Let's talk submissions, acceptance letters, rejection letters, etc.
Have submitted a few pieces of flash fiction, a few short stories. I started with no pay stuff, but then decided pay markets.
Did you receive form rejection letters, personally written rejections? What did your acceptance letters look like?
Mostly interested in short story submissions, but also curious for you novel writers who submitted to publishers or agents.
So far I've got two rejection form letters from Clarkesworld. The last one literally took less than 12 hours to get back.
I have an english sonnet submitted to Phobos magazine right now, no response yet, also a horror story I submitted to Apex Magazine.
Still a couple of flash fiction pieces out in the void to no pay markets that are going on 4 months.
To others: what do you put when they ask you for a bio? I really don't want to reveal anything about myself, other than maybe my name, age, and the city I live in.
Here's an example of a form rejection letter from clarkesworld.
Dear Anon,
Thank you for the opportunity to read "Cockroach Vapor" Unfortunately, your story isn't quite what we're looking for right now.
In the past, we've provided detailed feedback on our rejections, but I'm afraid that due to time considerations, we're no longer able to offer that service. I appreciate your interest in Clarkesworld Magazine and hope that you'll keep us in mind in the future.
Take care,
Neil Clarke
Publisher/Editor
Clarkesworld Magazine
www.clarkesworldmagazine.com
>>8095569
It can be ultra generic. A boring cover letter or bio has never stopped a good story.
Anon is a serial community college dropout, who when not writing, can be found bowling in Bumfuck, Alabama.
submitting the same piece to multiple places, ignoring multiple submissions guidelines
I read somewhere where the one rule a professor told his students to ignore was the "No multiple submissions" guidelines by some magazines.
His reasoning was that if a magazine is going to take up to 6 months to reply, you should be able to try to eat and earn money by submitting it elsewhere during these months.
Surprisingly, a few editors agreed, saying as long as you contact them immediately after your story is accepted somewhere else, that it's not only fine, but helpful. Their reasoning being at some point they have say 20 stories they love, and have to get rid of 5. If anything, you are helping them if your story is one of those 20.
What do you guys think?
How do you guys research the markets open for submissions?
Does no one submit their work?
