Rejection with Request for More and Form Rejection

Overnight, I received this lovely and lengthy rejection informing me that I had first screwed up the formatting of my story (presumably I missed something in the guidelines, which I will double check) and second, that the story was not right for their current issue. However, they invited additional submissions because "we like your writing." So I shall submit more. I also received an unabashedly form rejection for the same story. Here are the two rejection:

Dear Anniken Davenport, 

Thank you for submitting "The Scoop" for publication in KYSO Flash. We appreciate the opportunity to read and consider your work. However, your story does not meet our formatting guidelines, nor our needs for Issue 3. 

Because we like your writing, we would like to invite you to submit other short works for consideration, with NO additional admin fee required. Please read our formatting guidelines, and then feel free to use the following link, which will accept submissions through the 15th of May, free of charge. 

(deleted link as it is indeed a direct link for submitted solicited work)

If this link does not work when you click on it, then please cut and paste it into your browser's address bar. 

We look forward to reading more of your writing and hope that you will submit other works soon via this link. And we wish you the best of luck with placing "The Scoop" elsewhere. 

All best wishes, 
--Clare 
-------------------------------------------------- 
Clare MacQueen 

And:

Dear Anniken,

Thank you for your submission of "The Scoop" to Fireside, but we've decided not to accept it for publication. Please forgive the form letter, but due to the high volume of submissions we can't respond personally on each story. We appreciate your interest in Fireside.

Sincerely,
Brian White

First Rejection on Story # 2

And 36 hours after submitting it - a rejection.

Anniken -- 

Thanks for the submission. Unfortunately we're going to have to pass on "Hjemmelandet." It's just not quite what we're looking for right now. 

Best of luck in placing your story elsewhere. 

-- Jersey Devil Press

Rejection with Comments

Another rejection rolled in this morning. It's a good rejection. It has comments indicating someone actually read it and considered it. The rejection was for story #1 in the series, titled The Scoop. It is an unconventional 500 word flash piece told as a one-person monologue of sorts that I characterized as quasi-horror. In other words, it's probably going to be hard to place. Think The Reluctant Fundamentalist technique-wise but flash length. I've copied the rejection below. My plan for next week's story will be something more conventional, but targeted to this particular magazine given that they actually read the submission and made comments that were helpful in some small measure. Oh, they also happen to be a paying market, which is a big plus in my book. The magazine is Hypnos, put out by Radium Town Press.

Ms. Davenport:  

Over the weekend, we've been reviewing your recent submission "The Scoop," and we've decided not to purchase it for our upcoming issue. I'm no longer offering feedback because we've had to reject too many good stories simply because they weren't right for our market, and I want our contributors, regardless of the criticism they may receive from professors, writing groups, MFA programs, etc., to follow their own instincts. With that said, you might find unconventional narratives like "The Scoop" harder to place than more traditional tales---at least at first. Good luck!

Sincerely,

Kristen Marie, ed.

On Literary Journals

I've now submitted my second story in the challenge to 20 literary journals. There are thousands of possibilities, it seems. And all have the most unlikely of names. It's almost as if the founding editors used a random word generator to choose their journal's name. I've combined a few. How about Hark the Jersey Devil. Or Guernica Declared Halfway Down the Stairs? As I browsed through the listings, I couldn't help but think that this process is the equivalent of the academic "publish or perish" approach to getting tenure. Writers submit and hope an editor at one of the thousands of journals out there will put their work in print or online so they can add it to their writing resume so that someday someone will buy the collection or their novel. I wouldn't be surprised if soon lit journals will charge writers a substantial fee for publication. Quite a few already charge for contests (at least there is the possibility of a prize) and for regular submissions. Editors argue that otherwise they would be overwhelmed with submissions and the $3-$5 charge isn't much more than writers would pay to snail mail the same story in the old days. But still -

Anyway, my post-war story, Hjemmelandet, has been submitted to the following lit journals (none of which charged a fee though at least one offered expedited rejection if I paid for the privilege):

• Wag’s Review
• Foundling Review
• Litro Mag
• Change Seven
• Circa Mag
• East Jasmine Review
• Green Briar Review
• Halfway Down the Stairs
• Hobart
• Hypertrophic Literary
• Jersey Devil
• Cecil’s
• Louisville Review
• The Masters Review
• Cigale Literary Magazine
• Seven Circle Press
• Gone Lawn
• Guernica Magazine
• Hark
• Isthmus

Story # 2 Done

My second story in the Bradbury short story challenge is officially done and ready to send out. As I did last week, the aim is 20 markets and keep it in circulation until someone, somewhere accepts it. So far, Story # 1 has been rejected twice, and is still in play at 20 literary or not-so-literary 'zines.

Second Story Finished

Week two and the second story draft is finished. It's a long one for me, clocking in at 1,600 words. Who knows, it may grow longer on rewriting. It's also the first time I've done a purely first person story.

Another Record Fast Rejection

Rejection #2 -This one quicker yet - a mere 16 hours. But, hey, look at that encouraging note - “please consider submitting again” - yeah, OK as soon as I write another scary short short. Here is the rejection: Anniken, Thank you for submitting your story "The Scoop" for publication in WitchWorks Magazine. However, I am going to pass on this story at this time. It simply didn't grab my attention as some of the other submissions did. Thank you and please consider submitting again.  Sincerely, Noah C. Patterson Editor-in-Chief WitchWorks Magazine

21 Markets and Counting

I have now dutifully followed Ed Perlman’s suggestion that the way to get published is to keep works in constant circulation - submit to 20 markets at any given time. I’ve submitted The Scoop to 21 markets, was already rejected for one and now wait for the next rejection while moving on to write story number 2. And yes, each market was researched, I followed all directions for each submission and made sure the market was appropriate for the story. We shall see…..The markets are: 1. Cosmonauts Avenue 2. Baltimore Review 3. Rhino 4. Flapperhouse 5. Badlands 6. Kyso Flash 7. Witch Works 8. Compose 9. Radium Town 10. Toasted Cheese 11. Noche Obscura 12. AGNI 13. Contrary 14. Fireside 15. Fail Better 16. Shady Doors 17. Crab Fat 18. The Sonder Review 19. Penumbra Review 20. Inkdot

Rejection Number One

Well, the first rejection has rolled in - less than 24 hours since I submitted the first story in this experiment. Here's what the literary journal Flapper House had to say: Anniken, Thank you again for giving us the chance to consider "The Scoop." We're sorry to say that it's not quite what we're looking for right now, but we hope you find a good home for it soon. If you wish to send us more of your work, we kindly ask that you wait at least one month, after we've had a chance to work through our current queue of submissions. All the Best, Joseph P. O'Brien editor

Revision

My beta reader liked it. Made a few changes and started sending it out. Submitted to 9 markets today

Story #1

Finished the first draft of the first story. I've called it The Scoop. Short-short 500 words, told through one-sided first person monologue. Genre = Horror/Suspense. Tomorrow, revision followed by submission to markets.

Prolific writer Ray Bradbury is said to have admonished writers to write one short story every week for a year on the premise that one cannot write 52 bad short stories in a row. I have set out to prove this either right or wrong. These are the rules of the game: 1. Write one short story every week for a year. 2. Send each story out to potential markets as soon as it is written, using Ed Perlman's thesis class advice that getting published takes relentless submission to literary markets. Each story will be queried to 20 markets at any given time. 3. Stories must vary in length, style, voice, point of view and subject matter. Let the experiment begin.