Submission Statement: September 2024

Another month has come and gone, so let’s take a look at my submission report card for September.

September 2024 Short Story Submissions

• Submissions Sent: 5
• Rejections: 4
• No Response: 0
• Acceptances: 1
• Further Consideration/Shortlist: 0
• Withdrawals: 0
• Pending: 9

Only five submissions in September, half of what I sent in August. A lot of that stems from running out of open markets for the stories I currently have. I expect October to be a much more productive month because a bunch of markets I usually submit to have opened up. Still, five submission brings me to 49 for the year, and I think I can hit seventy subs or thereabouts when it’s all said and done for 2024. Overall, September was a decent month, and the one acceptance I received was a good one at a pro market.

Rejections

Four rejections in September.

• Form Rejections: 4
• Personal Rejections: 0
• Close-But-No-Cigar Rejections: 0

All four rejections in September were garden variety form letters and not really worth sharing. They each features the standard “not for us” and “keep us in mind for the future” that could possibly be viewed as a higher-tier rejection, but it’s unclear and ultimately unimportant. 😉

Acceptances

One acceptance in September from Factor Four Magazine, one of my favorite flash fiction markets. This is my fourth sale to Factor Four, and I seem to be producing work of late the editors like. I’m gonna try to keep doing that. Anyway, the acceptance letter is not particularly exciting, as it’s just a form letter. That’s not uncommon with acceptance letters, though; the editor needs to impart a lot of information to an author and there’s no sense writing that from scratch every single time. The story was published yesterday, so I’ll share that one and the three others I’ve sold to Factor Four. 

“Removal Day” – Issue #40 (October 2024)

“Brave New Apocalypse” – Issue #24 (June 2023)

“Coffee Fiend” – Issue #19 (January 2023)

“Time Waits For One Man” – Issue #3 (October 2018)

Check out the four stories above if you feel so inclined (they’re short), and tell me which one you like best in the comments. 🙂

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And that was September. In October, I’d like to hit double-digit submissions again, and I think that’s doable with all the horror markets opening up for subs. I need to write some new material, too, but I’ve got a half dozen half-finished pieces I should be able to polish off in the next week or so.

So that was my month. How was yours?