Best of the Web Nomination

I got word from my editor over at KYSO Flash that they want to nominate my story, Bless the Sniper, for a Best of the Net award over at Sundance Publications. Thanks Clare MacQueen for the vote of confidence.

Friends, you can read the story now at KYSO Flash via http://www.kysoflash.com/DavenportSniper.aspx

Happy to announce praise for a short story

I'm thrilled that a lit journal reviewer has mentioned my short story in his review of KYSO Flash. Bless the Sniper was my first published story. The reviewer called it "a memorable micro story".
Here's a link to the review:
http://www.thereviewreview.net/reviews/new-online-mag-showcases-wealth-flash-fiction-forms

Getting Paid for Literary Fiction

Anyone who knows me knows I rail against the practice of literary journals not paying their writers. They surely pay the printer, the electric company, the web hosting company and so on, but they seldom pay their writers. And without those writers, there would be no journal. That never made sense to me.

The lack of pay was one reason I have been reluctant to send stories out. It simply irked me that I would be providing content without as much as a penny a word of pay. Too many of my fellow writers are so desperate for publication credits that they feel they have no choice but to give their stories away. So when I began this experiment, I concentrated on markets that pay something other than copies. And my first publication will be in a paying market. In fact, that publication, KYSO Flash, has already paid me for two stories that will appear in their June 2015 issue.

If you are looking for a paying market, check them out. The editor is great to work with, quick to respond and a genuinely nice person. And if you are feeling generous and would like to support a paying market, consider making a donation via their Paypal link. We need more paying markets, but we have to support those markets too - by reading the publications, spreading the word and making a donation when we can.

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