Success!

[alpha]

I've been head down in my novel -- almost done 71,000 words out of an estimated 80,000.

Also a success worth celebrating. Well done, Bob!

[s_c_baker]

Nice, Bob! That's 70,900 words more than I've completed on MY novel in progress since the start of the month!

I do have another story that's out today, though--and this one very short indeed at around 200 words.

http://www.fantasticstoriesoftheimagina ... broadcast/

[Ishmael]

Nicely done, Stewart. I remember having seen this before do I not?


I also have a report. My 6300 short story The Hard Stuff has been accepted for the anthology Unbound II: Changed Worlds.

[alpha]

All right, Ish! Way to keep those stories coming!

[s_c_baker]

Nicely done, Stewart. I remember having seen this before do I not?


I also have a report. My 6300 short story The Hard Stuff has been accepted for the anthology Unbound II: Changed Worlds.

I wrote it for the AE micro a few years back when the theme was "Elements," so yes, I think we exchanged them.

And huzzah! Nice!

[hlf]

I have a story out at AE!
http://aescifi.ca/index.php/fiction/35-short-stories/3198-last-time-i-saw-you

Also, I should post more because it takes me eighteen tries to remember how to do links & such on this forum.

[s_c_baker]

I have a story out at AE!
http://aescifi.ca/index.php/fiction/35-short-stories/3198-last-time-i-saw-you

Also, I should post more because it takes me eighteen tries to remember how to do links & such on this forum.

Woohoo!

[storysinger]

Wow, that was good writing hlf. Two thumbs up.
Congrats on the sale.

[alpha]

Wow. Really good story, hlf.

[MattDovey]

Congrats to all of those making sales, I promise I'm not deeply envious or anything. It's ok, though, my next rejection will be my 50th! I'll hold a party. A sad, crushing party for myself and my failure. We'll have sausage rolls and fizzy pop!

That story was heartbreaking by the way, hlf. The part about the mother unable to touch her son... :'( Don't go thinking this is an achievement though, I cry at the Iron Giant, I'm a right old pansy.

[amoskalik]

Congrats to all of those making sales, I promise I'm not deeply envious or anything. It's ok, though, my next rejection will be my 50th! I'll hold a party. A sad, crushing party for myself and my failure. We'll have sausage rolls and fizzy pop!

That story was heartbreaking by the way, hlf. The part about the mother unable to touch her son... :'( Don't go thinking this is an achievement though, I cry at the Iron Giant, I'm a right old pansy.

I didn't start selling anything until after 100 rejections. I think the writing gods keep track and make sure everyone pays their dues, either that, or that's how long it took for me to work through the pro markets and into the semipro markets.

I like the first theory better. It encourages us newbies to rack up the R's. Priming the pump...

[s_c_baker]

Aye, 50 rejections is pocket change.

I had a few super-small microfictive things accepted by markets with embarrassingly high acceptance rates back when I first started, but I didn't net what I consider to be my first real sale until something like rejection #200.

(Currently at 571 submissions, 507 rejections, 26 fiction acceptances, and counting...)

[hlf]

Thanks, all, for the kind words about my story.

And since we're talking rejections (in the Success thread? what's wrong with you people!?) I'll let you know that story received 16 rejections and 2 never-made-it-to-pub acceptances before it finally made an appearance.

And like amoskalik my first sale was also after 100 rejections - and it was micro. Surprise, surprise.


But Stewart - I'm not sure I believe your sub count. Are you excluding poems & micro-fiction from that number? Because I'm at over 1200 subs and I would've assumed you'd be in the same general vicinity. We are talking lifetime here, not this year, right? (Please say I'm right. Nevermind, just let me think it.) God, my acceptance ratio is abysmal.

Let's talk about more pleasant things, shall we?

[george nik.]

Congrats, Stewart, Philip and HL!

Btw, I'm at 392 submissions, 350 rejections, 6 acceptances. Excluding poetry and excluding my Greek sales. But anyway, I'm still waiting for my break.

[s_c_baker]

Thanks, all, for the kind words about my story.

And since we're talking rejections (in the Success thread? what's wrong with you people!?) I'll let you know that story received 16 rejections and 2 never-made-it-to-pub acceptances before it finally made an appearance.

And like amoskalik my first sale was also after 100 rejections - and it was micro. Surprise, surprise.


But Stewart - I'm not sure I believe your sub count. Are you excluding poems & micro-fiction from that number? Because I'm at over 1200 subs and I would've assumed you'd be in the same general vicinity. We are talking lifetime here, not this year, right? (Please say I'm right. Nevermind, just let me think it.) God, my acceptance ratio is abysmal.

Let's talk about more pleasant things, shall we?

