Success!

[AlexH]

Charlie talks about his rejection templates here, though it's from a few years ago when electronic submissions first opened, so may not be exactly the same: http://www.ccfinlay.com/blog/nectar-for ... ncers.html

“didn’t grab me” = only read the opening
“didn’t work for me” = good, read all the way through
“didn’t win me over” = you'll probably sell it elsewhere

And look at these stats: "473 out of 751 [submissions] listed one or more previous pro sales. 63% of you are already writing at this level."

Yikes!

[Reuben]

Thanks all!

[MiloMinderbinder]

"The Witch of Sherman Oaks" my HM from Volume 36, Quarter 3 appears in the Summer 2020 issue of The Colored Lens.

[vjalrik]

"The Witch of Sherman Oaks" my HM from Volume 36, Quarter 3 appears in the Summer 2020 issue of The Colored Lens.

Congrats!

[Henckel]

"The Witch of Sherman Oaks" my HM from Volume 36, Quarter 3 appears in the Summer 2020 issue of The Colored Lens.

That's awesome! Congrats!

[Andy Dibble]

"The Witch of Sherman Oaks" my HM from Volume 36, Quarter 3 appears in the Summer 2020 issue of The Colored Lens.

Nice!

[disgruntledpeony]

Congratulations, Milo!

[Reuben]

Awesome! I've been trying to get into The Colored Lens for a while!

[RSchibler]

Congratulations! Love the cover.

[TimE]

Well done, Milo. And from an HM - that's interesting.

[disgruntledpeony]

http://blog.flametreepublishing.com/fan ... ange-lands

Great news, everyone! I've sold a story to Flame Tree Publishing's "Strange Lands" anthology! It's going to be available in the UK in October and the US in November.

[aedlrjqaewoif]

http://blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-gothic/gothic-fantasy-successful-submissions-strange-lands

Great news, everyone! I've sold a story to Flame Tree Publishing's "Strange Lands" anthology! It's going to be available in the UK in October and the US in November.

Congrats!

[RSchibler]

WOO!

[chuckt]

http://blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-gothic/gothic-fantasy-successful-submissions-strange-lands

Great news, everyone! I've sold a story to Flame Tree Publishing's "Strange Lands" anthology! It's going to be available in the UK in October and the US in November.

That's great. Congrats

[Reuben]

http://blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-gothic/gothic-fantasy-successful-submissions-strange-lands

Great news, everyone! I've sold a story to Flame Tree Publishing's "Strange Lands" anthology! It's going to be available in the UK in October and the US in November.

Nice! You're inching your way to proing out, aren't you? Your second pro sale, or your third?

Congratulations!

[disgruntledpeony]

http://blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-gothic/gothic-fantasy-successful-submissions-strange-lands

Great news, everyone! I've sold a story to Flame Tree Publishing's "Strange Lands" anthology! It's going to be available in the UK in October and the US in November.

Nice! You're inching your way to proing out, aren't you? Your second pro sale, or your third?

Congratulations!

It's my third pro sale, but the new wording of the rules confused me, so I e-mailed Joni to check. It's been confirmed that, since my first two sales were at .06/word, they don't count under the new rules (even though .06/word was pro rates at the time I made those sales). I'm not as close to proing out as I was worried about for a week or two.

[AlexH]

Wow. That must make a whole lot of new people eligible again. Keep that quiet.

Congrats on your first pro sale. For the second time!

[Wulf Moon]

http://blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-gothic/gothic-fantasy-successful-submissions-strange-lands

Great news, everyone! I've sold a story to Flame Tree Publishing's "Strange Lands" anthology! It's going to be available in the UK in October and the US in November.

Nice! You're inching your way to proing out, aren't you? Your second pro sale, or your third?

Congratulations!

It's my third pro sale, but the new wording of the rules confused me, so I e-mailed Joni to check. It's been confirmed that, since my first two sales were at .06/word, they don't count under the new rules (even though .06/word was pro rates at the time I made those sales). I'm not as close to proing out as I was worried about for a week or two.

Great news, Liz. On both counts.

[disgruntledpeony]

Wow. That must make a whole lot of new people eligible again. Keep that quiet.

Congrats on your first pro sale. For the second time!

Honestly, I'm guessing that's why the competition has felt steeper of late--but that's just a guess, no hard data to back it up.

[SCAFontaine]

http://blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-gothic/gothic-fantasy-successful-submissions-strange-lands

Great news, everyone! I've sold a story to Flame Tree Publishing's "Strange Lands" anthology! It's going to be available in the UK in October and the US in November.

Congrats!! So happy for you!

[TimE]

Third pro sale sounds good. Have you stopped telling people you're a writer and now say a professional writer?
Well done.

[michaeljwyantjr]

It's my third pro sale...

Doesn't that mean you can get that SFWA membership card now?

[disgruntledpeony]

It's my third pro sale...

Doesn't that mean you can get that SFWA membership card now?

I don't have the money for that, I have babies.

[oishisushi911]

Wow. That must make a whole lot of new people eligible again. Keep that quiet.

Congrats on your first pro sale. For the second time!

Honestly, I'm guessing that's why the competition has felt steeper of late--but that's just a guess, no hard data to back it up.

That's surprising. I thought it was much easier to pro out than that. Guess not.

I may have to preorder that Strange Lands tome. What a beautiful anthology to be published in!

[oishisushi911]

"The Witch of Sherman Oaks" my HM from Volume 36, Quarter 3 appears in the Summer 2020 issue of The Colored Lens.

Great job finding a home for your HM. I may have to order that as I've been curious about the publication for a couple months now.

[disgruntledpeony]

Wow. That must make a whole lot of new people eligible again. Keep that quiet.

Congrats on your first pro sale. For the second time!

Honestly, I'm guessing that's why the competition has felt steeper of late--but that's just a guess, no hard data to back it up.

That's surprising. I thought it was much easier to pro out than that. Guess not.

I may have to preorder that Strange Lands tome. What a beautiful anthology to be published in!

Your fourth pro short story publication--at .08/word or higher--is what makes you pro out.

[thegirlintheglasses]

http://blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-gothic/gothic-fantasy-successful-submissions-strange-lands

Great news, everyone! I've sold a story to Flame Tree Publishing's "Strange Lands" anthology! It's going to be available in the UK in October and the US in November.

Woot! Woot! You're on fire!!! NIcely done

[Bartleby]

After many, many, MANY hours of revision, my first ever submission to Writers of the Future sold to Metaphorosis. It's titled "Shards." This is my first story sale *ever* after, um, five years of straight rejections. And it's the basis for the cover art! You can read it here: https://magazine.metaphorosis.com/story ... ase-young/



And what happened just a couple months after selling this story? I made my first ever PRO sale to Unidentified Funny Objects 8! Ahhh!! I'm so freaking happy! (It's a funny sci-fi humor story titled "Ambrose Starkisser Encounters That Which Is Locked," and it'll be coming out in late September/early October.)



So, yeah. Five years of rejections would have ground me down but for the Honorable Mentions and one Silver Honorable Mention from WotF. I can't overstate what a morale boost they were. Seriously. After that SHM in 2018, I kinda went into overdrive, reading and studying and practicing SFF as much as possible. Thank you WotF!

[TimE]

Congratulations, Bartleby. And I agree that those little measures of success and improvement in the form of WotF awards are great encouragement.
Well done.

[disgruntledpeony]

Awesome job, Bartleby! That's a lot of great news.