Submission Statement: July 2017
July was a much better month mostly because I finally ended my six-month-long acceptance drought. That alone is enough to crown July as my best month of the year. Here’s the nitty-gritty on my submission endeavors in July.
July 2017 Report Card
- Submissions Sent: 5
- Rejections: 2
- Acceptances: 1
- Publications: 1
- Other: 0
Again, I’m getting an average of one submission per week. I keep telling myself I need to double that.
Rejections
Only two rejections this month, but both are noteworthy.
Rejection 1: Submitted 4/19/17; Rejected 7/5/2017
Very sorry for the delay in getting back to you, but we just made our final decisions today. We are going to have to pass on the story, however. This is the hardest part of the job, having to decline stories that we enjoyed so much, simply because didn’t have the space to include them all. It was a real struggle choosing the final stories. I appreciate your patience and hope to see submissions from you in the future.
Another heartbreaker rejection for a story that was short-listed. This is the second rejection of this type for this particular story, and although it’s certainly a positive sign that it keeps making short lists, it’s frustrating to get so close and fall short again. Of course, my frustration is not in any way directed at the publication (that would be real silly and unprofessional). This was the first issue of this particular magazine, and I know they had some very tough decisions to make. I’ll definitely submit to them again when they reopen for their second issue, and I’m looking forward to reading the stories in issue number one.
Rejection 2: Submitted 7/5/17; Rejected 7/5/2017
Thank you so much for thinking of XXX. Unfortunately “XXX” is not quite what we’re looking for at the moment. Best of luck placing it elsewhere.
This is just a garden-variety form rejection, but what makes it noteworthy is how quickly I received it. This market has a very quick turnaround, usually rejecting submissions (mine, at least) in the same day, but this particular rejection came in less than thirty minutes. Now, it’s important not to read too much into that. I think it’s likely the editor was reading submissions when I submitted, read mine, decided it was a no, and fired off the rejection. I have no issues with that whatsoever. The quicker I get it back, the quicker I can send it out again.
Acceptances
One acceptance for July, and a welcome one, ending a six-month slump.
Acceptance 1: Submitted 6/22/17; Rejected 7/22/2017
Thanks for letting us read XXX! We would love to publish it in XXX.
There’s more to this acceptance letter, but it’s just the usual contract/legal stuff. This is a new market that pays solid semi-pro rates, and I’m glad to be among their initial bunch of published stories. They publish sci-fi and fantasy but under very broad definitions, so some horror is not out of the question (as evidenced by the story they accepted). The story is tentatively scheduled for publication on 8/5, and you’ll be able to read it on their site. I’ll announce it, of course, as soon as it’s live.
Publications
One BIG publication in July, my second novel for Privateer Press, Acts of War: Aftershock. Details below.
War Has Come Again to Llael
On the heels of inflicting defeat upon the Khadorans at Riversmet, Lord General Coleman Stryker marches deeper into enemy territory to prepare a major assault. But he is unprepared for the avalanche of a massive Khadoran counterstrike. Empress Ayn Vanar and Supreme Kommandant Irusk send their nation’s most fearsome warcasters to retaliate against the invaders and secure her conquered territories at any cost. Hope comes in the form of Ashlynn d’Elyse, warcaster and leader of the Llaelese Resistance, a woman with no love for Cygnar but who could make for a powerful ally if convinced to help. Along with Asheth Magnus, Stryker’s enemy-turned-ally, this unlikely team must fight to persevere despite being outnumbered, outmaneuvered, and cornered with only their wits and a few warjacks to save their cause from utter annihilation…
Get an eBook – $7.99:
Get it in Print $15.99:
And that’s it’s for July. Tell me about your submission adventures for the month in the comments.
12 Comments on “Submission Statement: July 2017”
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Effectively Wild – A Baseball Horror Story
Night Walk & Other Dark Paths
Acts of War: Flashpoint
Acts of War: Aftershock
Acts of War: Stormbreak
Aeryn Rudel's Rejectomancy 
Congrats on the acceptance and the publication of the book.
Here’s my report card:
Submissions Sent: 10
Rejections: 6
Acceptances: 1
Publications: 1
Other: 0
In July, I got my first acceptance for a reprint. My story “Independence Day Party,” which appeared in the first issue of Glove earlier this year, will be republished in After the Pause.
Nice work, Chris. Those reprints acceptances are always great.
Congrats on the acceptance and the book! Can’t wait read the new story this month
Here’s my report card:
Submission Sent: 0
Rejections: 0
Acceptances: 0
Publications: 2
Other: 0
Well, from my report card, it would seem that July is a dead month for me. But report cards lie. What’s important is that magazines seems to be holding on to my submissions. No rejections= no new submissions unless it’s a new story. Publications were in Devilfish Review and Grievous Angel Urban Fantasist.
Very nice. I’ve placed a couple of stories with Devilfish, and I’ve been rejected a couple of times by Grievous Angel. 😉
July’s report card:
3 rejections
2 acceptances
5 publications
Both acceptances came from a brand-new mystery magazine, and both were on first submission. A week after receiving the first acceptance, I pushed my luck and sent another story. They liked the second story so much, they scheduled it for the first issue!
On short fiction, it’s an 0/0/0 (though that should change next month–I’ve got a few new stories almost ready to go).
But I pitched an article and had it accepted, and I also pitched a novel at a writing conference, and got 2 full ms. requests, and a few more requests for chapters.
So, it was still a pretty good month!
P.S.: Congrats on the new sale to a new market, Aeryn!
Very nice! That IS a pretty good month. 🙂
I am just starting out for the very first time, and submitted two flash fiction and two flash non-fiction pieces this month to a few journals. I was quite surprised to already receive a rejection from a pretty well-known journal that only publishes flash fiction. It took them less than three days, and their standard period is supposed to be four months. What do you think it means if they say “Sorry it took so long” in the letter? Does it mean that it wasn’t even read? (I would hate to think that, because they also charge a small fee.)
Congrats on getting your first submissions out. It’s best not to read too much into a form rejection like the one you received. It’s pretty clear that’s their boilerplate letter, and they obviously don’t change it regardless of how fast they turn around submissions.
I’ve had submissions rejected same day from markets that usually take months. Sometimes you just get lucky and end up on the top of the slush pile. 😉
Yes, I saw that, wow! Thanks for the encouragement and smart advice — and congratulations on your acceptance this month!
Thank you for the encouragement and smart advice. I’ve now gone from 0 to 3 XP in one morning alone for another story I submitted, so I’m also grateful that you invented a system that gives this whole process a silver lining!
Congratulations, by the way, on your own acceptance! I guess the landscape of rejections
keeps each acceptance exciting :o)