@morgan-broadhead Like other pro-rate markets, Clarkesworld has multiple slush readers to sift through the slush pile. Their slushers are required to read 5 stories a day, so they don't read all the way through. Some 90% of the stories are not passed up to Neil. What happens most of the time is that a slusher stopped midway because he thought that the piece wasn't suitable for the magazine, and slushers don't write personal rejections. There's an editorial from a year ago where Neil explains the reading process.
Oh, and I see that people are impressed with Clarkesworld's and other pro mag's quickness. They do are quick, but they aren't the quickest. That would be a magazine called The Dark; they're famous for 5-minute rejections. I'm not making this up.
Just submitted my first story to Clarkesworld and got a rejection from Neil and a note to fix my formatting, can I interpret that as it got through the slush readers?
@cube Hard to say. Neil reportedly also reads slush from time to time, and I take it he didn't comment on the story itself but just the formatting? So maybe he was the first one to read your story. A story with poor formatting probably wouldn't go past the slush pile.
I just submitted my first story to WotF. My last round of beta readers all gave me the type of feedback I hoped to hear. Hopefully, if the story isn't any good for this competition, I can at least sell it somewhere else.
I just submitted my first story to WotF. My last round of beta readers all gave me the type of feedback I hoped to hear. Hopefully, if the story isn't any good for this competition, I can at least sell it somewhere else.
Congrats on your first contest submission! May the odds be ever in your favor.
"You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you." — Ray Bradbury
Drop me a line at https://morganbroadhead.com
SFx1 HMx2 Rx4
A story I wrote initially for wotf was held for ages for Fantastic Detectives anthology but ultimately rejected. I've yet to submit it to wotf. Maybe next quarter.
Today I got an email saying my straight R from Q3 vol 38 has been held by a magazine. They'll let me know by the end of December. I won't start twitching yet.
Bit of a heartbreaker today - got a 224 day very lightly personalized rejection from Strange Horizons. Probably jinxed myself the other day when I was told I had some good news incoming and so I jokingly posted wondering if good news comes in threes. Well instead the good news I was told to expect was NOT that and now this. I suppose I have at least one more bad news to come (although since I have 5 stories out on sub right now I guess I'm expecting at least one bad news out of the group)
@czing sorry to hear that! I know you're bummed about coming so close, but a personal rejection, light as it may be, means the story's a fantastic one, particularly given the quality of the mag.
Just had a form rejection from Interzone. They got the title of my story wrong. A moment later I got an apology which rejected the correct title instead.
My email client got these the wrong way round so I got the apology first, which was odd.
Anyway, it just goes to prove that even a form rejection can end up personal and that the person on the other end is not necessarily an evil AI robot. They might have even read it.
@alexvss 5 mins? I feel much better about my 15-minute rejection from The Dark.
When I heard they respond to all submissions within 48 hours I thought it sounded awesome. When I got my 12-minute rejection I liked it less. Though, after a few minutes and the burn had worn off, I realized that it was much better than waiting three months for the same form rejection from somewhere else.
I've had a story submitted for four months at a place with a response time of "a few months."
With great hesitance and anxiety, I chased them three weeks ago. They apologized that they'd held it so long and would respond in the "next couple of weeks."
Still radio silence. I really don't want to chase them again, but they've got one of my more marketable pieces AND they're a dream magazine, so I'm desperate to get either a rejection or an acceptance.
@ease I'm in the same boat with one of my own dream magazines. They've had one of my stories since the beginning of April and held it since mid-June. I have not reached out because if they love it, I REALLY want it with them. So I will wait another couple of months before I inquire. I think in this case, it's good to give editors grace and patience. There is no time limit on selling a story, unless you are looking at a specific anthology call. Anyway, that's my plan. Fingers crossed for us both.
