Query/Submission Statement: November 2023

I was fairly active in November, but, overall, it was a disappointing month for both short story submissions and agent queries. It was a month of cleansing, and I cleared out a lot of stale agent queries with the goal of heading into 2024 with a clean slate. Anyway, let’s have a look at the numbers.

November 2023 Short Story Submissions

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

Another five submissions in November, though they didn’t amount to much. My short story numbers for 2023 are, to put it bluntly, abysmal. Much of this has to do with the fact that I haven’t written much new material, which means I haven’t sent many submissions. Getting an acceptance is a numbers game, and I generally hover around a 15% acceptance rate, but this year I’m at about 10%. That wouldn’t be so bad if I’d sent more submissions. I’ve sent a grand total of 37 in 2023, the fewest in a decade. In other words, 10% of say, 75 or 80, which is where I’m usually at, would sit a lot better than 10% of less than 40. I still have some subs pending, so it’s possible another acceptance or two will come in. I also plan to fire off a few more subs in December, and I’ll probably end the year with somewhere between 40 and 50.

November 2023 Agent Queries

• Queries Sent: 3
• Rejections: 4
• CNR: 9
• Full/Partial Request: 0
• Withdrawn: 0
• Nudges: 2

I sent three more queries for my novel SECOND DAWN in November, and they are the last three I’ll send on the project in it’s current state. I received four rejections, one of which was a rejection on a full manuscript request. That last one hurt, especially since it didn’t come with any feedback, but them’s the brakes. I CNR’d nine stale queries in November, and I’ve CNR’s another two this month. That leaves me with six outstanding queries and two outstanding full manuscript requests.

I sent nudges to the two agents who are still reviewing my full manuscript. I’ll nudge them again this month, and if I get no response, I’ll CNR both. It’s certainly disappointing to think about getting no response on an FMR, but, unfortunately, it’s not uncommon.

By the end of the December, I expect all outstanding queries and FMRs to be resolved one way or another. That one way will likely be rejections and CNRs. If/when that happens, I’ll pull SECOND DAWN and start querying my other novel HELL TO PLAY in 2024. I think I might fare better with HELL TO PLAY. It, too, is a supernatural thriller, but comps are easier to find, and it’s not part of a so-called dead genre (vampires). I’ve learned a lot querying SECOND DAWN, and I’ll put the knowledge to good use in the new year.

And that was November. My goals for December are fairly sedate. I want to finish a short story or two, send out a few short story submissions, and then finish the revision of HELL TO PLAY so I can start querying it in 2024.

How was your month of querying/submitting/writing?