Posted on May 4, 2026 by Aeryn Rudel
Anecdotally, a good acceptance rate for short fiction tends to be around ten percent. With regards to rejections, that percentage generally works out to a statistically consistent ten to fifteen noes in a row . . . except when it doesn’t, and you go… Continue Reading “Swings & Misses V: The Rejection Streak Returns”
Category: My Work, Rejection LettersTags: Aeryn Rudel, rejection, Rejection Letters, Rejectomancy, Submissions, Writing, writing tips
Posted on March 24, 2026 by Aeryn Rudel
A few days ago, I hit a submission milestone more than a decade in the making. Yep, 1,000 submissions. It’s been a long road with a lot of ups and downs, but it feels pretty damn good to see that giant round number on… Continue Reading “The Millennial Milestone – 1,000 Submissions!”
Category: My WorkTags: Aeryn Rudel, Flash Fiction, rejection, Submissions, Writing, Writing Goals, writing tips
Posted on January 15, 2026 by Aeryn Rudel
Last year, I set a number of short fiction writing goals for myself that I represented in a bingo card as a fun bit of motivation and to have a snazzy graphic for blog posts. Though, at the end of the year, I did… Continue Reading “2026 Writing Goals Bingo”
Category: My WorkTags: authors, books, fiction, goals, Publishing, rejection, Rejection Letters, Submissions, Writing, writing tips
Posted on January 6, 2026 by Aeryn Rudel
Welp, 2025 is over, and it’s time to tally up my submissions, rejections, and acceptances and see how I did. I set some lofty goals for the year, and though I fell short of more than one of them, it wasn’t a terrible year,… Continue Reading “2025: A Short Fiction Rearview Review”
Category: Submission StatementTags: Aeryn Rudel, books, fiction, Publishing, Rejectomancy, short stories, Submissions, Writing, writing tips
Posted on December 16, 2025 by Aeryn Rudel
So, this is truly the final post in my Ten Years of Rejectomancy series. As promised, I’m gonna give you ALL the numbers for each year and then a total of subs, rejections, and acceptances for the entire decade (plus the years before and… Continue Reading “Ten Years of Rejectomancy – ALL the Numbers”
Category: My WorkTags: Aeryn Rudel, authors, books, fiction, Publishing, rejection, Rejection Letters, Rejectomancy, Submissions, Writing, writing tips
Posted on December 8, 2025 by Aeryn Rudel
Welp, here we are. Ten years of Rejectomancy. It’s been a long and bumpy road, and year ten certainly had its ups and downs, but it feels good to say I’ve been doing this for a decade, and I have no plans to stop.… Continue Reading “Ten Years of Rejectomancy: Year Ten – A Decade of Denial”
Category: My WorkTags: Aeryn Rudel, books, fiction, Flash Fiction, Publishing, Querying, rejection, Rejection Letters, Rejectomancy, short stories, Submissions, Writing, writing tips
Posted on November 24, 2025 by Aeryn Rudel
Peaks and valleys. That’s the best way to describe the submission experience and my own meandering path as a writer. I’ve had some exceptional years where it felt like every story I submitted had a legit shot at publication, and then I’ve had years… Continue Reading “Ten Years of Rejectomancy: Year Nine – A Question of Querying”
Category: My WorkTags: Aeryn Rudel, books, fiction, Flash Fiction, Publishing, Querying, rejection, Rejection Letters, Rejectomancy, short stories, Submissions, Writing, writing tips
Posted on October 28, 2025 by Aeryn Rudel
Although 2021 wasn’t a terrible year for submissions, I definitely went into 2022 hoping to improve, and in some ways I did. Mostly, though, I kind of held course with a solid but not exceptional year. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it was… Continue Reading “Ten Years of Rejectomancy: Year Eight – Solid and Serviceable”
Category: My WorkTags: Aeryn Rudel, books, fiction, Flash Fiction, Publishing, rejection, Rejection Letters, Rejectomancy, short stories, Submissions, Writing, writing tips
Posted on September 24, 2025 by Aeryn Rudel
There’s a phenomena in baseball and other professional sports where a player, usually a rookie, has a fantastic inaugural season, goes into the next season with massive expectations, and then, well, puts up mediocre numbers to huge surprise and disappointment. This is often called… Continue Reading “Ten Years of Rejectomancy: Year Seven – The Whiplash Effect”
Category: My WorkTags: Aeryn Rudel, books, fiction, Flash Fiction, Publishing, rejection, Rejection Letters, Rejectomancy, short stories, Submissions, Writing, writing tips
Posted on September 18, 2025 by Aeryn Rudel
When I set out to write this series, I knew I’d be writing openly and honestly about the ups and downs of the publishing business as well as the grueling grind of submitting short stories. As such, I’ve detailed decent years, disappointing years, and,… Continue Reading “Ten Years of Rejectomancy: Year Six – Best Year EVAR!”
Category: My WorkTags: Aeryn Rudel, books, fiction, Flash Fiction, Publishing, rejection, Rejection Letters, Rejectomancy, short stories, Submissions, Writing, writing tips
