Just think of all the submissions you've made while trying to reach 100 rejections. I mean some people don't even make 30 submissions in a year. I think you are shaving off time in your agent search for sure. And it won't matter if it takes 50 rejections or 80 rejections to find the right agent for you. It's coming. I admire your dedication and persistence.
Does anyone know if submittable has any different statuses besides "received," "In-progress,""accepted," or "declined?" I don't know what the other submission manager is called that some publication use, but that one seems to have more insight as to what's going on with your submission. In the not submittable submission manager I've got one "second read" and one "assigned." I've never "assigned" before. It usually just goes from received to declined mostly. Just wondering if you guys have seen these statuses. I figure second read means it's under serious consideration. Do you think assigned means it was passed up and assigned to the fiction editor? Oh, how easy it is to speculate about the selection process.
Is Moksha the other submission system? It's the only one I've seen besides Submittable, though some publications have their own submission manager. I've only come across Moksha on a couple of occasions and remember it did tell me where I was in queue for reading but went straight from "in progress" to declined. I've got to say, though, if one were to design a system that was utter torture for starting out writers it wouldn't differ that much from Submittable. I've had pieces "in progress" for months before being declined while another slips by from "received" through "in progress" and on to "declined" almost unnoticed, within minutes. I sent one submission last March and before Christmas was considering withdrawing it, figuring I'd misread the submission criteria, that it was too long and just got chucked out without going through the process. Status changed to "in progress" on 3rd January and that's where it's currently at. Nothing is an indication of anything, frustrating but we become a bit inured, I guess.
Moksha is another one, but that's not the one I was thinking about. The one I was talking about is the one most journals used to use before submittable came about or at least used to be widely used before submittable became so popular and widespread. Don't withdraw your submissions! Some places just take a ridiculously long time. I've got one that's been "in-progress" for over a year and several others that have been out a really long time. It is super frustrating, but the longer a story is out the more likely it's under serious consideration.
I only remember Submission Manager (I think it's called). The Missouri Review and some others still use it, but I have the feeling you don't mean that one, since it is still somewhat common.
I don't know the submission manager you're talking about, but to me, "assigned" suggests that it's been assigned to a particular first reader, but it's still in their queue and they haven't read it yet. "Second read" definitely sounds like it's under serious consideration, though. Good luck! As for Submittable, I don't personally know anything, but I do have a potential resource! A friend of mind is volunteering as a first reader right now [edited to remove the mag's name at my friend's request]. She actually showed me a bit of the process a few weeks ago, so I got to see the other side of Submittable briefly. Don't worry, I didn't read any stories, though I did see a few titles and get to hear her snarky asides like "Oh! I didn't expect the cannibalism in that one." (really!) As I recall, she gets assigned a batch of stories and then has a few days to read and respond to them whenever her schedule permits. She can either reject a piece with a form or higher-tier form, or send it up the chain for further consideration (where it could receive an even higher-tier form that she doesn't have access to, a personal rejections, or even the coveted ). I don't remember anything about the submission status, but I just emailed her asking if she could explain how it changes as a piece moves through the process. So if and when I do hear back, I'll post it here for all my rejection peeps.
That's the one I was thinking of. I wasn't sure if it had another name or something. I worked for two different journals in the past. One of them used this system, but I while I was there I never saw these commands. It was just received, two different form rejections (with the ability to add personal comments), or accept. Even when stories were passed up or held for more consideration I never saw or knew you could mark something as "assigned" or "second read." And when stories were assigned to readers or passed to different editors the status still just showed "received" at those places. I guess I wasn't aware of these options or they just weren't used where I was at.
As a submitter, I only see Received, Withdrawn, Accepted, and Declined. I imagine there are more categories that only editors see to help with their workflow. I wish I could see granular details on my story's status, like, "Fiction Editor really likes this, but the EOC is still on the fence." Ha ha. Or maybe I don't, since it would even be more heartbreaking if a rejection is the result.
3 of my rejections disappeared on QT Someone doesnt want me to reach 100 (On a serious note... Its throwing me off! What does this meeeeeeean!? )
I've had several queries "in progress" but most of them have been submitted to agents who say they will not respond if they are not interested. So, after three months or so I assume the agent has "sent" a silent "No." But your advice is good, so I plan to never send a silent withdrawal.
41-day form letter rejection from an agent. Semi-personalized 44-day rejection from Uncharted Magazine. "We really enjoyed your story, but.." I'm up to 25 now. A quarter of the way to.. victory?
