I have been stitched up. I sent the super-mag the audio narration, he replies, green tags me on the Submittable, I tell every person I have ever met. he says 'next week,' and that was a month ago. I have sent him two 'ehmm, ehmm, my lord prince do you remember my story, ehmm, sorry...' e-mails. The first two weeks were exhausting, [checking on-line every 7 seconds] and it doesn't matter now so much. I'm sure I'll be very very happy tomorrow or something, meh.
Well, here's a laugh for you. I actually do try to average about two rejections per week. There was a piece in The Kenyon Review about writers aiming for a hundred rejections per year, which is a lot harder to do than it would seem. But what it gets you doing is submitting your work. If you make two submissions per week, eventually you'll start getting around the same about of responses per week, and it's no secret that most of those responses (if not all) will be rejections. But the more I submit, the more I tend to write to have more things to submit. Thus, improving and also improving my chances. I don't think this is a numbers game, but I do think it's a game of persistence.
Had a buddy do the same thing with his hookup rate. He'd be like, "I'm getting at least 5 chicks to not come home with me." It worked for him, too!
I was a bit like that with competitions, thought I might be submitting to too many and not much chance of winning but then I realised even if I never win one, I’ve then got stories I can submit elsewhere afterwards too.
That's the thing that really bothers me about today's world. People tell you they are going to come today, get that thing done they said they would (and you need them to), and never turn up. Your super mag should at least say something like, 'yes, it's coming...', or, 'sorry chap but...', then at least you would know. Hats off, but that must be so hard to keep up.
Hi, first time poster. So I submitted my first novel to some agents (7 form rejections so far, plus 1 personal). I was a bit anal retentive about the process and researched each agent individually. I searched beyond just their wish-lists for any blog or interviews where they express anything beyond "I like books". So this particular agent stated he wanted something beyond the cookie-cutter query letter. So I just went nuts and broke the mold and went the route of humor. This is the response I got: Thanks for sending over your submission for (Book Name Redacted). I have to say I was very impressed with your query letter, and it did make me laugh. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to pass on this project. I had some difficulty getting into your story. I felt as I was reading that there was a disconnect between what I was picturing in my head and the details you gave on the page. I also think that the pulling back that you did, especially when you mentioned the quote on money, made for a more difficult read. Instead of the pacing and action being slowed down for us to savor and want to read more, it took me, as a reader, totally out of the story and setting. I’m sure that theres no power in the ‘verse that can stop you. And don’t let fear take over and be the mind killer here—I hope that someone feels very differently and you’re able to find the best possible advocate for this story. So, I'm not quite sure how to take this. On the one hand, I've read on here that getting a personalized response is a good thing, but it leaves me confused. Is the implication here that one sentence got my entire novel rejected? I'm not sure I understand the "disconnect" statement either. Too many details, too few? I feel the same way many of you do, that it makes it difficult to fix something if you don't know what to fix Of course, part of me thought "Well, if I can make you laugh, just think of what my work could do if you got past the opening credits." Lol Thoughts? Please forgive me if this is in the wrong section, again, first time poster.
A little ways in the response started to sound like gibberish, as if it's pieced together from many sources, or maybe written by somebody who doesn't understand English very well. Edit—I read it again. It's not as bad as I first thought. Especially once I figured out that 'verse means universe. That pulled that sentence together and fixed the impression I had of it being like bizarre SPAM stuff. But still, what does it mean, a disconnect between the words you wrote and what they were seeing in their head? I suppose it could mean something that makes sense, but it wasn't explained well enough. I guess they don't have much time for writing personal responses. Still, weird though. Ok, it makes a lot more sense when I realize it's a rejection and they wanted to write something nice. That's all the "No power in the 'verse can stop you!" stuff etc. So it seems they wrote it up fast, made sure to say something nice, but also made sure to say it was rejected, but keep on trying!
heh... ...an overlord power, a creature, set upon destruction of OP and his essence, his presence on planet earth + any 'verse legacy-remnants, and through gibberish alone?
Mat, you don't work for that publisher, do you, by any chance? That might explain a lot... (Kidding!! Kidding!)
No @Xoic hereby is nominated for this hereby most prestigious hereby of awards: https://www.writingforums.org/threads/a-rare-and-exclusive-award-for-vocea-literar%C4%83-from-world-nations-writers-union.165921/
It is a diploma from the founder of world writers' of English in Romanian circles living in Azerbaijan opportunity.
I just assumed they were a Browncoat when I read that, but did consider it weird to include Firefly fan lingo in a business communication.
Oh that's even weirder. I've never watched Firefly so had no idea that's where it came from. Trying to come across as friendly and casual I guess.
I'm trying to get in the habit of making ONE submission a day, so long as I have finished stuff to submit. I got a rejection today. I had followed up like 4 times, so I was expecting it.
