Well that's me and Crazhorse's flirtation with hope over with. They were nice enough to ask me to keep writing to them but other than that...so, that means the end of FM's journey in the literary world. Maybe it will gather itself for a foray into the world of Fantasy; maybe, in the future.
I recently got a rejection on a query I sent over a year ago. The agent had already rejected it in January. I wonder why she felt she had to send a second one so many months later.
No, not the end of a journey. There's still more markets and ones that don't charge. Plus, if you've got a good story and it's not on submission anywhere right now, wait until January when Threepenny reopens submissions. They don't take simultaneous submissions, but they are super quick, like a day or two. I really like Threepenny. They publish great stuff, and they're set up and printed like a newspaper. Anyway, that's the big one opening for the spring and I believe worth trying. I read an interview with the editor who admits only reading a piece as far as he needs to. That's probably how they get through submissions so fast. But I also know someone personally who has sold work to them. It happens. This place is free to submit to. @Krispee -- If you need a list of new places, just message me or let me know here. Even if you're looking for genre, I can search that up on duotrope as well. But we will have none of this end of journey nonsense. You are going to publish. Your stories are great and so is your writing. At some point it becomes less about us publishing and more about the world needing what we write. Of course, it's the same result, but some of us are meant to be writers. I think you're a writer and the world wants your stories. I've been rejected over a hundred times this year alone. I can count the number of sales I made on my fingers. Okay, it was a good year because I have to use two hands. But the amount of rejections I needed to get in order to make those sales is just all part of it. Some people get lucky or for one reason or another their work gets picked up quickly. But most of us are going to be rejected enough times to the point of madness, and then a dozen or so rejections after that something really great just might happen. I know your work and I know it will get picked up. It's just a matter of persistence. Please let me know if I can help in any way or you want something read or whatever. I'm here for you, my friend. I think for you it's just a matter of getting your stories in the right place at the right time. It will happen.
I appreciate your comment and thanks for the offer. I just don't think it's the right subject for a literary mag. It's slightly otherworldly even though I know you said it read like a literary story and I think they are seeing that. I'm going to work on some of my other stuff and try and get them in a finished state when I get back to writing a bit more. Might do a little over the Christmas period but we'll see. I might have another look at FM in the New Year.
I don't think this thread is discouraging. I hope it's not. But it is a real look into what it takes to sell work to literary journals and magazines. No, it's not easy. And you will be rejected enough times to quickly lose count. But a lot of us on here have written some very good stories that just need to find their homes. I started this thread probably a year before I made my first big sale. And I had been trying for a few years before that. But, man, did I hit it big with my first sale. It was worth all the rejections and more. It led to other opportunities. It's cool because now I'm more of a working writer than just a hungry writer. I think it's important to read these publications you want to sell work to. You really can't even imagine how big of a help that is. I know everyone says to read, but what you're doing is looking for the right markets and probably picking up some tips and skills along the way. It can be important which story you send where. Another important thing is to always be writing something new. What you can write will always be better than what you have written. I also think it's important to have always many submissions out. I aim to send out a new submission each week and try to keep about 50 submission out in total. So what if if takes a hundred tries (or more)? I would think that would make you want to jump in and get those inevitable rejections out of the way. Writing well is important. Once you're writing at a certain level, I think it's all a matter of persistence.
This thread has the opposite effect: It makes me want to submit, just so that I can join the chorus of rejections in here. I want to get rejected! Give it to me! But as @Krispee said about that one story of his, I don't feel that my work so far is a good fit for a literary journal. Or maybe I'm not settled enough as a writer. That's a question for the new year.
Speaking of seeing your work in print, I've finally broken this year's streak of rejection. That knocks this year's rejection rate down from 100% to 80%.
Just made my first submissions in over a year. Thanks you guys for inspiring me to get back to the grind and out of my damn skull.
Well, this place does seem to encourage us all to dust off the keyboard and keep writing, or get back to it in some cases. Keep writing and trying for 2020, perhaps that's the main point of what I'm saying.
Tried to submit my first manuscript and I want to take it as a good sign that it took them 14 weeks to reject it. Still, a no is a no. It is not made better by how close it got to being considered. I felt really down for about a day, and then joined this community to try to find out why it sucked. There weren’t forthcoming with a critique so right now I’m left guessing. I should have probably done some more editing before sending it out, my non-native writing skills might not be polished enough for getting something published in English. Anywho...I already feel better knowing there are others facing the same struggles. Cheers to the first rejection....may it mark the start of passion triumphing over such secondary things as a publisher’s wont.
Certainly better editing might work next time, or it just may be persistence. As to why they didn't want it that's not usually something they are ever going to tell you, not in my experience anyway.
Given what you've shared about your submission process, I doubt you're "wrong" but rather your timing just hasn't gelled yet. I'm drawing from limited writing experience (finished one MS; rejected from one agent; but received good feedback and now am revising (again)), but I have to think that people who succeed in this business, like most vocations and life generally, benefited from luck and excellent timing. Yes, they're hard workers. Yes, they're good (at least decent, engaging) writers. But lots of people are like that. The difference is they found themselves (and their work) in the right place at the right time. But how do you make your own luck? Shouldn't we all just throw up our hands? No, we shouldn't. And we don't. Why? Because we believe that luck might find us, too. And luck is more likely to find us when we're putting ourselves out there to be found. Keep writing.
@HeathBar -- Well, I guess I'm not wrong every time. And I've gotten very lucky a time or two. But you're totally right about continuing to put ourselves and our work out there. Wishing you and everyone on our rejection thread the best and a little luck when it comes to 2020 submissions.
