A 72-day form rejection from Flame Tree Publishing's "Shadows on the Water" anthology. #25 for the year. 1/4 of the way there!
Got a few more. Short story and novel query rejected by Moonstruck Books after 5 days (I'll just count it as one), another 5-day from Dreams & Nightmares (oof - "Thank you for your submission. Alas, this story does not tempt me to buy."), and also a positive rejection from Headland Journal after 71 days. If it's not a personal, I think it's gotta be at least a higher-tier form: "We ultimately decided not to include your piece in the forthcoming issue, but it was a pleasure to read your work. We would welcome the chance to consider your writing again in the future." We're up to one-oh-four, bay-bee.
It's defiantly a higher tier. A personal rejection would probably not use the word "forthcoming." And in my experience they sound a lot more personal. Editor want you to know if they are commenting on your work. I will say I think it took be a while to really spot the difference. But after receiving enough higher tier rejections from the same places, I realized it would be the exact same wording. There is this sort of crossover where I've gotten a higher tier from, but there will be a one sentence added by the editor. Another thing to keep an eye on is the signature at the end and the email address it's coming from. Sometimes, and at some of the larger publications, a story that gets pulled out of the slush still has several levels to get to before they're going to buy a piece. You can always look at a masthead to sort of see what the chain of command looks like and it can sometimes indicate how far your story made it. And that can also be true of higher tier forms. I've gotten the same form, but from different people at some places. But a higher tier can mean quite a lot. Slush readers and editors aren't even going to read a story to the end if it's not good. And maybe the particular rejection you reviewed was really close, maybe just beat out. If you've got something else to show them, I wouldn't wait too long on that. Sometimes I mention in my cover letter for my next submission that although they passed on my last story they said it was a pleasure to read and I hoped they would like this new story better.
I always mention that they asked me to submit more work in the first line of my cover letter. I keep a folder in my inbox for emails that asked me to submit more work. So far, it has not led to any sales, but if nothing else, it makes for a nicer first line.
Sorry for the double post. For some reason, whenever I edit my posts, I mistakenly hit reply instead.
Okay, I think I should add a here. Writing related and $$$. I have been asked to be a guest lecturer and give a class my tips for short form writing. An interesting and unexpected invitation. I hate public speaking, and most of the time I feel like a fraud when I talk about any success I've had. I'm much more comfortable talking about my failures. I've been asked to submit my writing tips prior to the lecture I will give. It's kind of funny that anyone wants something like my writing tips, but I am taking this seriously and hope that it will benefit at least some of these students.
A 51-day form rejection from Diabolical Plots (short story) and a 121-day form rejection from Barrelhouse (poetry). Up to 28 for the year.
101 day personal rejection from Reckoning: creative writing on environmental justice. They liked the writing but thought the twist ending was "a little too predictable." I suspect I dropped too many clues in the story and gave it away. I was kinda afraid of that. On the other hand, this is one of the stories that won the award in April so I don't think I need to mess with it too much. Onward.
I've got a short story in the works, however, I'm concerned with using swears in it. Sure, there are places that might not matter, but thinking about the short stories in the literary journals I read (and hope to sell work to) I'm not really coming across swear words. That makes me think I should take them out and replace them with different language. I know we're all aimed at selling our work and reading these publications. What would you do? How have you handles cus words in your writing when you're aiming for certain publications that don't appear to publish pieces with swear world? I'm wondering if there is some unspoken word about this in the literary journal scene. Thoughts?
I don't send those pieces to those publications. I forget the signal for acceptance. Hope it's okay if I say that my agent called today to say the publisher at the top of his want list just made me a very nice two book offer.
An 11-day rejection from the “Up Your Ars Poetica” anthology with a note that I had made the shortlist. 29 for the year
Been a while since I've seen some action. I got a 14-day form from 3LBE a little while ago, but I was saving it til I had more to report. Today, I finally heard back from Broken Antler Magazine on three pieces that I submitted 84 days ago (I'll just count it as one). Nope, no acceptances, but I got one of those good personal rejections. It's always a nice little boost that makes me want to keep on trying ! "The editors would also like you to know that we found much to enjoy in your submission, and we would love to see more of your work during our next reading period (scheduled to open in late October)." Hell yeah. Well, that makes it 106 for the year.
