Submitting to the New Yorker

Status
Not open for further replies.

mnmamma

Registered
Joined
Aug 16, 2005
Messages
33
Reaction score
5
Now, I'm assuming that most of you people have done so, but what have your experiences been? I sent a story at the end of March and have heard nothing since then. A month ago I queried after the status of the piece and have still heard nothing. I know of two people who have sent stories after mine (significantly so) and have gotten their rejections, which begs the question, where the heck is my freaking rejection? I've submitted to the New Yorker before, and my rejections have always come in under two months. So what gives? Anyone else here had long waits (or just no answer ever?)? This particular story is, so far, the best I have ever produced. I don't like to sim sub, but there is an anthology whose reading period is drawing rapidly to a close. Should I withdraw and resubmit? Should I wait? I've been waiting FOREVER. Once I submitted a story to Cricket and got my rejection two years later, but at least then I had forgotten about it, so I didn't even care. I've never cared so much about a story than I care for this one.

Anyway, if anyone could share their experiences, I would appreciate it.

Cheers!
kb
 

Julie Worth

What? I have a title?
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 16, 2005
Messages
5,198
Reaction score
915
Location
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here's a previous discussion. (See, you shouldn't have agreed with James--not sim-subbing is just frustrating as hell.)
 
Last edited:

mnmamma

Registered
Joined
Aug 16, 2005
Messages
33
Reaction score
5
YOU'RE RIGHT! My god, I had totally forgotten about that earlier thread. So whatever happened to your story? Did you finally hear? This is my fourth story I've ever sent to TNY, and it has never, ever taken this long. I guess that's the most frustrating thing - the lack of consistency.

Well, perhaps I should rethink my own policy on sim subs. Particularly during the summer when the children are home and it takes ten times as long to finish a stupid story.

Ah. Two year old is crying. Duty calls.

kb
 

Rich

Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 9, 2007
Messages
689
Reaction score
189
My honest opinion: if you're not at least a Pulitzer Prize winner, don't submit to The New Yorker.
 

Julie Worth

What? I have a title?
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 16, 2005
Messages
5,198
Reaction score
915
Location
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've now submitted two and never heard back on either, so I sim-subbed them elsewhere. And no way am I going to withdraw them unless they sell.
 

blackpen

Bizzare in Berkeley
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 8, 2007
Messages
177
Reaction score
10
Location
california
i read somewhere that a new yorker editor, or maybe it was harpers, said that if an author submits an unsolicited manuscript, they obviously don't know what they're doing. however, the editor acknowledged that there are always exceptions, as tiny as they are. like, really tiny.

good luck.
 

Rolling Thunder

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 12, 2006
Messages
15,209
Reaction score
5,341
I subbed a short story to the NYer a long time ago and never heard a word. You could try Glimmer Train though. I've been rejected there as well but at least they get back to you. :)
 

gerrydodge

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 1, 2007
Messages
449
Reaction score
99
Location
Finesville, New Jersey
I sent one short story to the New Yorker and they sent a form rejection in about three months. The great thing about glimmer train and one story is that you can always check the status of your story online. Also, another possibility is A Public Space. The editor was once the editor of the Paris Review.
 

KTC

Stand in the Place Where You Live
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2005
Messages
29,138
Reaction score
8,563
Location
Toronto
Website
ktcraig.com
I submit poetry to the New Yorker on an ongoing basis. I have been rejected about 10000 times. I just sent a new submission their way on Monday. I can always dream. No harm...no fowl(hehe).
 

NemoBook

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 15, 2007
Messages
108
Reaction score
5
Location
San Francisco
Website
www.TheInstrumentMovie.com
Did anyone else submit to A Public Space before they stopped taking submissions? I sent something in late May, and its status is still listed as "received." Has anyone else gotten a definitive response since May?
 

johnnysannie

Banned
Joined
Feb 22, 2005
Messages
3,857
Reaction score
435
Location
Tir Na Og
Website
leeannsontheimermurphywriterauthor.blogspot.com
I've now submitted two and never heard back on either, so I sim-subbed them elsewhere. And no way am I going to withdraw them unless they sell.

I've submitted a total of five stories to The New Yorker over the past two years and I have always had a response. The last one a few weeks ago was a rejection but it was a personal rejection rather than a standard form so I was encouraged a bit.

It is a market I have every ambition of cracking and when I do, y'all at the Water Cooler will be the first to hear the good news!
 

Tish Davidson

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
1,626
Reaction score
110
I submit poetry to the New Yorker on an ongoing basis. I have been rejected about 10000 times. I just sent a new submission their way on Monday. I can always dream. No harm...no fowl(hehe).

Yes, there is a foul. If you've been rejected 10,000 times, it is pretty clear that the New Yorker is not the right venue for your poetry. That you keep submitting simply slows the process for other writers - and it is why editors start restricting submissions.
 

KTC

Stand in the Place Where You Live
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2005
Messages
29,138
Reaction score
8,563
Location
Toronto
Website
ktcraig.com
Yes, there is a foul. If you've been rejected 10,000 times, it is pretty clear that the New Yorker is not the right venue for your poetry. That you keep submitting simply slows the process for other writers - and it is why editors start restricting submissions.


Thanks for the 'advice' tish...but I will keep submitting. Nobody tells me where I can or cannot submit. That's idiotic. Fuck, man! And downright nasty.

Kevin, who will submit until the cows come home, come what may, thank you very fucking much.
 