‘Writing is like giving yourself homework, really hard homework, everyday for the rest of your life. You want glamour? Throw glitter at the computer screen.' - Ketrina Monroe
'The War Within' Deep Magic Volume 73 https://deepmagic.co
'Spirit Talk' in The Last Line Issue 7 Winter
'The Mystical Farrago' Writers of the Future, Volume 38
"The Dying Book" Misfits of Magic Anthology
Upcoming: 'Whatever Lola Wants' Murderbirds Anthology
'Inspirational Theurgist' Of Wizards and Wolves Anthology for the David Farland memorial fund
V37- R, HM, SHM, HM
V38- HM, SHM, Winner (3rd place)
@nvhaskell You're totally right. I've never been good at patience, but this is the time for it. Best of luck to you. I'll keep fingers crossed for us both too, and will be on the lookout for your "Success" post 😊
You know you're batting them out of the park when you get not one, but two rejection letters from the same magazine for the same submission, a week apart. 😆 I feel like it was a coffee room chat, one editor boasting about how bad my story was to another, so that other had to read it and was so offended they felt compelled to re-reject me.
However, it was BCS, so at least they were both personalized, and the second one was pretty long and actually had a lot of really helpful stuff in it, so overall I'm weirdly pleased?
And @nvhaskell, I finally got a form rejection for that 'dream magazine.' Disappointing after so many months but hey ho.
It would be nicer to say "held for consideration" and nicer still not to mention simsubs TWICE. 'hey, you can still submit this elsewhere you know! Like, ELSEWHERE?'
And yeah, I immediately submitted elsewhere. And I mean, like, INSTANTLY. To a (1 cent per word) higher-paying market.
Cause 90 days is the legal limit on lost property and all kinds of offers and propositions.
Any market asking for exclusivity for more than 90 days is WAY out of line!
@czing I know how you feel. I had one story that was with Andromeda Spaceways and had made it to the final round of consideration, then waited 6 months to get a rejection anyway. It can be a little painful, when you get your hopes up, but I also think that it shows us who we are as writers. What do you do when you get rejected? How do you respond? I find I spend an afternoon a little bummed out, but the next day I'm back to writing, and even better, using any feedback from the rejection to learn and make the story better. In some ways, you can even get excited from rejections, because even though it doesn't count as a win, it means you are trying - unlike the multitudes of people who say they're going to write and never follow through. And I've also come to the realization that, even if I NEVER sell anything I write, I'm still going to be writing - because it's become an indispensable part of who I am, and one of my greatest pleasures and meanings in life.
“Stories are the collective wisdom of everyone who has ever lived. Your job as a storyteller is not simply to entertain. Nor is it to be noticed for the way your turn a phrase. You have a very important job—one of the most important. Your job is to let people know that everyone shares their feelings—and that these feelings bind us. Your job is a healing art, and like all healers, you have a responsibility. Let people know they are not alone. You must make people understand that we are all the same.” Brian McDonald
2022: Second Place Winner V39 Q1 2021: HM, HM, SHM 2020: R 2019: SHM, R 2018: HM 2017: HM
@angelslayah I've gotten many like that. As a comparison, Andromeda Spaceways gave me a whole page of comments from their readers / editors, and those helped me retool the rejected story. A little feedback goes a LONG way.
“Stories are the collective wisdom of everyone who has ever lived. Your job as a storyteller is not simply to entertain. Nor is it to be noticed for the way your turn a phrase. You have a very important job—one of the most important. Your job is to let people know that everyone shares their feelings—and that these feelings bind us. Your job is a healing art, and like all healers, you have a responsibility. Let people know they are not alone. You must make people understand that we are all the same.” Brian McDonald
2022: Second Place Winner V39 Q1 2021: HM, HM, SHM 2020: R 2019: SHM, R 2018: HM 2017: HM
Yeah. Just "too abstract" or "too adult" or "not enuf action" would have helped me aim my next submission for their cryptic standards! They think I can write and could have had me write FOR THEM. But no.
@storysinger Never gotten a form rejection like that before. Keep submitting! 👍
“Stories are the collective wisdom of everyone who has ever lived. Your job as a storyteller is not simply to entertain. Nor is it to be noticed for the way your turn a phrase. You have a very important job—one of the most important. Your job is to let people know that everyone shares their feelings—and that these feelings bind us. Your job is a healing art, and like all healers, you have a responsibility. Let people know they are not alone. You must make people understand that we are all the same.” Brian McDonald
2022: Second Place Winner V39 Q1 2021: HM, HM, SHM 2020: R 2019: SHM, R 2018: HM 2017: HM
