I've gotten that before. It's a nut punch but also an honesty I've appreciated. Kind of like if you want to play with the big dogs, you need to step up your game. It's motivated me to focus more on the craft. Like you get to a level where everyone can handle the mechanics of writing a novel--the plot, characters, themes, conflicts, whatever--but can you hit those notes and details that will make you stand out against the field. Again, motivation... which I'm sorely lacking at this stage of my life.
One month rejection from Michale Bourret of Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. I'd have already notified him that I was withdrawing the manuscript, but given the firm's submission system, I didn't have an email address to do so.
A 14-day rejection from twofiftyone.net: "funny, but similar to something else we recently ran on the site." Lucky #13 for me.
Just got a poem rejected from Atop the Cliffs; the editor said he already published a bunch of poems on that topic a year ago and didn’t feel like revisiting it. Letters with rejections: 18 Poems rejected: 70 On the plus side, he accepted 4 others for publication, and he only publishes 6 a month on average, so he must really like my work! EDIT: I finally heard back from The Lyric after 2 months. They accepted one of the five poems I sent in. Even that is a huge feather in my cap—The Lyric is North America’s oldest traditional poetry magazine. Letters with rejections: 19 Poems rejected: 74
What's up with submittable? Has anyone checked it recently and noticed that you can no longer view just active submissions? Am I missing something? I think this change they've made sucks!
I noticed that too. Also, didn't they previously label your submissions that hadn't been opened as Received? Now they are listed as New. I have a submission to a journal that has sat unopened for over a year. It's been received but it sure ain't new.
I have one listed as "new" and when I click on that word, the acknowledgement of receipt letter comes up. I don't recall ever having a notice of "opened" but that doesn't mean it wasn't there.
Got a couple more. 37-day form from Uncanny Magazine, and a quick 2-day nope from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Up to 77 now.
I'm feeling super discouraged today. No new rejections to report, but, man, I'm having a hard go at this. I can't even remember the last time I sold a piece. Sort of feeling a bit like a one hit wonder. Maybe I've gotten a few hits, but it seems like so long ago. I'm not sure what I did then that I don't seem to be able to do now. My best stories are running out of markets on my list. This is just a rant.
Westward Quarterly accepted a reprint, rejected 5 other poems. Letters containing rejections: 20 Poems rejected: 79
24-day personal rejection from Cosmorama, with this message: We're so glad our call reached you, and so grateful to you for sharing “Mine Again” with us! What a truly sweet, heartbreaking read, and what a poignant message about the enduring value of things that end. Unfortunately we aren’t able to publish all the stories we enjoyed reading, and while we loved “Mine Again” as it is, we actually would have liked to see more detail, in a longer form. We would welcome a resubmission if you felt so inclined and wish you the best with your future endeavors!
Remington Review rejected all 5 poems I sent because they didn’t fit in with the themes other poets had sent in (with no indication anywhere of what these might be). Talk about a crapshoot! Letters with rejections: 21 Poems rejected: 84
So, I was thinking we could host a little submitting weekend where we would all send out as many submissions as we can like a submitting party or something. I've done this with friends in person and it proved to have some good results for many of us. I think it's probably best to wait until the fall when more places will be open to submissions. What do you guys think? Does anyone want to RSP to my submitting party. It's just another way to have some fun making submissions. Maybe we could collectively aim for a number or something like that. What do you guys think?
Sure. I might need to write some better stories first, though Fall sounds good, got a few months to come up with more ideas !
