Rejectomancy

[Lillie]

I subbed to them in October.
I got an acknowledgement the next day. Since then I've heard nothing.
It's been about 35 days, now.
So, sometime soon, I suppose.

[Marzioli]

Originally Posted by Lillie

I got an acknowledgement the next day.

What did the acknowledgment say?

[Lillie]

Very short.

Just this.

Thanks for sending us your story, "***********." I've put it in the review queue and we will be reading and discussing it shortly.

Was it the same as yours?

[Project Deadlight]

Originally Posted by Izatright

Stupefying Stories is taking longer than I thought. Anyone that has submitted to them know how the process goes? You send it.

I had a personal R after 17 days. I have one currently at 15 days.

Oh also i just had the brutal form from Shimmer for a story I thought they'd really like.

[Marzioli]

Lillie, yup, exactly the same. Wow, they took a long time to send out my confirmation!

Thanks for the info, all! There's not much about them on the web right now.

[Lillie]

Glad I could help

Originally Posted by Project Deadlight

Oh also i just had the brutal form from Shimmer for a story I thought they'd really like.

There's no telling. The closest I've ever got with Shimmer was for a story I thought they'd hate.

This is a strange game, and no mistake.

[alexshvartsman]

I had a story at Stupefying Stories for 30+ days and queried. Mr. Bethke got back to me the same day, promising a quick response. He then discussed the submission with the rest of his editorial team and, ultimately, they decided to pass on it - but said it was "very close" and encouraged me to submit again. I have to pieces of flash with them now, for about 15 days. It seems they reject everything they don't especially like in 2-3 weeks tops and hold on to the better pieces - but I'd definitely query after 30 to make sure the sub hasn't been lost - this happened to me several times recently, at different markets (not Stupefying Stories).

[pangalactic]

I've got 17 stories out now (it'll be 19 by the end of the week). I've had one response in the last two weeks. The crickets are killing me.

[Aggy B.]

Oh. Forgot to mention over here that a story I'd sent out for an antho back in the spring I officially withdrew on Monday.

The notifications had (theoretically) been supposed to be issued in October (or this past July according to a later email) but I've heard nothing. And multiple polite queries about the story's status got me no response.

Needless to say, this editor will never set eyes on another one of my stories unless it's in someone else antho.

Everything else is crickets. (Expecting news from Shimmer soon. Likely of the "no thanks" variety. And IGMS within a week or so.)

[Marzioli]

Thanks for the extra info, Alex!

Got an R from Analog. Expected as much. Didn't like the edits I made after thirty days passed, and besides, it's a little absurdist.

[Sai]

The crickets stopped today. I got a form R from Analog. Their form R is one of the longer ones with tips about what constitutes an 'Analog' story. Some of it is obvious ('We only publish science-fiction stories') while other stuff is a little bit more specific, like them preferring happy (or at least hopeful) endings. I find these kind of form Rs frustrating, because I get paranoid and think that every single tip is directed at my story when I know that really it's just a form R. Oh well. I think it's a really good flash fiction piece, so I'll send it to DSF.

Oh, and I almost forgot...there was an acceptance in my mail box as well ! I'm going to have a romance story published in Woman's World magazine.

[KitCat]

Grats on the acceptance Sai good luck with resending

[Lillie]

Oh. I had that Analog form. Lol

I was so paranoid I had to come here and ask if everyone got it, or if all those things were specifically wrong with mine.

Yay! for the acceptance

I got a form from Bards and Sages today.
I don't like that story, so I'm only surprised it took them so long to decide that they didn't either.

[V1c]

sorry to hear of the Rs, I'm waiting for that long Analog letter, afraid to query at this point, maybe in a couple weeks I can ask about the crickets. . .

[alexshvartsman]

Originally Posted by Aggy B.

Needless to say, this editor will never set eyes on another one of my stories unless it's in someone else antho.

Aggy,

It would be helpful to the rest of us if you were willing to share the antho/editor info in such cases, so others here can be wary of them as well. The only logical way to react to editors who treat authors poorly and don't bother to respond to queries is for all of us to avoid submitting to them en masse.

