Write One, Sub One

They're a tough market and Weird West is a tough sell so I'm not exactly holding my breath, but you never know!
 
PeteMC said:
They're a tough market and Weird West is a tough sell so I'm not exactly holding my breath, but you never know!
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There's a "Weird West" type story in the latest issue of Apex Magazine. They're open for submission at the moment. >.>
 
Got a rejection on my really short flash fiction piece. Sent it back out the door to flash fiction blog.
 
SteveW said:
Got a rejection on my really short flash fiction piece. Sent it back out the door to flash fiction blog.
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Keep at it, Steve. :D I'm at 100% rejections right now (I won't tell you the absolute number - it is high), but I'm not letting it get me down. More writing, more submissions! Like the man says, be a dandelion...
 
Wow - great to see you all submitting!

I didn't submit a thing last month. I'm very bummed. But in July, I will submit something. Not sure what, but even if it's just to a free market, I will get something out the door!
 
tmso said:
Wow - great to see you all submitting!

I didn't submit a thing last month. I'm very bummed. But in July, I will submit something. Not sure what, but even if it's just to a free market, I will get something out the door!
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I'm with you, tmso. I haven't submitted anything since the first or second week week of May. I'm not writing much in the way of flash or short stories lately, but I have a couple that I should be editing and firing back out there.

Hopefully this month I can make that happen.
 
I need to ge the horror story that shortlisted for Night Terrors back out the door again - any suggestions where to send it?
 
I just got word that one if the first stories I sent out to a pro has "been placed in the Maybe box". ;) Of course, they also said it would take a while to get to it, so I may never know! But that's better than a "no"!
 
CharlotteAshley said:
I just got word that one if the first stories I sent out to a pro has "been placed in the Maybe box". ;) Of course, they also said it would take a while to get to it, so I may never know! But that's better than a "no"!
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Woohoo! That's awesome, Charlotte! I'm sure the next one will be a "YES!" :D
 
...and rejection number two for my flash fiction piece just landed.
 
I think part of my problem is that most of the stories I am putting I don't fully love myself. They are just "ok". So after a couple rejections, I just loose faith in them.
 
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I submitted something! A very short (400 words) story to Everyday Fiction. :)

While submitting, I realized I have another story still there in the "pending" category (90 days out!). I wish they would just reject it already... :(
 
tmso said:
I submitted something! A very short (400 words) story to Everyday Fiction. :)

While submitting, I realized I have another story still there in the "pending" category (90 days out!). I wish they would just reject it already... :(
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Excellent! Hope you get some good news!
 
The ASIM discussion in this thread reminds me of a fun discussion we had here several years ago about the same market.

I pretty much follow JRMurdock's process in post #12 of this thread, except that I usually don't wait so long before editing. I usually wait only a few days, just long enough for me to be able to look at it with fresh eyes.

As I mentioned in another thread, I use Duotrope to find markets and keep track of my submissions. I figure that if I sell at least one story at a semi-pro rate per year it pays for itself. The story paying for this year's use of Duotrope is the one from the old thread mentioned above (Kat, if you're still interested in reading it, it's here).

I keep sending out stories until they are either published or I lose interest in them as ongoing projects. Because I always reread (and often edit, even if it is only a few word choices) every story between a rejection and the next submission, I sometimes hit a point with a story where I say to myself, "I really like this story, but...." If the "but" is something I am interested in addressing, I do so, as in the case of a piece of flash fiction I wrote back in 2008 and rewrote as a 4000-word story this year. If the "but" is either too big to tackle at the time or not something that interests me at the moment, I retire the piece for awhile. Perhaps some day I will revisit these pieces. I am reminded of Tennessee Williams, whose play Battle of Angels was first produced in 1940. The play was not a success (apparently there was a stage fire on opening night!) and Williams was not satisfied with it. Over the next 17 years he tinkered with it, finally republishing it as Orpheus Descending in 1957. It still wasn't a success, but the play is a testament to Williams's dedication to his artistic vision.

One thing I don't really do when making such decisions is factor in the number of rejections the story has accumulated. The story mentioned in the old thread I linked to above was rejected 15 times over the course of 6 years before finding a home, and my most recent sale (my first pro sale, no less!) was for a story that was rejected 13 times over the course of 3 years. I believed in both stories, and so I kept tweaking them and sending them back out. I have another story that has been rejected 21 times in 3 years, but I keep sending it out because I think it's one of the best things I have ever written and I know that one of these days I'll find an editor who will want to publish it.
 
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Banger said:
One thing I don't really do when making such decisions is factor in the number of rejections the story has accumulated. The story mentioned in the old thread I linked to above was rejected 15 times over the course of 6 years before finding a home, and my most recent sale (my first pro sale, no less!) was for a story that was rejected 13 times over the course of 3 years. I believed in both stories, and so I kept tweaking them and sending them back out. I have another story that has been rejected 21 times in 3 years, but I keep sending it out because I think it's one of the best things I have ever written and I know that one of these days I'll find an editor who will want to publish it.
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Thanks for this, Banger! I found it very heartening! And congratulations on the pro sale, and the Stupefying Stories. :D
 
Congrats, indeed, Bangor. Thanks for sharing. I've gotten several rejections this year. Of the sort that say, "Well written, but..." So, I will take to heart your experience, and keep tweaking and keep sending them out. :)

I got a request to re-write!!!!!!! Everyday Fiction finally got back to me (do you think they read my post last night?) and asked for a re-write. I will do it. If they accept the re-write, that'll be my second story with them. :cool:

Now, off to go find a semi-pro market for one of my stories. (No, not letting this sort-of-victory go to my head, just challenging myself.)
 
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