Middling It

[fihr]

That's good news, Alex. Good luck with it.

[SmallThing]

Originally Posted by alexshvartsman

The first place I ever submitted a story was Clarkesworld. I sent it there because I was concerned that my first-ever short story might not be quite good enough for F&SF. Seriously. Ah, the innocence of a clueless beginner.

On an unrelated middling-it note, just found out that my submission made it to the second round of consideration at "The Nine"

Oh, good news, Alex!

[Kweei]

I have a sub out at Penumbra for their Greco-Roman anthology. I see some people have started getting a response. Should I be concerned that I haven't heard anything yet?

[O'Dandelo]

High five, Alex. Never heard of "The Nine." Good luck with it!

[O'Dandelo]

Are you talking about Nine: A Journal Of Imaginative Fiction, Alex? Just looked that up. Seems promising.

[Lillie]

I sent Nine something yesterday, so I'll see how it goes.
Good luck Alex!

[O'Dandelo]

Since I'd mentioned my Shimmer second-round bump up in this thread...it was just rejected. But it's by far the best rejection of the 12 I've received. Some very nice things were said. It seemed one aspect of the story made them pass on it, but everything else was very flattering.

Disappointing. I thought I was close to my first sale. But I'll try them again soon. And I still have my West Pigeon Press second-rounder.

[alexshvartsman]

Originally Posted by K.L. Townsend

I have a sub out at Penumbra for their Greco-Roman anthology. I see some people have started getting a response. Should I be concerned that I haven't heard anything yet?

No reason to be concerned. I'm still waiting for the Fractured Fairy Tale thing and, in all fairness, do not expect to hear back for a few weeks yet.

[alexshvartsman]

Sorry about the R, O'Dandelo. I still haven't heard from Shimmer about my current submission, and I'm at 13 days!

And yes, its Nine: A Journal Of Imaginative Fiction. Their idea is interesting, and the pay's good, if you're submitting something on the shorter end of the scale. Plus, they are responsive and post slush status updates on Twitter, which is a huge plus in my book.

[Kweei]

Bummer on the rejections. I know how that feels.

Originally Posted by alexshvartsman

No reason to be concerned. I'm still waiting for the Fractured Fairy Tale thing and, in all fairness, do not expect to hear back for a few weeks yet.

Thanks! I only got concerned when I saw some people had already heard back.

I'm used to waiting. I once sent a sub to Tor.com. That taught me amazing patience

[loldoc]

Originally Posted by K.L. Townsend

I have a sub out at Penumbra for their Greco-Roman anthology. I see some people have started getting a response. Should I be concerned that I haven't heard anything yet?

I think they make their final decisions about a week before the release date. The quick responses are 99% "definitely not" and 1% "OMG AWESOME!" with the bulk of cuts at the last minute.

[O'Dandelo]

Hi all. If there's anyone here who is listening to second-round crickets with the West Pigeon Press anthology, they just changed their submissions info page to this:

"NOTE: SUBMISSIONS ARE CURRENTLY CLOSED FOR OUR NEWEST ANTHOLOGY.
PLEASE CHECK OFTEN, AS WE ARE PLANNING SEVERAL NEW PROJECTS. OUR NEXT PROJECT WILL INVOLVE SHORT NOVELS (or, if you prefer, long short stories), SO CHECK BACK OFTEN. KEEP IN MIND WE ALSO HAVE SCOUTS CONTACTING WRITERS WE LIKE, SO IF YOU ARE AN UNDER APPRECIATED PRACTITIONER OF DARK FICTION, WE MAY BE CONTACTING YOU."

The caps are theirs; I'm not the one yelling.

This hints that they're close to filling up or have filled the anthology, perhaps. And, of course, I thought I'd post that just so you all know to "check back often," as they yell twice.

[defcon6000]

Originally Posted by O'Dandelo

"NOTE: SUBMISSIONS ARE CURRENTLY CLOSED FOR OUR NEWEST ANTHOLOGY.
PLEASE CHECK OFTEN, AS WE ARE PLANNING SEVERAL NEW PROJECTS. OUR NEXT PROJECT WILL INVOLVE SHORT NOVELS (or, if you prefer, long short stories), SO CHECK BACK OFTEN. KEEP IN MIND WE ALSO HAVE SCOUTS CONTACTING WRITERS WE LIKE, SO IF YOU ARE AN UNDER APPRECIATED PRACTITIONER OF DARK FICTION, WE MAY BE CONTACTING YOU."

