Submission Statement: November 2024

And that’s a wrap on November. Let’s see how I fared in the story submission trenches.

November 2024 Short Story Submissions

• Submissions Sent: 7
• Rejections: 3
• No Response: 0
• Acceptances: 1
• Further Consideration/Shortlist: 0
• Withdrawals: 0
• Pending: 8

I sent seven submission in November, three off my goal of ten, but I’m not unhappy with that total. It gives me 62 for the year, which, again, is a bit off my usual goal, but with everything I’ve had going on this year, getting close to seventy is plenty good. Not many rejections last month, though that number is slightly deceiving as a whole pile of noes showed up yesterday, which, of course, puts them in December by the skin of their teeth. I did receive one acceptance in November for a 6,000-word sci-fi short story, the longest story I’ve sold to date. In all, not a bad month.

Rejections

Just three rejections in November.

• Form Rejections: 3
• Personal Rejections: 0
• Close-But-No-Cigar Rejections: 0

All three rejections last month were the formiest of form rejections, so there’s not a whole lot to talk about. I am getting close to 700 rejections for my career as a short story author. Just need another 25 or so, which I figure I’ll pick up sometime in early 2025.

Acceptances

The one acceptance in November came from Black Cat Weekly, and this is my fourth sale to them. The story is called “Rijal’s Run” and I’ve been describing it as Blade Runner meets a ThighMaster commercial. Kind of a futuristic fitness caper. As I said earlier, this is the longest short story I’ve sold to date. A lot of that has to do with the simple fact that once you get over 4,000 words, the number of markets, and especially the number of paying markets, dwindle quickly. That said, sometimes a story needs to be as long as it needs to be, and I’m glad I found a home for this one.  

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And that’s how my November went. Goals for next month are pretty straightforward. I’d like to send out at least eight submissions so I can hit seventy for 2024, and I’d like to finally wrap edits on my novel so I can start querying the damn thing in the new year. Wish me luck. 🙂 That was my month. How was yours?