work for them in a submission is absolutely amazing, and I would very gladly submit more stuff to Triangulation or anything else he might be editing, if I had something that was a good fit thematically. Unfortunately nothing else in my "inventory" fits the theme of Last Contact well enough.

[soapdish]

SON. OF. A. B!
I just got a rejection from SH. I cannot seem to sell this damn story. Though feedback from critters was amazing.

[Izz]

for Matt, AJ, and soapy.

And yeah, it sucks when critters love a story but editors don't.

[Nathaniel Katz]

Where have you tried, Soapdish? And if you've gotten a good deal of positive feedback, then it's probably a question of when it will sell, not whether, so keep that in mind. Editors and Critters-people may be a different group, but they're both readers.

[Gray Rose]

Originally Posted by soapdish

SON. OF. A. B!
I just got a rejection from SH. I cannot seem to sell this damn story. Though feedback from critters was amazing.

Err... how many days?

Sorry about your rejection...

Hugs to Matt and AJ too.

[soapdish]

48 days with SH. Pretty quick, I am happy about that at least. I can turn it around now.

[soapdish]

Originally Posted by Izz

for Matt, AJ, and soapy.

And yeah, it sucks when critters love a story but editors don't.

Thanks

Originally Posted by Nathaniel Katz

Where have you tried, Soapdish? And if you've gotten a good deal of positive feedback, then it's probably a question of when it will sell, not whether, so keep that in mind. Editors and Critters-people may be a different group, but they're both readers.

Well, I feel like I've subbed it everywhere . But I think I'm mixing it with another (more poetry piece) that I can't seem to get published. When I checked my spreadsheet, it looks like maybe I'd only subbed it to The Pedestal and Strange Horizons. So, not so bad after all. Part of the problem is that a lot of the markets I wanted to sub it to were closed for a long time. A few of them have opened up now.

I'll try again.