[alexshvartsman]

Originally Posted by Sai

The crickets stopped today. I got a form R from Analog. Their form R is one of the longer ones with tips about what constitutes an 'Analog' story. Some of it is obvious ('We only publish science-fiction stories') while other stuff is a little bit more specific, like them preferring happy (or at least hopeful) endings. I find these kind of form Rs frustrating, because I get paranoid and think that every single tip is directed at my story when I know that really it's just a form R. Oh well. I think it's a really good flash fiction piece, so I'll send it to DSF.

Oh, and I almost forgot...there was an acceptance in my mail box as well ! I'm going to have a romance story published in Woman's World magazine.

Congratulations, the acceptance is worth at least a dozen rejections

And yeah, don;'t worry about the Analog form - it's the same form they send to everyone, so they're not insinuating that any of the problems listed were present in your story.

[alexshvartsman]

25 day R from Washington Pastime (or a 0 day R, since they lost my original sub and only got to it after I queried). And a zillion day R from Dark Highlands - again, after a query. At least I can has my story back now. Probably won't submit there again unless or until they rethink their policy of not sending out rejection slips. It's not worth waiting that long for the level of pay & exposure that they offer.

[Fruitbat]

Sorry for the recent "R's," all.

[zanzjan]

Originally Posted by Aggy B.

Oh. Forgot to mention over here that a story I'd sent out for an antho back in the spring I officially withdrew on Monday.

The notifications had (theoretically) been supposed to be issued in October (or this past July according to a later email) but I've heard nothing. And multiple polite queries about the story's status got me no response.

Yeah, I had subbed something to an antho and they never responded and ignored two queries. Only way I found out they didn't want it is they published their ToC. So yeah, no more stories for them.

Sorry about the Rs everyone, and congrats Sai on the non-R (-:

Originally Posted by V1c

I'm waiting for that long Analog letter, afraid to query at this point, maybe in a couple weeks I can ask about the crickets. . .

Yeah, I'm at 131 days there. Can you hear me twitching all the way through the internets?

Overdue everywhere else I've got stuff as well, but that's only two other things. I haven't been writing much this month at all.

[V1c]

Originally Posted by zanzjan

Yeah, I'm at 131 days there. Can you hear me twitching all the way through the internets?

Overdue everywhere else I've got stuff as well, but that's only two other things. I haven't been writing much this month at all.

Perchance our twitching is in synch (I'm 120+), I want to query - but don't. Sigh.

[Aggy B.]

Brief but personal rejection from Shimmer for "Love Like Dysphoria".

[alexshvartsman]

31 day personal R from Abyss & Apex. At least this sub wasn't lost like some of my other recent ones (at other markets, not A&A)

[Marzioli]

Form rejection from Washington Pastime! That's the first time they didn't offer a critique. I'm hoping that means it was well written, but just not the kind of thing they want to publish.

[Aggy B.]

Originally Posted by alexshvartsman

Aggy,

It would be helpful to the rest of us if you were willing to share the antho/editor info in such cases, so others here can be wary of them as well. The only logical way to react to editors who treat authors poorly and don't bother to respond to queries is for all of us to avoid submitting to them en masse.

Sure. I just figured anyone interested would ask in private. (I don't want to seem like I'm bashing an editor out of spite, because I'm sure that those she did choose to publish were quite happy with the way they were treated. :P But I feel the whole situation was handled unprofessionally.)

Anyway, Rachel Kramer Bussel was the editor in question. She seems to do pretty much only erotica and works with a number of different publishers. But she won't be working with me any longer.

[alexshvartsman]

Thanks for sharing the info, Aggy.

To me it isn't a matter of spite. It's a matter of professionalism. I think it's never OK to ignore a query. It's downright rude, and you know it's not a coincidence/lost e-mail when you queried more than once and never received a response.

At least you didn't wait six years to hear back from her. (http://www.jasonsanford.com/jason/20...rejection.html)