I think everyone's acceptance ratio is abysmal. That's my lifetime submission number according to duotrope, though--since around 2010, which is when I started actually submitting things. 1200 subs is amazing! Wish I was that productive. My poetry subs are kind of weird though, since I write haiku and you have to submit ten to fifteen of them at a time, but Duotrope only counts them one at a time. I get maybe one out of fifteen per submission accepted if I'm lucky, so my stats there are totally inflated.

High rejections means you're submitting a lot, which--in my book--is its own kind of success!

[disgruntledpeony]

I think everyone's acceptance ratio is abysmal.

It's all a matter of how you look at it. A lot of those numbers are duplicate submissions for the same story, which means that while the acceptance ratio is low the percentage of stories sold is higher.

[amoskalik]

High rejections means you're submitting a lot, which--in my book--is its own kind of success!

I set a goal for myself of 20 submissions a month. I rarely meet it, but it encourages me to do two things:
1. Submit as fast as the stories come back
2. Write more stories to send out

Number one has the added benefit of turning the sting of rejection into an opportunity to get one submission closer to my goal.

Obviously, the ultimate goal is to sell stories, but when the desired result is statistically rare, it is helpful to measure an intermediate result that is more common, like shots on goal in hockey for example. If you keep shooting those stories out, eventually one will find the back of the net. (OK, that's my sports metaphor quota for the month.)

[Dustin Adams]

"If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate."
Thomas J. Watson

[ThomasKCarpenter]

"If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate."
Thomas J. Watson

THIS! :)

[Athena]

I'm not sure if this qualifies as a success here, but I'm pretty excited. I got my first personal rejection today from Scott Andrews over at Beneath Ceaseless Skies. It was for the story I got the HM here in Q3. I know it's still a rejection, but it was definitely not a form one! It feels really encouraging. Still, I think I will put that story away for a while and then get it out later and tinker once I've built a stronger skill set.

[Dustin Adams]

Athena,

Great news!

We do have a sort-of success thread. I wonder where it went.

But, I'd still call that a success.

[MattDovey]

I'm not sure if this qualifies as a success here, but I'm pretty excited. I got my first personal rejection today from Scott Andrews over at Beneath Ceaseless Skies. It was for the story I got the HM here in Q3. I know it's still a rejection, but it was definitely not a form one! It feels really encouraging. Still, I think I will put that story away for a while and then get it out later and tinker once I've built a stronger skill set.

The personal rejections really do stick in the mind and warm the heart. Like some kind of mental porridge you eat through your eyes that drips down the spine and clings to corners of your soul.

This metaphor isn't working out for me.

[s_c_baker]

Scott's rejections are excellent!

[george nik.]

We do have a sort-of success thread. I wonder where it went.

Still there.

[Dr.Bob]

>Doh!<
I forgot about this thread (my apologies).

And I've been too long absent from the WOTF community and contest---well, except I attended the 2-day WOTF workshop last summer (a wonderful experience which I recommend as an, um, forschbise* to actually winning and being invited for the full week).
--* forschbise = appetizer [Yiddish]

My 2015 (paid) publications to date:

And the Ends of the Earth For Thy Possession -- at Giganotosaurus [my 2013 WOTF Finalist novelette] http://giganotosaurus.org/2015/07/01/and-the-ends-of-the-earth-for-thy-possession/;

Lirazel's Heart -- in the anthology Robotica: The Real Relationships of Artificial Life Forms
(for which it was delightfully chosen as the lead story! My wife and I had a wonderful time at the book release party, signing, and reading Halloween Day at Can-Con 2015 in Ottawa. We cannot say enough about Canadian hospitality) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1518712274?keywords=robotica%20Finegold&qid=1447622840&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1 (I know, the cover made me blush but the tales in the volume run the gamut of funny, bawdy, and sweet, and I am pleased to have my tale among them) ;

A Madness Most Discreet -- one of my Kabbalah-based urban fantasy stories was accepted for Marc David Blake's Straeon 2;

...and I am very pleased to share(> trumpets, cymbals, 'oh selah'<) that Kary English's and my collaborative tale, also derived from Lurianic Kabbalah, entitled Shattered Vessels has been purchased by the great Mr. Resnick for Galaxy's Edge Magazine. This will be my first professional sale.

Respectfully,
Dr. Bob

[alpha]

Well done, Dr. Bob!

[s_c_baker]

Very nice, Dr. Bob!

Giganotosaurus is also a very hard market to crack. Clap yourself on the back there.

[Ishmael]

Having failed myself with the first three of those, I take my hat off to you Dr Bob!

[george nik.]

Congrats, Dr. Bob!

[preston]

Congratulations, Dr. Bob!