remember how the editor at one of the Big 4 requested me to query her? Woke up this morning to a full request from her. A big 4 editor. Welp. I've sent the book. Of course I expect a rejection. But y'know, also... Aaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! Please let this be it!
Sigh... Couldn't sleep, got up at 3:30 am since I was tired of lying awake in bed, and found a 12 day form rejection from Uncanny. Not my night, apparently.
Two rejections in one day! A 29-day "close but no cigar" honorable mention in The Molotov Cocktail's "Elemental" flash fiction contest. That's the fourth time this story has been shortlisted/held for consideration/made the final round/etc. and it's getting frustrating. Everyone likes it, but no one wants to publish it! Grrrr... At least they invited me to resubmit it for regular consideration, noting that while it's not a guarantee, they have accepted quite a few contest losers in the past. I shall have to ponder that...
A 62 day form rejection—sadly, I did not win the $15,000 Rattle Poetry Prize. But since the entry fee was just the price of a subscription, I still made out fine.
Responses seem very slow lately. I thought they would pick up after summer ended, but so far, nada. I know no news might be good news, but would like to clear a few submissions off my list before I submit to other places.
I have slightly mixed feelings about this acceptance. It’s the one that was shortlisted for a competition and then made the longlist with Northern Gravy- I really liked the story so was hoping I might make a bit more out of it than the $10 I’m getting. On the other hand, it’s a publication, and $10 is better than nothing! Also, it’s with Youth Imagination, who gave me my first ever acceptance after a year of submitting stories. With YI I’ve now submitted three stories- one in 2019, one in 2020 and one in 2021- and they’ve all been accepted. I might worry that perhaps they are not choosy and accept most submissions, but Duotrope reports around a 12% acceptance rate and the recent responses are all rejections apart from mine, so I guess they must really like my writing, which is really nice! I just wish they paid more, as I’m going to be reducing my hours at work soon to do more writing so I want to try and earn some more money from writing!
This thread should be called success, success, success. I came here to make myself feel better with unparalleled tales of failure, not to read about people actually getting published. False advertising, I'm making a complaint to the ombudsman
I was thinking of contacting an author who has mentioned on social media that she does developmental editing. The only contact info on her website is her agent. There are possibly other ways I can contact her, but they involve trying to send her a message through lit magazine editors whom I am barely acquainted with and am not eager to bother. I was wondering if anyone happened to know if this was something an author's agent would typically handle.
Got another rejection, but im not too upset over this one. Its been over a year since ive submitted and ive made some changes to the story
My 4th Writing Magazine competition shortlisting. I’m pleased but also wonder what it is I’m lacking to push me up further to win or come runner-up.
29-day form rejection from Passages North. The wheels of the rejection machine are turning again. Now that they're rolling in, they don't really bother me. It's that first rejection after months of hearing nothing that really stings.
after 51 days, i've been rejected by another agent. not going to lie, im a bit bummed. i havent been submitting anything lately, either. I've got 1 short story still out that has been out for a few months now, and 7 more agents that I haven't heard from yet. I know I should be getting back at it (querying and submitting, i mean), but I've just been writing more these past few days and the more I think about my manuscript, the more I want to make anxious changes.... but I dont want to make changes until I've heard back from the remaining 7 (positive or negative).
Just keep writing and everything will take care of itself. And if your first book doesn't find a home, fuck it, you'll have another book ready to go.
A 164-day rejection from F(r)iction, with an apology for the slow response. Higher tier form, at least. "While our editors enjoyed reading this, we have decided it is not a good fit at this time." Hey, I'll take the encouragement.
