Submission Statement: February 2019

And there goes February. Let’s have a look and see how I did.

February 2019 Report Card

• Submissions Sent: 7
• Rejections: 7
• Acceptances: 1
• Publications: 1
• Submission Status Queries: 2

Seven submissions is, well, not good enough. If I want to hit my goal of 100 submissions for the year, I need to step it up in March. I’m at 16 total for the year, an average of 8 per month, and I need to bump that up to an average of 9. So I’m gonna shoot for a dozen subs this month to get back on track.

You’ll notice I sent two submission status queries this month. I don’t generally have to do that, but occasionally the need arises. Don’t be afraid to send these when your submission starts getting long in the tooth, but be sure to check the publisher’s guidelines. Many will tell you when and when NOT to send a query. If you’re polite and follow the guidelines, the publisher won’t be offended. In fact, sometimes they’ll respond with an apology and a promise to read your work right away. (That happened with one I sent this month). If your curious about what a submission status query should look like, here’s the template I use:

Dear Editors,

I would like to inquire about the status of my submission [story title] submitted to [publisher name] on [month, day, year]. Thank you. 

Best,

Aeryn Rudel

Rejections

Seven rejections for February.

• Standard Form Rejections: 5
• Upper-Tier Form Rejections: 1
• Personal Rejections: 1

Not a particularly impressive group of rejections, and nothing really worth sharing.

Acceptances

Got another reprint acceptance from Mystery Tribune for my story “Father of Terror.” This one was originally published by The Molotov Cocktail and took second place in their Flash Icon contest a couple of years ago. The version Mystery Tribune published is just a tad different, but it’s essentially the same story. You can check it out under publications.

Publications

One publication this month, the aforementioned “Father of Terror.” Free to read online.

“The Father of Terror”

Published by Mystery Tribune (free to read)

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And that was my February. Tell me about yours.