A 53-day higher tier form (or maybe personal) rejection from A Public Space. 2o23 rejection count: 69
Well, I'm up to 85 now for the year. Got a 60-day form rejection from Augur Magazine, and right out of the blue, a 167-day agent form rejection. I guess they're not all dead after all.
Okay, very strange. I just received another agent form rejection, 25 hours after that last one. 168 days. What? It's not only from a different agent and agency - this query was for a different novel. Weird how things happen sometimes. The last agent rejection I received before these two was on March 30. I'd mentioned a while back that it seemed like a lot of agents suddenly became closed for unsolicited submissions following the advent of ChatGPT. I am wondering now if some of these agencies have implemented plans for addressing the influx of fraudulent works submitted by fake and fraudulent people posing as writers, and are finally able to get back to working through their legitimate backlog. Anyway, we are unexpectedly sitting at 86 for the year now.
Muhaha, my nefarious plan worked! Even though Lightspeed doesn't accept simultaneous submissions, I took a chance and sent them a story that was already out at a mag with long response times, figuring that they'd probably reply first one way or another. And they did! Got a 41-day form rejection today. That's #17 for the year.
4th of July is over, kids are out of school, people are less distracted by the nice weather. Not sure how the publishing world works, but everyone else follows the seasonal biorhythms. Unless you're in the Southern Hemisphere and all that shit is reversed. Christmas in the Summer? Take a hike with that.
Half of my submissions are in the red or yellow on Duotrope (I think the yellow is new), which means they've been out longer than the expected response time. I know things slow down in the summer months and I can usually be patient. I guess I'm eager to know if I am going to have anything accepted this year. I also want to know if I will really reach 100 rejections this year, though, I much rather sell a story or two.
I have a few submissions that have been out much longer than average. I'd feel more optimistic they were under serious consideration if some of these journals hadn't recently sent out form rejections that also took much longer than average. I guess there's just more waiting ahead.
65.... Apologized for the long wait and said it was because they really liked the premise and were really considering it.... But they werent sold 100% on the first 3 chapters....
You had them on the fence about your novel. That's a good thing. And it's good feedback, possibly. If I were you, I would really go through those first three chapters and see if there is any room for improvement. Your chapter might be great already. If you had one agent seriously considering it, you can get another agent to do the same. You've got something in there, making them think of signing you. My agent (I never sold a book and I no longer have an agent) had me rewrite and rewrite a lot, but still wanted to work with me. Just saying, an agent might pick you up even if they think there's some work to do before shopping your novel around to publishers. You're getting some interest. I'm sure you'll get some more. Fingers crossed for you. Just wondering if you think this 100-rejections-in-a-year challenge has made you send your query and chapters to more agents than you would have otherwise? I really want all of us to have something to about.
Oh, the waiting game... I think we're all getting good at that whether we like it or not. I totally know what you're talking about. I think, "Oh, this story has been out 300 days. They must see something they like and are holding it." But then I'll see rejections on Duotrope for the same publication around where I am or maybe from some that have been out longer, and I'm like WTF? I'm still in the slush and my story probably hasn't even been read. I like the older submission manager better than submittable because there are more storage than "received" or "In progress." I've got a "second read" and an "assigned," though, assigned could mean just about anything, but with that one my story has been out months longer than they've been rejecting so I'm hoping that means assigned to an editor or somehow up the ladder. And this is the first time I have ever seen "assigned." I'm a little obsessed with checking the status of my submissions and seeing where I am compared to other submissions. Gotta love Duotrope. It's seriously a wonderful little creation for submitters.
i plan to go through the whole thing again with a copyeditor. i know 2 of the betas I had made some comments on the first 3 chapters. they said it needed more "characters getting to know eachother-ness", that, the MC's were introduced strongly by themselves, but they wished there'd been more time for the characters to get to know each other. So I went back and addressed that (i thought i did, at least) before i even sent a query. Now I'm thinking did i not add enough? did i add too much? is that addition piece too forced or just plain boring? -sighs- I think I would have still sent out a ton without the challenge. I'm competative by nature... so even if i felt bad after a few rejections, I dont think I would have stopped. I would have continued pushing myself. The only thing that gets me down is not knowing where i'm going wrong or even if i'm focusing on the right thing. For example, that thing I mentioned above. Maybe thats not even the problem. Maybe im fixated on THAT being the problem but it something else entirely. I feel like theres just not enough information for me to go off of to even attempt to improve.
@J.T. Woody -- Maybe there isn't much to change. I mean they were seriously considering your work. Don't overthink it. Honestly, I would just give it another pass. You obviously got something good in those pages already.
Hi guys, new here. I'm in this thread because I finally committed to sending out work in 2023, after reading all those "Aim for 100 rejections" thinkpieces. Since 100 isn't realistic for my situation, I'm aiming for 50 instead. Still a huge step up, considering that until now, I'd never put my work up for anything. Not once. As of today, I'm at 18 rejections, which isn't so bad for only starting in mid-March. The fall submission season should really boost my numbers, at least for my litfic story. (I'm counting rejections as "belonging" to the year I submitted, regardless of when I hear back.) The other story is soft scifi, and it's been the source of most of my rejections so far. It's also gotten a couple higher-tier form rejections, and one very encouraging note from Beneath Ceaseless Skies (which I actually submitted to by mistake, lol). Right now it's out at two markets, and while I know one of them is considering the story, I'd be very surprised if they took it. I literally submitted there ONLY because of the rejection challenge, since I thought my piece was 100% not in line with their preferences. And I guess I was proven kinda wrong, but still...not holding my breath. It's going to suck if/when those rejections come in over the summer, though, because I'll be stuck waiting until god knows when for Uncanny, Strange Horizons, and Lightspeed to open back up. (I'd prefer to exhaust the pro/semipro markets before turning to venues with low or no pay.) As for the litfic story, it's of course moving much slower. It's only gotten a handful of rejections, and is currently out at four journals. Unfortunately, I did start this process in the off season. I also submitted to some flash fiction prizes, but if I don't even come close anywhere, I've sworn to never enter another contest. So far it just feels like setting money on fire.
Has anyone ever queried a publication more than once about a submission? Even to me (as much as I want to), it sounds like a ridiculous thing to do. I just keep thinking it's more likely I've been forgotten or my submission is lost than they are really thinking about buying my story. My submission has been with them more than 600 days. I sent a query maybe around 500 days or something and I wasn't told my submission was still under consideration. So, I feel like there's nothing really more to ask, right? But I've noticed Duotrope has classified my submission as an outlier now since this is outside the scope of typical response times. There are zero acceptances listed for this publication so I have no idea how long an acceptance might take. I'm not in a hurry to get rejected. I feel like if I query again that might just make them decide to pass. But at the same time, this is driving me a little crazy. I keep thinking there is no way this place is actually going to publish me. I absolutely love this place. I used to have a subscription, and it was one of my favorite journals to read. I've tried this place before and gotten person rejections, but none of my past submissions to them have ever taken this long. Maybe I should wait for the two-year mark before I think about sending another query. Sorry, this is nothing more than a rant. How long was your longest submission out? And how crazy did the wait make you?
