Submission Statement: October 2020

A little late with the October tally, but here’s how I did.

October 2020 Report Card

• Submissions Sent: 10
• Rejections: 5
• Acceptances: 2
• Publications: 2
• Further Consideration: 0

October was a legitimately good month submission-wise, and I managed a respectable number of subs plus a couple of acceptances and publications. The 10 submissions last month puts me at 77 for the year, which means I’m going to need an exceptionally good November and December to hit my goal of 100. Doable, sure, but it’ll take some, uh, doing. Anyway, the two acceptances gives me a total of 14 in 2020, which equals last year’s tally. I think I’ve got an excellent shot of exceeding 2019’s mark, and maybe an outside chance of beating my best-ever total of 19. More about October’s rejections, acceptances, and publications below.

Rejections

Five rejections this month.

• Standard Form Rejections: 4
• Upper-Tier Form Rejections: 0
• Personal Rejections: 1

Mostly garden-variety form rejections in October, but I did get one personal no that illustrates my oft-repeated mantra of even good stories get rejected.

Here’s the personal rejections.

Hey Aeryn,

This rejection was for an anthology. I knew the story I submitted was borderline for the theme of the book but close enough I thought it might be worth a shot. Well, seems like the editor’s liked it, but my initial instincts were correct. The story was likely a little too far afield to fit with the others in the anthology, which is pretty much what the editor said. 🙂

Acceptances

Two acceptances in October. The first was from Flash Fiction Magazine, a new market for me. Also, that particular acceptance was for a story called “Fair Pay,” which just so happens to be my first-ever non-genre publication. I know; I’m as surprised as you are.

The second acceptance was with my old pals at The Arcanist. My story “Childish Things” took third place in their recent Halloween Flash contest.

Publications

Two publication in October. The first is a story about, uh, a toilet that takes you to hell. That one’s called “Stall Number Two” (I’m sorry) and was published by Ellipsis Zine. The second is the aforementioned “Childish Things” published by The Arcanist. You can read both by clicking the links below.

Read “Stall Number Two”

Read “Childish Things”

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And that was my October. Tell me about yours.