Crikey, there must be a way of getting in touch. You’ve got nothing to lose! I’d email quite breezily asking how they are, explaining what you’ve been doing in terms of honing your craft and asking for a pointer on the project you want to progress, ask for advice etc and then throw in- would they be interested? I’d not send it to their subs email but to their normal one if they have a separate one
Thanks to both of you. This is exactly what I need to say in an email. I wasn't even thinking that this email would go to an assistant first, but that is likely. So, the thing to keep in mind is that my first goal is to get passed up by this person. @Medazza -- Which email are you suggesting I contact her through? I hadn't thought about that. She is with a different agency now. I could send an email to her work email at the new agency or I believe I have a gmail address for her, but remember it's from along time ago and who knows if that's still an email she checks. Anyone, please, weigh in on this. I really want to take this seriously. I do not plan on contacting any other agents so this is sort of a one-shot deal for me. At least for the time being this is the only person I'm interested in working with and it's because we do have history. I worry if I'm even at the stage on needing an agent. I feel like she really tried to help me before. The stories are done, but before I contact her I'm going through each one. I want to have an MS ready. For order I'm going on instinct. I'm not really sure about a title. It seems like a lot of collections use one of the story titles as the collection title. I don't want to list title options here, and please don't name titles if you know me and my stories. The only thing I'm not sure about here is if I should go with the title of a story that's been published or unpublished? Could naming my collection the same as a short story that originally ran in a big publication help? By the way, I decided to post this all here because it's pretty likely these desperate attempts are what brings us to rejection. Plus, this is where the cool kids hang out. Thanks for any advice or help on this. I think I'll give myself until the end of the summer to contact her that way the MS is set and all. So, if you guys think of anything I should or shouldn't do in this situation, please let me know. In the meantime, I'm desperate to hit it big again. Always writing something. Sometimes I fail to see the difference between a throwaway story and a story that sells. I wish I could get one more short story sale on my CV. It seems like I might always feel that way. I wonder if I'm a fraud, if I'm smart enough, if I'm good enough. I don't even know why I'm doing this right now. It just seems like things could go better and farther with the right person in my corner.
Here's another thing I'm thinking. I've got a novella I could include. My novella is in good shape, but it's never been submitting anywhere. It's about 20k words. It could anchor the collection. What are your thoughts on that?
I like a variety of length in the collections that I read. It's like a jewel collection--you don't want them all to be the same size. At least I don't.
got to be honest I don’t often read collections but from years ago they were all hung on the back of a ‘lead’ story- either the collection was named after the lead story or even called ‘xxxx and other stories’ etc
Re email addresses I was thinking that a lot of agents have a subs address and a work one so avoid the subs one? If you’ve an old gmail address I’d try that first. I think if she’s as cool as you suggest she maybe receptive to a catch up email and depending on her current workload she will either point you somewhere else or at the very least give advice of some sort. She might offer rep but I think the key is at least engaging her.
I agree with this. If you get a bounceback you can try the sub email addresss, but in that case I think you'd want to make sure it's clear that you know her so the screener might flag it for her. I don't have a clue about how to name/structure a short story collection, but like the idea of anchoring it with a novella. This made me chuckle, as I'm currently pumping the brakes on submitting and re-re-re-re-revising my query:
I wanted to share this insight on rejection from some great writers. Check it out. https://www.thecut.com/article/writers-on-dealing-with-rejection.html?fbclid=IwAR3eLslIdvvuZTz5tNzXlJkQwXJgj76G8rYOLhjMbS3h8tEOVBp9OJUcEZ8
Does that mean what I think it means? @DR - I'm late to the party (as always lol) but yes, you are totally overthinking this. Your experience is something that happens on a daily basis everywhere else in the world. People move on quickly from one thing to another, it's just how life is these days. Totally go for the novella anchor, most short story writers do this, from my reading experience, and then pile in the shorts as a support group. Email is informal, keep things at arms length while still engaging. The novella also offers another angle, it lets the agent see you can also write something longer, might help them when it comes to pitching the idea.