Last edited:

popmuze

Last of a Dying Breed
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 31, 2005
Messages
2,597
Reaction score
181
Location
Nowhere, man
20 or 30 years ago I submitted some stories to The New Yorker and got a glowing full page rejection letter that I've since had laminated.
Just recently I sent in another story.
Hey, if they can take their sweet time so can I.
Although I think I got that original rejection letter in a timely fashion.
 

sassandgroove

Sassy haircut
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 17, 2005
Messages
12,562
Reaction score
5,327
Age
47
Location
Alabama -my home sweet home.
Yes, there is a foul. If you've been rejected 10,000 times, it is pretty clear that the New Yorker is not the right venue for your poetry. That you keep submitting simply slows the process for other writers - and it is why editors start restricting submissions.
He said he submitted them the way the New Yorker specified. What kind of thing is this to say? I think your post is foul.
 

Jamesaritchie

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Messages
27,863
Reaction score
2,311
New Yorker

Yes, there is a foul. If you've been rejected 10,000 times, it is pretty clear that the New Yorker is not the right venue for your poetry. That you keep submitting simply slows the process for other writers - and it is why editors start restricting submissions.

If this is true, The New Yorker needs new fiction editors. A writer who doesn't keep submitting is unlikely to ever be published, and an editor who minds is in the wrong business.
 

talkwrite

Passion in full bloom
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 27, 2007
Messages
4,200
Reaction score
194
Location
Behind the windmills of your mind
Website
www.linguisticworld.com
Yes, there is a foul. If you've been rejected 10,000 times, it is pretty clear that the New Yorker is not the right venue for your poetry. That you keep submitting simply slows the process for other writers - and it is why editors start restricting submissions.

Tish; I hope you didn't mean the way that came out. I'm sure you agree that writers should always support each other and never quash another writer's process.

KTC; Please keep submitting and let me know when they do accept and I will buy three copies. (I am on an editor's paltry salary)
 

nevada

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 27, 2006
Messages
2,590
Reaction score
697
Location
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Tish; I hope you didn't mean the way that came out. I'm sure you agree that writers should always support each other and never quash another writer's process.

There is support and there is reality. Not sure I totally agree with Tish, but seriously, she has a point. If someone rejects you 10,000 times maybe it's time to rethink that market.
 

Tish Davidson

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
1,626
Reaction score
110
Tish; I hope you didn't mean the way that came out. I'm sure you agree that writers should always support each other and never quash another writer's process.

KTC; Please keep submitting and let me know when they do accept and I will buy three copies. (I am on an editor's paltry salary)

I can tell from the responses that it didn't come out the way I meant it.

My point is that if you are rejected 10,000 times BY THE SAME MAGAZINE it doesn't make much sense to keep submitting there if you want your work to see publication. After 10,000 submissions by the same person, all of which were rejected, I sincerely doubt that the poetry editor at the New Yorker does a close reading of any piece KTC submits. Editors do get to know submitters after that many submissions.

Please note, James, that I did not say that KTC should stop submitting, only that it appeared that after 10,000 rejections that the New Yorker was not the proper venue for his poetry if he wants to see it in print. Also note that I did not pass any judgment on the abilities of the author (although I don't appreciate the language he used in his response). Some perfectly publishable material is simply not suitable for certain magazines, and no amount of submitting will make it so. I don't understand why anyone who wants to be published would keep submitting to the same place after 10,000 rejections instead of looking for more appropriate places to be published. Certainly KTC can submit as much as he wants to the New Yorker. If he isn't discouraged by their 10,000 rejections, then more power to him, but I stand by my original statement that anyone who sends 10,000 poems to the same magazine and is continually rejected is just pointlessly clogging the system.
 

KTC

Stand in the Place Where You Live
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2005
Messages
29,138
Reaction score
8,563
Location
Toronto
Website
ktcraig.com
Fucking idiotic that somebody would take a number like 10000 literally. Fucking idiotic.

click.
 

CaroGirl

Living the dream
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 27, 2006
Messages
8,368
Reaction score
2,327
Location
Bookstores
I don't believe you should stop submitting to a venue that has rejected you in the past. Every writer should continue to build credits as they submit to other venues over time, and might become sufficiently well enough known that The New Yorker might look twice at a submission from them.

KTC has recently had some excellent successes that serve to "pad his resume" if you will. Your status can change. Never give up. Never surrender. Once more unto the breach, dear...aw forget it.
 

Tish Davidson

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
1,626
Reaction score
110
I agree that one can improve both in one's writing and with better credentials, and that it makes sense to re-try a market that has rejected you when you feel you have improved, but KTC says he is submitting "on an ongoing basis."
Somewhere common sense has to come into the equation. If you are sending out a stream of submissions to the same market and getting back a stream of rejections, what is the point of continuing to beat your metaphorical head against a metaphorical stone wall, unless you enjoy the pain of rejection? Why not change strategies before you develop a reputation with the editor as someone they don't want to publish?
 

Jamesaritchie

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Messages
27,863
Reaction score
2,311
I agree that one can improve both in one's writing and with better credentials, and that it makes sense to re-try a market that has rejected you when you feel you have improved, but KTC says he is submitting "on an ongoing basis."
Somewhere common sense has to come into the equation. If you are sending out a stream of submissions to the same market and getting back a stream of rejections, what is the point of continuing to beat your metaphorical head against a metaphorical stone wall, unless you enjoy the pain of rejection? Why not change strategies before you develop a reputation with the editor as someone they don't want to publish?

A writer should submit on an ongoing basis. Joyce Carol Oates submitted thirty-nine short stories to The Atlantic Monthly, in pretty quick order, before C. Michael Curtis bought a story from her.

William Saroyan broke into Story by submitting a short story per day until the editor finally gave up and bought one.

Beat your head against a wall long enough, and the wall will probably crumble. Walk away and you'll probably never sell that magazine anything.
Editors, at least editors who are worth a bad penny, don't care how often a writer submits. Far more often than not, an editor doesn't even notice the name of the writer until after that writer submits something worth buying, or at least worth writing a detailed critique over.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.