After 127 day I'm taking my silence from The New Yorker to be a rejection. They say they will respond if interested in 90 days. Had something new to try them with and updating some submissions. I think I have a few of these dead submissions that are safe to assume are now rejections.
So, apparently I did and sent them another story 97 days ago. Another one safe to assume is a rejection.
Greetings, old friends. Happy New Year to you all. For what it's worth, I think I'm back in the game. Just got a few debut poems accepted for publication in a few months in Dodging The Rain - another step towards breaking into the national market. I have another deadline on Wednesday (@Alex R. Encomienda, you're probably working towards the same one [it appears that you and I are regionally similar based on your previous posts]?) but I don't think I'm going to have my composition ready in time for it. Speaking of waiting for responses, I've got two submissions, one that's been out for 100 days, one that's been out for 200 days, that I'm waiting to hear back on. Those sorts of wait time figures, or the fact that the standard is usually thereabouts three months, really hammers home how prolific and industrious you need to be if you want to end up being any way successful in this industry. But it's a long time to have a piece in limbo. @deadrats, if it makes you feel any better, I would be inclined to think that there's not much point submitting anything to either The New Yorker or The Atlantic. While they technically do go through the process of reading the sludge pile and sending rejection emails (I've received them myself), I've since started likening that verisimilitude to that similar in, say, democratic elections that take place in North Korea or Russia. I don't think they've published anyone in years who wasn't already a solicited submission through an agent or a publishing company.
Hey there! Full-time voice actor over here. Before I became a full-time voice actor, I was a guy trying to become a full-time voice actor. Hang in there. And remember the people who said you would never make it. The sweetest form of revenge is success.
@Funerary , I'm not sure if I have anything out that's over 100 days. Everything I have out is fairly new. And I agree, The New Yorker is a steep hill to climb. Just like Image and Glimmer Train. I've tried both of them several times. I'd stick with the inner club journals. I'm not sure if you're familiar with Trish Hopkinson but she regularly shares links of paying markets in her blog.
I don't know Image either and Glimmer Train is on it's way out. So is Tin House. As for submitting to The New Yorker, I have been reading New Yorker fiction for years. I feel like I get what they're after. It doesn't mean I'm doing it, but I am trying. Not this time, but on another story I got a pretty detailed personal rejection from them. Did something sort of right for that to happen. I know it's still a rejection. But a friend of a friend had a story published in The New Yorker. She doesn't have a book or an agent, but she had a good story and sent it in the way any of us would. This happened a few month ago. It does happen. I think the biggest problem is that people think The New Yorker is publishing the very best fiction ever. They have good stories, but there is a pretty clear New Yorker style and tone that you pick up on by reading their fiction. Really knowing a publication does give you an advantage or at least a real chance, I believe. No doubt it's tough. Everywhere is tough. I will say that I feel better submitting to The New Yorker than The Paris Review. And I think I have a better chance with both of them than Ploughshares which has beautiful language and stunning work even though it's probably not at the same level. I think if people were to read a Ploughshares story and a New Yorker story they might very easily get it wrong which one belonged to which publication. And that's a problem with submitting in general. Knowing the market is key. I write and submit like crazy. I also read like crazy so I can write and submit better stories. I know this thread is all about rejection, but I sold my first story for about $1,000. Not too bad, right? I don't want to say where, but I know some of you do know where (please keep it secret). It was to one of these top places that no one thinks they are really going to sell a story to. And I didn't do anything special other than just submit to a place where I loved what they publish. I don't just submit to top places, but I sure do try them. I will say I've had more luck with bigger publications vs. smaller ones. I've sent my work to a bunch of places that don't even pay and all I get from them is usually form rejections. My first story that sold was rejected by several smaller places before I sent it to the place that bought it. So, I'm not so sure it makes sense to aim low. In my experience, aiming lower does not produce better results. Still, I try so many places that range greatly in pay and prestige. I'm no literary snob, but I also really like reading The New Yorker and Atlantic and such. They are great magazines. And think about this. The New Yorker is a weekly. That means they will publish at least 52 fiction stories per year. That means they ARE looking for new work all the time. I don't know. Maybe I have no real shot, but the same could be true of anywhere I submit. It's all and always about producing new work. May I be so lucky just to have some of The New Yorker style rub off on me. I'm sure not done trying writing the stories they look for or submitting to them. I'm also not done trying those smaller publications that don't pay anything. It's foolish (in my opinion) to not try the big dogs because you might just get a bite.
Publishing is different to most industries in that it really does make sense to start at the top (for journals, agents, and publishers) than to start low and try to work your way up, as you would in most professions/hobbies.
Journals that are easier to break into basically. The Thought Erotic, Oddball Magazine, Bindweed, Harbinger Asylum and The Opiate magazine are good examples.
A 120-day form rejection from The Cincinnati Review and a 65-day form rejection from The Sun. This long and plentiful rejection streak continues.
I do sometimes and have actually sold more nonfiction than fiction. I've got one essay on submission. It's the one that was just rejected, but it's still out at a few other places. I've also got a new one that's sort of done. Needs a bit more work, but the whole idea is down on paper. Maybe just some polishing. Or maybe I'm a little nervous to submit it. I've learned that the more exposed you are in creative nonfiction, the more likely the essay will sell. Even when I'm happy with something I can't help but question myself and wonder how exposed it might leave me feeling if published. But I have also found that the biggest secrets or truths we can tell about ourselves, the more likely a piece is to sell
What do people mean by 'essay'? Sorry if that's an odd question to ask of someone involved in the literary side of things but my experiences in writing are limited really. I mean I wrote essay's at school, I think, actually can't remember one at all but I'm sure I did, but I don't suppose the one has anything to do with the other.
'IN PROGRESS.'!!!! Excitement is overwhelming. Wonder how long the high shall last? I'm reading the story over & over, the experience that improves with every narration. Breathe steady, steady...fantasise, world tour, come on e-mail.
Does sound exciting, world tour eh? I could say that I once read your short stories and was on the same forum as you, everyone would be asking me what you were like.
Ah right, so look around you and write about it. I know I wrote essay's at school but can I remember a single one, the memory is a strange thing. You'd be lucky, I'd hold out for more, baby.
