Duotrope's statistics are definitely skewed by people not reporting responses, but the estimated wait times are on the optimistic side. I guess they are giving people a little nudge to report their responses, but none of my "red" or "yellow" submissions have been out an unrealistically long time. By the way, my longest submission is at 440 days, but the journal, VQR, has not even opened it according to Submittable. I assume one day they will read it.
My oldest submission is at 325 days. That one and some others are in red or yellow, but I'm sure I will hear from them at some point. I don't think I would take anything as a rejection that wasn't from an actual rejection letter when it comes to the literary journaL scene. Unless it was a place like The Atlantic. They say that they only get in touch if they're interested. But I think The New Yorker says the same thing and every time I sent something there I've gotten a response. Things really slow down in the summer. @Native Ink I think with VQR is just one of those places that takes forever to get around to the slush. I definitely wouldn't give up on that one. I have a friend who sold something to them, and she just sent it in via the slush (meaning no connections and very little if any publishing credits). It might have even been her first sale. I remember her talking about it taking a really long time. And I just waited 603 days for ASF to reject me. But fingers crossed for you. Also, did you know that with submittable the editors or whoever is reading submissions can actually read the submission leaving the status at "received"? I think it only turns to "in-progress" when it's assigned to someone (which just could be a slush reader). I believe that's how it works. Anyway, it can be hard to tell what's happening behind the scenes at these places. I wish submittable made the edits mark a submission status through the whole process so we could know where we stand at different times. Actually, I don't wish that. It would just make me check more times a day than I already am.
5 poems rejected by Snakeskin, but one was accepted! Letters that included rejections: 26 Poems rejected: 116
A 25-day form rejection from X-Ray Lit and an 57-day form rejection from Okay Donkey, both for flash fiction. #s 18 and 19 for the year. Oh, and I remembered that the messages I was thinking of were actually from the Submission Grinder. I haven't seen "Tidy up" messages from Duotrope, so I think they might be new.
The submission season is upon us. As many of you know, fall is the time when most literary journals open their submission windows. I know there are journals and magazine read and take submission submissions year round or have a different schedule. But I think everything just sort of slows down in the summer for a lot of places. Fall is when I make the most submissions compared to other times of the year. And I am fully aware that it's still summer, but I was on Duotrope today and there are a ton of places that I like to submit to that have just opened up. I was kind of surprised, actually. Granted submissions to these places probably won't actually be read until fall, but I'm totally getting on top of it now. Still trying to reach 100 rejections for the year. Anyway, I just wanted to let you guys know to check Duotrope's publishing news section where they list a whole bunch of places that have just reopened their submission windows. Or check out the submission guidelines for some of your favorite publications. It's good to submit early to these places before they are flooded with submissions. Good luck to all my rejection friends. Let's get some more smiley faces in here.
Couple more came in. A higher-tier form from Tenebrous Press after 54 days, and at least a higher-tier (maybe semi-personalized) rejection from Calliope Interactive after 144 days. I don't think they'd say in a form letter that my story, "has an incredible amount of potential and was a fun read." But one never knows for sure. Always nice when they invite you to submit again. Total is now 91 rejections, 0 smileys.
That definitely sounds personal to me. Congrats! You have a good story, now you just need to find the right home for it.
I'm not sure if anyone here is looking for a good contest to enter, but I think this one might be worth checking out. Looking for genre works with the theme "The Aftermath." The deadline is Aug. 6. https://uncharted.submittable.com/submit/99c82078-06d5-4b97-a6a5-5106a65fd2e9/uncharted-magazine-short-story-award-the-aftermath-judged-by-a-c-wise-250
I was looking at that one, but the story I have that fits the theme best is a 900-word flash. Dang. I do have something with a lot of potential in the range they're looking for, but it needs a major revision, and there's not a lot of time to do it in. Hmmm... Do I really need to sleep tonight?
Me too, but it isn't so much gambling as the suspicion that most are fraudulent. @AntPoems posted above about a publisher that has (so far) 1220 submissions for one contest. At $20 per, that's $24, 400. I'll be happy to guarantee publication of all entries received on my 'literary' website that a handful of people subscribe to for half that. Everybody's a winner. ETA: Come to think of it, maybe I'll do exactly that. I have some web skills and a few domains I'm not using ...
I get that. I can remember when nowhere charged a submission fee. But today the majority of places I've published or want to publish do now charge a fee. One good sale and I more than make my money back for what I spend in a year on submissions. At first when places places started charging reading fees I was like WTF? But I wanted this so badly that it didn't really stop me. I want to believe I am good enough regardless of this aspect of the industry. This is what I do and have to do as a writer in my position. I don't see it as gambling. I know many people have said that sort of thing, but I believe really great stories are always going to have better odds of being picked up than just good stories. For me, personally, I've allowed myself to be okay with submission fees and spend a $200-$300 a year on sending my work out. I think of it as more of an investment in myself (and probably my livelihood) than a gamble. I also feel like I work really hard on my pieces and have been and continue to read as much as I can when it comes to literary short fiction. I didn't want to lose that when places started charging submission fees. I mean I really, really, really like reading literary journals. However, contests have always charged a fee to enter. That's nothing new as far back as I can remember. I don't enter then often. I did enter one that was last spring or the beginning of this summer. And I think I remember entering two other contests late last year or beginning of this year. I lost those two. I've never won any sort of writing competition ever or even was any sort of finalist. But I have written some really good stories because of them.
It's important to know who's who and who's publishing what in the scene. Part of the reason I posted about that contest is that I know this publication and I also know others here have sent it regular submissions to them. I would never post anything here that I didn't know was a solid publication. I was only trying to be helpful. And I respect that people will make their own decision about spending money or how much they are willing to spend on this sort of thing. The one I posted about, in my opinion, is one that is worth a shot if you've got something good that fits the theme. And I really like the theme they chose. I figured some of us here might have something that fits it. Again, just trying to pass on info and share with the group, which I would only do when it comes to publications I am familiar with.
Just to clarify, the stats I posted were not for a contest, but a regular submission window with no reading fee, to a well-known market that pays above the SFWA pro rate and is only open once or twice a year. Of course, they're going to get a lot of submissions. I would imagine that a contest with a $20 reading fee gets far fewer, though prize money and a big name judge can certainly bring people in. Yeah, that's usually my feeling, too. I've entered the Rattle poetry contest a few times, figuring that as long as I was buying a subscription to a magazine I enjoyed, why not take a chance at winning $15,000, however small the odds?
47 day rejection from Coffee Ring Review, story returned with editors remarks and suggestions. First time I've seen this in a rejection and am well impressed, can't argue with the commentary. 11 day form rejection from Socrates on the Beach. Up to 48
