100 Submissions: A Quick Look
This morning, I sent my 100th submission for 2021. This is a goal I set or myself each year, and I generally fall short, but 2021 has proven productive in this area, so here we are. In this blog post, I’ll give you a quick breakdown of what 100 submissions looks like.
Here are the raw numbers.
- Unique Stories: 37
- Unique Markets: 46
- Acceptances: 6
- Rejections: 75
- Pending: 16
- Withdrawn: 3
Unique Stories: I’ve sent 37 unique stories in 2021 so far. As for length, I sent 28 flash fiction stories, 8 short stories, and a single novella. My most subbed story was sent out 9 times (and is still pending with one market).
Unique Markets: I sent stories to 46 different publishers this year. You’ll note the number of publishers and the number of unique stories differs a bit. That’s because, more than any other year, I sent a fair amount of sim-subs. As for the kind of markets, I submitted to 27 pro markets, 17 semi-pro, and just 2 token markets. That’s a slightly higher percentage of pro markets than previous years. The most submissions to any single market was 10 (so far).
Acceptances: No way around it; this year has been dismal for acceptances. To put things in perspective, I sent 87 submissions in 2020 and received 19 acceptances. Why is this year so bad? Hard to say. I have theories, but, ultimately, ups and down are part of the process. I’m hoping some of the pending subs will come back as acceptances and rescue this year. Currently, it’s my worst as far as acceptance percentage goes. Another yes or two could move it up the list to just second worst. 🙂
Rejections: So far, I’ve received 75 rejection in 2021, and that number is sure to grow by the end of the year. Seventeen of those rejections were of the personal variety, and a fair number of those were shortlist/final round rejections. Many of the form letters were higher-tier, but I don’t have an exact count until I go through each rejection, which I’ll do for my end of the year tally. Anyway, there were a lot of heartbreakers in those 75 rejections, and it seems like there were more close-but-no-cigar letters than any other year, but I’ll concede it might just feel like that. Again, when I do my end of the year postmortem, I’ll have more exact numbers.
Pending: I still have 16 submission pending, and I’m sure I’ll send out more subs by the end of the year. Two of the pending subs are shortlists, so, you know, here’s hoping they come back as acceptances and let me end 2021 on a positive note.
Withdrawn: I’ve withdrawn three stories in 2021, which is more than usual. One withdrawal was for lack of response, one was for the market closing, and the last was just a situation where I made a mistake.
And that’s a quick look at 100 submissions. My guess is I’ll end up somewhere around 110 for the year. Despite the ups and downs (mostly downs), I’ve been productive this year, and that’s something to celebrate.
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 