Submission Statement: January 2023

Well, the first year of 2023 is in the books, and it wasn’t exactly a barn-burner. More on that in a bit.

January 2023 Report Card

• Submissions Sent: 6
• Rejections: 5
• No Response: 0
• Acceptances: 0
• Publications: 3
• Further Consideration/Shortlist: 0
• Withdrawals: 0

I didn’t exactly hit the ground running in 2023, and six submissions is somewhat disappointing. I need around nine per month to reach my annual goal of one-hundred submissions. To tell you the truth, I took a bit of a break in January, and I needed it. Burnout is a real thing, and sometimes you gotta step back and take a breath. With that done, I’m feeling better and ready to get back to work in February. Interesting thing about these submissions is that all six are for two stories. Quick rejections and resubs plus sim-subs can boost your numbers quickly. 🙂

Rejections

Five rejections in January.

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

So, four of the five rejections were just standard form letters. The wait on a few of those was mildly irritating, but that’s part of the gig. The one personal rejection, though, is a tough one. You see, it’s not for a short story; it’s for a novel.

If you write something else in the future, I’d be glad to see it.  In the meantime, thanks again for thinking of [publisher].

It’s a nice, thoughtful rejection, but needless to say, there’s a difference between getting a rejection for a 1,000-word flash piece and a 90,000-word novel. One you barely notice, and the other can be a bit of gut punch. Still, like any rejection, you have to roll up your sleeves and get back to work. In this case, I’ll be reading through the novel again to see of there’s anything I want or need to change, and then I’ll send it out again.

Publications

January was a pretty good month for publications, and I published two piece of flash and one bit of freelance fiction. The two flash pieces are some of my favorite I’ve written, and I think “Coffee Fiend”, published at Factor Four Magazine, is up there with my best. Anyway, you can check out both flash pieces by clicking the links below.

“Coffee Fiend” published by Factor Four Magazine

“Reporting for Duty” published by Flash Point SF

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And that was January. How was your month?