A thread for public happy dances. Could we get a sticky, Staff? :D
Printable View
A thread for public happy dances. Could we get a sticky, Staff? :D
I'll dance first.
I sold my story 'Kin' to Fiction365. Woohoo! It's five years old and has been rejected by twenty markets, but I knew it was a good one and didn't give up. So there's a lesson there! :)
I also received the most flattering acceptance yet:
Hi George:
We almost never accept zombie apocalypse stories: the vast majority submitted to us are all about the killing, and have neither dynamic characters nor original take.
"Kin," on the other hand? Oh hell yes. We'll be proud to publish it. And we're grateful to you for redeeming our faith in the genre.
*Happydance!*
I sold a story called "Replay" which I workshopped here (thanks for the help!).
There's a story called "Ending" that I gave away free to a good home. :)
Congrats, lasm!
Sold two poems, five stories since beginning to sub last August.
Congratulations, George, that is great news. F365 tends to only give me one-liners ("This is great"; "Yeah, we really like this"; etc.), so you must have done something right.
Congratulations, also, Lia. :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Leyline
Awesome news, Leyline. I've never submitted anything anywhere, and wouldn't know where to look. Any tips?
Ack! Sorry for the lateness of this reply, Jamie. Somehow missed your post until just now.Quote:
Awesome news, Leyline. I've never submitted anything anywhere, and wouldn't know where to look. Any tips?
Not sure how great my advice might be -- I don't have a fantastic hit rate or anything. But here goes:
Follow their guidelines as exactly as possible, especially if it's a paying market. Even markets that pay small sums have high submission rates and slush readers (the first sentries on the road to the gate) will often look for reasons to discard a story unread because they have 40 more to get through that day. Slush readers are most likely unpaid volunteers, remember.
Try and get a feel for the 'zine you're submitting to. A lot of rejections are simply because you sent the wrong story to a venue. That said, don't be too beholden to superficial or overarching descriptions, even by the 'zine itself. My first sale was to an ostensibly Christian spec-fic ezine, despite the fact that it had nothing to do with Christianity, and even a slight pantheistic feel. The editor responded to it because the values it expressed (responsibility, love of family, good deeds being their own reward) matched what he considered to be Christian values.
Learn to accept rejection as just another market to take off from the list for that particular story. Also learn to appreciate even the smallest personal comment: those almost always mean that the editor appreciated your story enough to explain -- no matter how briefly -- why it was being rejected.
And most importantly: do not give up. 'Kin' is five years old and was rejected by over 20 markets, yet almost every one of them were personal rejections. A few even suggested possible better-suited markets (which is a huge compliment). Mostly, trust your gut. If you know it's a good story, have faith in it. A rejection just means you haven't found the right home yet.
Hope that helps in some way! :)
Best,
-G.
Although you may have to wade through it, there are tips to be found in Writers' Resources.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jamie
Cheers Leyline, and thanks Cran also, I'll check out the links.
Congrats, you lucky writers. Good for you! Way to go! Whoopee!