Submission Statement: December 2017

December was another good month for submissions. I didn’t think I’d match November’s output, but I did, and I had more than just rejections to tally in the final month of the year.

December 2017 Report Card

• Submissions Sent: 13
• Rejections: 8
• Other: 0
• Acceptances: 1
• Publications: 2

I sent a lot of submissions in December because I finished three new stories, which are currently running the submission gamut. Like I said last month, 13 is a lot of submissions and that pace might be difficult to sustain, but I’d like do somewhere between 8 and 10 a month in 2018 (more on that in my 2017 wrap-up post). As you can see, a lot of submissions last month and this month (26 total) resulted in more rejections, which I expected, but there’s some good news too with an acceptance and two publications.

Rejections

Eight rejections this month for four stories. You’ll likely recognize a lot of these.

Rejection 1: Submitted 11/29/17; Rejected 12/2/17

Thank you for allowing me to consider XXX but I’m going to pass on this one. This is not necessarily a reflection of your writing ability. The story just didn’t fit the anthology as it’s beginning to take shape. Due to an overwhelming response for this anthology, I’m unable to provide feedback. I wish you luck in finding a home for the story elsewhere.

This is a rejection from the fifth volume of a popular horror anthology. I submitted to the fourth volume last year and was short-listed but eventually rejected. I entered pretty late in the submission window this time, and that may have been a factor in the story’s rejection, as the editor indicated. I really dig this particular anthology, and I’m sure I’ll submit to the eventual sixth volume in 2018.

Rejection 2: Submitted 11/24/17; Rejected 12/9/17

Thank you for submitting your story, XXX, to XXX. Unfortunately, we have decided not to publish it. To date, we have reviewed many strong stories that we did not take. Either the fit was wrong or we’d just taken tales with a similar theme or any of a half dozen other reasons.

Best success selling this story elsewhere.

PS Nice surprise at the end.

This is a form rejection with an editor’s note attached, which I guess makes it a personal rejection. Anyway, it’s from a top-tier market I’ve been trying to crack for a long time with little success. They’re primarily a sci-fi and fantasy market, and I tend to send them stuff that is either sci-fi/horror or fantasy/horror. Well, this submission was pretty much pure sci-fi (with a darker tone, natch), and it looks like I may have gotten closer to an acceptance than I have before. That’s not to say I got close, just closer than usual. I need to write more sci-fi.

Rejection 3: Submitted 11/14/17; Rejected 12/18/17

This is a rejection for my one and only mystery short story. It’s brief and to the point, and there ain’t nothin’ wrong with that. If I were to write more mystery, I’d submit here again.

Rejection 4: Submitted 12/6/17; Rejected 12/19/17

We appreciate you taking the time to send us your story, XXX.  After careful consideration we’ve decided to pass on this story. There are many reasons a story is not accepted, most of which are subjective in nature, so don’t let our denial deter your from sending your story to other publications.  We wish you the best of luck on finding a publication for this story.

This is a rejection from a brand new pro-paying fantasy and sci-fi market. I was so thrilled to see a new pro market in this space that I immediately sent them a story. Luckily, I happened to have something that was appropriate (one of the new ones I finished this month). This is a nice form rejection. It might be higher tier, but it’s hard to tell with a new market. I always like it when a publisher reminds authors that this is a subjective business. It’s something every author needs to take to heart. Anyway, I’ve already sent them another piece.

Rejection 5: Submitted 12/17/17; Rejected 12/20/17

Thank you for giving me a chance to read “XXX.” Unfortunately, this story didn’t quite win me over and I’m going to pass on it for XXX. I wish you best of luck finding the right market for it and hope that you’ll keep us in mind in the future. 

So, normally, when I say a form rejection is higher-tier, I’m applying a bit of rejectomancy because there’s no way to know for certain. Well, that’s true for every publisher but this one. The editor of this top-tier pro market has said in blog posts and Twitter posts what his various form templates actually mean. So I know this one is a higher-tier rejection. That is handy info to have, for sure. This was the first submission of a new story I think is one of the better pieces I’ve written, so even though this is a rejection, it’s nice to know I might be on the right track.

Rejection 6: Submitted 12/20/17; Rejected 12/21/17

We have read your submission and unfortunately your story isn’t quite what we’re looking for right now. While we regretfully cannot provide detailed feedback due to the volume of submissions, we thank you for your interest in our magazine and hope you continue to consider us in the future.

This is a higher-tier rejection from one of my bucket-list horror markets. My last four submissions have gotten higher tier rejections, so maybe I’m getting somewhere. I will definitely keep trying.

Rejection 7: Submitted 12/19/17; Rejected 12/27/17

Thank you for submitting your story, XXX, to XXX. Unfortunately, we have decided not to publish it. To date, we have reviewed many strong stories that we did not take. Either the fit was wrong or we’d just taken tales with a similar theme or any of a half dozen other reasons.

Best success selling this story elsewhere.

You’ll notice this is the same form rejection from rejection #2, sans editor note. I tried this market again with a story I thought was more sci-fi, but the horror element is also quite strong. I’m not saying that’s why it was rejected, though. Like the rejections says, there are lots of reasons stories get rejected.

Rejection 8: Submitted 12/19/17; Rejected 12/27/17

Many thanks for sending “XXX”, but I’m sorry to say that it isn’t quite right for XXX. I wish you luck placing it elsewhere, and hope that you’ll send me something new soon. 

A standard form rejection from another of my bucket-list horror markets. Like some of the other rejections here, you’ve likely seen this one a lot in my posts. Still, gotta keep trying.

Acceptances 

One acceptance this month. It comes from one of my favorite purveyors of flash fiction.

Acceptance 1: Submitted 11/15/17;  Accepted 12/5/17

Thanks for submitting work to The Molotov Cocktail. Great to see this one again, as it was actually the last piece to miss the cut in the Flash Monster contest. Weird premise, which resonates with us, and vividly written. We’d like to run “Little Sister” in our upcoming issue (to be published within the week). Nice work. 

Thanks again for allowing us to feature your story. 

The Molotov Cocktail is one of the few markets I’ll name in these lists because I know they don’t mind (I asked). Anyway, this is a cool acceptance because of how close the story got to publication in one of their contests. They always state in those rejections to resubmit the “close-but-no-cigar” stories because they sometimes publish them in the regular issues. Well, this is The Molotov putting their money where their mouth is (not that I ever doubted), and I’m thrilled to have placed another story with them.

Publications 

Two publications this month, and you can read both stories by clicking the links below.

Publication 1: “Reunion” published by The Arcanist on 12/1/2017.

Publication 2: “Little Sister” published by The Molotov Cocktail on 12/11/2017. 

Though these stories were written years apart, they both feature two somewhat similar characters (and kind of similar themes). I think that’s largely because they both originate from one-hour flash challenge writing exercises with very similar prompts. It’s kind of neat they were published so close together.

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And that was my very busy December. How was yours?