The caps are theirs; I'm not the one yelling.

Caps lock anyone?

And I'm an under appreciated practitioner of the dark artswriting. So can I expect the spiritsscouts to contact me?

[pangalactic]

Just got a Hold Request from Andromeda Spaceways. I'll be gutted when the inevitable R comes through.

[O'Dandelo]

Good luck with it, pangalactic!

[Aggy B.]

Pretty slow for me right now.
Waiting on response from DSF.
Chewing my nails over the story at Apex (now at 43 days). Trying not to fidget about the story with Tor.com (it's at 145 days).

Lots of crickets.

[Aggy B.]

Crickets. Still. >_<

[alexshvartsman]

Got a second-round bump after 9 days for Penumbra politics issue. This time the bump came directly from the head editor and not from the slush reader. Not sure that's super important, but she's the one who's going to ultimately choose stories for publication, so I'm going to view that as a positive

So far I'm 3 for 3 with making it to their second round. One got rejected and two are sitting in their R2 slush piles. Though, to be honest, I'm much more optimistic about the story that's been bumped up today than about the one waiting for the Fractured Fairy Tales issue.

[Hildegarde]

Originally Posted by alexshvartsman

Got a second-round bump after 9 days for Penumbra politics issue. This time the bump came directly from the head editor and not from the slush reader. Not sure that's super important, but she's the one who's going to ultimately choose stories for publication, so I'm going to view that as a positive

Bump++

[Lillie]

Second round at Shimmer!!!

Yay!!!

[O'Dandelo]

Congrats, Lillie! I'll spruce up some sheep to get them ready for you.

My crickets have megaphones, one concerning a middling submission status. 3 weeks after my story advanced to the West Pigeon Press anthology's 2nd round, they sent out 3 acceptances on Duotrope yesterday. So clearly they're wrapping that up as there are very limited slots remaining for the book. I have received neither A nor R but expect to get my response today, most likely. I have no fingernails left. What to chew on now?

[Lillie]

Thanks. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

And good luck to you with West Pigeon

[Literateparakeet]

Originally Posted by alexshvartsman

Got a second-round bump after 9 days for Penumbra politics issue. This time the bump came directly from the head editor and not from the slush reader. Not sure that's super important,

Yay! That sounds important to me. Congrats on making it this far. My fingers are crossed for you!

[QUOTE=Lillie;7069709]Second round at Shimmer!!!/QUOTE]

Way to go Lillie!

I just sent a "query" to Washington Pastime because it has been 3 weeks and I haven't heard anything. According to duotrope, they sent rejections yesterday and last Monday. So I'm wondering if my story got lost somewhere.

The crazy thing is, I think I was more nervous sending the stupid query than the original submission. I think it is the whole "is it lost or maybe they are actually considering it" that has me on edge. I'm just going to tell myself it's lost. Ack!

[alexshvartsman]

Originally Posted by Literateparakeet

I just sent a "query" to Washington Pastime because it has been 3 weeks and I haven't heard anything. According to duotrope, they sent rejections yesterday and last Monday. So I'm wondering if my story got lost somewhere.

The crazy thing is, I think I was more nervous sending the stupid query than the original submission. I think it is the whole "is it lost or maybe they are actually considering it" that has me on edge. I'm just going to tell myself it's lost. Ack!

I've had to query them before, and they did in fact misplace the submission in question. It's OK to query, but be sure to give the market AT LEAST as much time as they specify before you do, and usually a bit more. Most of my more-experienced writer friends suggest waiting at least 90 days before querying ANYWHERE, but I can't claim to adhere to that I think I queried Washington Pastime after 30 days (but then their responses were 2-7 days at the time, they seem to have slowed down since).

In other news, Penumbra seems to be close to making final decisions on the Fractured Fairy Tales issue. I just saw a bunch of rejections on Duotrope in the 65-70 day range. I'm at 77 days so I *really* hope they read chronologically

[Literateparakeet]

Thanks Alex. I did wait the time they said on the website, but now that I read your advice, next time I will wait a little longer...but 90 days, yikes!

I didn't sim sub this because their response time is so fast or so I thought. Do you (all of you) sim sub your stories?

I'm really crossing my fingers for you about Penumbra. I think their covers look so cool. Haven't had an opportunity to read it yet.