Submission Statement: November 2020

November is in the books, and here’s how I did with submissions, acceptances, rejection, and all that jazz.

November 2020 Report Card

• Submissions Sent: 5
• Rejections: 6
• Acceptances: 2
• Publications: 1
• Further Consideration: 0

Well, I certainly did not get as many submissions out as I would have liked in November. Most of that was due to a particularly hellish move into a new house. The new place is definitely an upgrade, but getting there was a wee bit stressful. Still, I did manage to rally in the last week of the month and get five submissions out, giving me 82 for the year. It is extremely unlikely I’ll get another 18 subs out in December to hit my 100-submission goal, but I’m okay with that. The six rejections were mostly for stories I submitted in months prior. Two acceptances in a month is fantastic, and that gives me 16 yes’s for the year, which is two more than I managed last year. The fact that they’re both to pro-paying markets is just icing on the acceptance-cake.

Rejections

Six rejections this month.

• Standard Form Rejections: 5
• Upper-Tier Form Rejections: 1
• Personal Rejections: 0

Not much to see here. Each rejection was a form letter, and only one of them was anything but the standard “not for us” boilerplate no. Just so we’re clear, form rejections don’t bother me in the least. They’re the most efficient way for a publisher to say we’re not gonna publish your story politely and professionally.

Acceptances

Two more acceptances in November, which makes it a pretty good month. The first acceptance was to a market new to me, and, well, just new. MetaStellar accepted my flash story “Second Bite,” a story I’m quite fond of and one that has come oh-so close to publication a few times. I’m thrilled it finally has a home, and the folks at MetaStellar did a bang-up job presenting it. You can check it out in the publications section below.

The second acceptance was with Dark Matter Magazine for my reprint short story “Caroline.” It’s for their 2021 Halloween issue, and it’s the second story I’ve sold to Dark Matter. I’ve been super impressed with this market, especially with how they promote and market their authors. They also pay a pro rate, so if you write speculative fiction, definitely give them a look when they open up again for submissions.

Publications

Technically, I only had one publication in November, but MetaStellar published my horror story “Second Bite” today, so I’m gonna go ahead and include it here. The other publication was for my one and only non-genre story “Fair Pay,” which was published by Flash Fiction Magazine last week. You can read both stories by clicking the links below.

Read “Fair Pay”

Read “Second Bite”

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And that was my November. Tell me about yours.