Thanks for sharing, DR, very helpful. This is great way to look at things (from Akwaeke Emezi): I don’t really feel bad about rejections anymore because I’m like, Okay, that’s cool. I’m not supposed to go there. I can’t wait to find out where I am supposed to go, because that’s going to be awesome in a way that I didn’t even imagine. It's such a slog, and I'm sure everyone's tired of me saying this, but I'm contintually shocked at how hard every part of this process is. Granted, it's my first time doing any of it (writing a novel, editing a novel, getting feedback, editing some more, querying, editing some more, revising the query more, etc., etc.) . . . and hopefully next time around will be easier. Maybe not easier, but at least I'll know what I'm getting myself into.
Yes- I’ve had a story accepted for publication in a time travel anthology. Little payment- $20 or a copy of the book- but Duotrope reports a less than 10% acceptance rate, so I’m pretty happy with that, although part of me wishes I’d submitted it to Writers of the Future first... Happy birthday, btw!
I really like that quote, too. I've had many rejections from the mid-level publications only to have that very story end up in a great publication. I didn't see it coming. I thought I was just collecting rejections. I am super proud of my publishing credits. Each time a sell a short story it has come after many, many rejections. But the places that have published me were better than I could have imagined. It's a good thing to keep in mind. And like another one of the writers said you just need one. One publisher. One agent. One magazine editor. They're out there. It just can take some work to find them. And rejection is all that weeding through to find the final destination. It sure is a wild ride. But I guess we can look at each rejection actually being a step in the right direction. It can make us submit to places we hadn't thought of trying that could end up being the right home or representation for our work.
Just wanted to say that it's been a week since my last rejection. This sort of thing feels rare. I have 31 submissions out right now. Last year I was able to keep up with having 50 active submissions at a time. That's hard to do this time of year. I still aim for sending out at least one submission a week. I've slipped a bit by tried to make up for it. This month eight new submissions went out. Maybe all the publications are coordinating to reject me at once. LOL. I'm actually waiting for one story to get rejected from everywhere that has it so I can send it to a place that doesn't take simultaneous submissions. It's funny because I didn't think the story was all that good until I started getting personal rejections for it. I was like, Really, this one almost got published? or They really liked this one? I wrote it as kind of an experiment. I wanted to test myself as a writer. I wasn't even going to keep sending it out, but it's gotten more attention than my other stories that are on rotation. The places that have it have all had it for longer (in some cases much longer) than expected. The story of my life hinges on almost being good enough. I did query one place this week to ask about a story that's been "in-progress" for over a year. Haven't heard back. With covid and everything I might not. I've got a few like this. Usually, the longer the wait the better the news. That's also why I try to keep myself busy with new work and new submissions. Waiting sucks, but waiting on a lot of things seems to suck less.
Some of the wording they use irritates me. I just got a rejection from HerStry- a matter of days after submission- with the message ‘although we must decline your submission...’ No, it’s not true that they ‘must’ decline it. They could accept it if they wanted to!
Another "not a fit" rejection, 1 day. "not a fit for me at this time, and so I will have to pass." Yes, this.
I submitted a story to Flash Fiction Magazine. This story was longlisted for a competition last year and had been turned down by a couple of other places but I wanted to try again. Before that I signed up for a free trial for the Flash Fiction Masters programme. You pay a monthly fee to get fast feedback and actual tips on how to improve. I don’t plan to pay for this but thought I’d try the free trial. The editor liked my story and sent me some feedback which I took into account in my next draft. He’s just got back to me saying he’d like to publish it. Part of me thinks it’s just because of this Masters Programme but it does say it doesn’t guarantee publication so hopefully they actually did think my story was good!
the journal/magazine I submitted to last year... that accepted my short story for publication in fall of last year but then never published the issue, and never responded to my emails OR facebook comments (or any of the other authors' questions on facebook who got accepted) asking about the status of the publication.... and still hasnt even though i emailed recently to tell them that I no longer give them permission to publish my work when/if they finally get their stuff together (note: i got the acceptance email back in September 2019, for their December 2019 issue. have not seen an issue OR heard from them since). ....well, they just opened up another call for submissions a few days ago on Submittable. I went to their website and their December 2019 issue still has not been released/posted. Idk, guys, but me thinks it may be a scam?
Sounds a bit like a place I got accepted to early this year. They said ‘you will be in our October 2019 issue. Please note: we are behind schedule.’ When I looked on their website, they have 2 issues per year and haven’t even published their October 2018 issue yet!
@J.T. Woody -- Are you interested in naming them so others don't fall victim? Or maybe tell some people over messages. It sucks that this happened. I know your story will find a better home.
