WRITERSoftheFUTURE.com

My rejections for 2015 just hit 194 today, of which 32 personal. This year's acceptances 7, plus 2 x HM and 1 x SHM. Wow. Way more productive than I. I've only retired one piece, and that's because I belatedly realised I was trying to be clever, rather than writing something I believe in. Like many...

Davian Aw wrote:http://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com/Market.aspx?mid=6

Lots of responses within a day or two, usually within a week. Any idea what happened there? New slush readers or something?

No idea. But the quick turn around has moved it right up to the top of my submission list.

george nik. wrote:Once again I will mention my SFComet story.
But this time it's to announce it's been published, so you can read it if you'd like!
A Rise To The Surface

Congrats. I'm jealous - I'd love to get published at that site.

Any recommendations on the Vietnamese short story front? Nothing that is widely available (though I need to do more research on this front). I get a local newspaper here that publishes one short story a week. The translation are often bad, the story-telling sometimes poor, but every now and again i...

Historically I think this is true. These days, I'm not sure it's quite so clear-cut. Look at the recently released F&SF cover: http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2015/01/table-of-contents-fantasy-science-fiction-magazine-marchapril-2015/ There are also plenty of excellent magazines with a more in...

There appears to be a lack of clarity with the new SFWA rules on what is a SFWA market and what isn't. My understanding is they are yet to produce a final version of the new criteria. However, when they do, I hope WotF adopts the new definition for determining 'pro' writers. There's been a lot of am...

It's maybe significant that I sold my first story to Cat Sparks, an Australian woman. I sold my second story to Canada. It could be there's something about British women writers that US readers can't abide. How many current British writers in any genre can you name? A question for my American frien...

This is great. Living here in Vietnam made snail mail submission to F&SF pretty much impossible. And even if it did manage to get through, to cost to mail a story over was prohibitive.

I have a story with him now actually. So fingers crossed.

I only recently signed up for The Grinder, but I currently have 29 stories on submission (from flash to 12,000 words) and one pitched to an imprint, making 30 simultaneously in the wild. Of course this volume tends to mean that I get rejections in batches, but I also get positive vibes with more fr...

Personally I've found Duotrope a superior service. I'm on a very frugal budget, but I'm always willing to use my spare change to put money into an industry that has struggled in recent years. Mostly this involves buying new books whenever I can afford it, with the occasional SF magazine thrown in. B...

Thanks for this Mike. Very interesting.

Ahh a reprint of 'All You Zombies" just in time to go with the film adaptation. wotf007 Mike and Shahid (the publisher) worked hard to make that deal come together. They even have a still from the film incorporated into the cover. Nice work! Might I add that - despite having a small budget - i...

18-day personal rejection from Strange Horizons yesterday. They made some positive comments about the content of the story, so it was an actual personal rejection (unlike the Shimmer rejections mentioned above). A HM for WotF should certainly be considered a 'personal' rejection. You're in (roughly)...

Until today I thought it reasonable to assume that 184 days and two unanswered queries was evidence of lack of interest and could be taken as a rejection. I even asked my wife to confirm that this was a reasonable assumption. It's reasonable. I've had similar experiences to the one you've described...

I forget to mention it here, but I managed a second acceptance at Interzone. Coming out in January, I think. The story is called: "An Advanced Guide to Successful Price-Fixing in Extraterrestrial Betting Markets." It's fairly weird and the closest I've ever written to a PKD-type story. So ...

Beth Powers wrote:

T. R. Napper wrote:34 Day rejection. "...quite good, but not what I'm looking for."

Those are the worst. I responded by submitting another story

Always the best response.

34 Day rejection. "...quite good, but not what I'm looking for."

s_c_baker wrote:I got my 45-day rejection on Tuesday. It was essentially a form rejection, but one that confirmed I passed the first reader. Ah well!

Bad luck mate. My rejection must be coming soon, I guess. At 33 days now.

They've got a 0% acceptance rate on Duotrope, so not an easy market to crack.

Beth Powers wrote:You might have already gotten your responses, but the Submission Grinder is reporting 39-48 day responses. So, they might be reading the second round--I too am waiting for a 30+ day submission.

Still no response here, but can see 52, 49 and 38 day rejections in Duotrope.

Must be getting close.

Well, I sent my first story to them. A WotF reject from a couple of quarters ago. I almost changed my mind when I saw how long it was--I had forgotten--since they say the longer the story the better it has to be. I have enough problems with shorter stories being written well enough, but with their ...

They're very fast with returns, as well. Of my three submissions there so far, I got two back in under 3 days each, and am still waiting for the last one at around 40 days (which supposedly means it's gone to the second round). Yeah, I'm at 26 days. Duotrope says the average is 4.4 days, which is a...

I'm not sure how relevant this advice is going to be, given you've already written 20 self-published novels, but I can give you the perspective of a relative newcomer. I've just returned from a convention in Australia where I pitched to a small publisher and a major publisher. Having the WotF win an...

After 247 days, I can now say: Captain Nick Aames is scheduled for a third appearance in Analog! Another sale? Congrats Martin. The editor clearly likes your stuff. Question: is there a point, after many sales to the same mag, where you no longer submit with the plebs through the slush pile, and st...

A preview of the next Interzone is up (an issue I have a story in). The art looks bloody fantastic: http://ttapress.com/1813/interzone-254/

192 day personal rejection from Tor.com. RANT! RANT! RANT! RANT! RANT! Oh, well, off to Duotrope... Ha. I've had something with them for 112 days. I reckon I'll be waiting 6 months total for nothing more than a form rejection from those guys. Personal rejection from Tor though Martin - that's a thi...

Alex Kane wrote:

T. R. Napper wrote:After posting here last I managed a 2-day acceptance to Interzone. Pretty happy with that. They're still a semi-pro market (though with a pro rep).

Congratulations! How long is the story they bought?

8200. The 'acceptances' for next issue link is here: http://ttapress.com/interzone/acceptances/

After posting here last I managed a 2-day acceptance to Interzone. Pretty happy with that. They're still a semi-pro market (though with a pro rep).

I do keep trying, but no. Yesterday Interzone rejected a story of mine on the same day, in little more time than it must have taken to read it, assuming they did read it. Yeah, I've copped some quick Rs from them as well. Not clear to me why they aren't up front about payment. Perhaps they want roo...

At Interzone's Duotrope listing, payment has changed from 'semi-pro' to 'unknown.' A search of their website provides no useful information. Has anyone on the forums sold a story to this mob, or know someone who has? It'd be useful to know what they actually pay.

Just got this rejection:

"Your story is well-written and while I enjoyed reading it, I’m afraid it’s not quite what I’m looking for. Best of luck to you in placing this elsewhere, and I hope you’ll consider submitting something else to us for future issues."