posted
Ah, I found it: "Please allow up to 3-6 months response time." Okay, check. Now what? (This is my first submission, so I really have no clue what to do.)
Posts: 298 | Registered: Jun 2012
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posted
Is the publisher a no simultaneous submission house? If yes, wait three to six months. After that time, if you've heard nothing, inquire. Possibly in writing withdraw your manuscript from their consideration if you're dissatisfied with the house for any reason. You can quit (reject) them too. If you withdraw a submission, you can send it to another house anytime after.
If the house allows simultaneous submissions, send the submission to other houses that allow simultaneous submissions and wait out their response times.
Track your submissions so you know what you sent where, when, in what version, their posted repsonse times, how many times the same story has been submitted before, and outcome. For example a simple txt file with single entry ledger system;
I use a file naming system that includes what sequence number a story is for a year, number eight below, for example, title keywords, revision number, 07 (seventh), for example. I usually submit electronic files as RTF, since it's universally platform and application compatible. Or PDF or DOC, if those are preferred by the house. If the submission is print the second example below is how I name a file version.
8-12MannyWonna07.rtf | SlimPickens | 30 July 2012 | third submission | six to eight months | January--March | Form rejection
3-13LikeyStrikey02.print | BossyTimes | 16 April 2013 | second submission | three to four weeks | May--June | Form rejection
Otherwise, begin developing the next writing project, further develop writing skills, close read works in your preferred genre, and build up a rapport and working knowledge of publishing culture, publishers, agents, and fellow writers.
Posts: 6037 | Registered: Jun 2008
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posted
Well, I'm not sure about simultaneous submissions to other publishers, but Cricket does say not to send a story to more than one of their magazines at a time. They've got different ones for different age ranges. So if I send a story to the mag for 9-14 yr olds, but it's better for, say 6-9 yr olds, they'll forward it. But anyway, I'm not sure if I can send the story to other publishers. However, this was the first story that I've ever completed, and needless to say, it wasn't that great. I don't know if it's worth sending it elsewhere, or if I would make better use of my time by simply letting it go and focusing on other projects. Speaking of which, I've just recently started back to school, so I haven't had any spare time lately for writing. I'm really unhappy about that; I miss writing terribly.
Posts: 298 | Registered: Jun 2012
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mayflower988, go ahead and contact them. Just tell them what you sent (title) and when, and ask them to let you know if they actually received it. Also tell them that if they have no record of it, you would be happy to submit it again.
That way, you aren't nagging, but you are asking them to acknowledge your submission.
Posts: 8826 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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Cricket and all their sister publications are horrible about losing submissions. Query sooner than later. There was some change las year that was supposed to have them getting better but I have yet to see any evidence of this.
Posts: 1993 | Registered: Jul 2009
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Thanks, everyone. That's good to know. I'm trying to see if there's something on their site about how to contact them, like a preferred email address or phone number. So far I've found nothing. And now I see that I could have submitted online. Drat. Oh, well. I guess there's nothing to do now but contact their customer service.
Posts: 298 | Registered: Jun 2012
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I see now on their FAQ that they recommend re-submitting. That is what I will do. (I suppose it would be bad form to make changes to the story before I do so?)
Posts: 298 | Registered: Jun 2012
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No. Go ahead and make changes. If you have to resubmit because they lost it you can do what you want.
Posts: 1993 | Registered: Jul 2009
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You might want to mention that the resubmission has been edited since you first submitted it, but if they've lost it, they'll be none the wiser either way.
Posts: 8826 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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I just received my twelfth rejection for a story I consider to be one of my best. I've submitted it exclusively to pro markets. I'm going to copy/paste the submission record from duotrope so you can see how widely variable submission response times are. Te Market is listed, follows by the type of rejection I received. The first number is how long before I received a response, the second number is the average response time for that market.
MARKET RESPONSE DAYS OUT AVGRT Clarkesworld Magazine Rejection, Form 2 3 Lightspeed TEMP CLOSED Rejection, Personal 2 2 Daily Science Fiction Rejection, Form 15 20 Apex Magazine Rejection, Form 30 14 Analog Science Fiction & Fact Rejection, Form 11 152 Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show Rejection, Form 32 37 Strange Horizons Rejection, Form 11 15 AE: The Canadian Science Fiction Review Rejection, Form 48 80 James White Award, The Rejection 245 122 Electric Velocipede TEMP CLOSED Rejection, Form 149 13 Shimmer Rejection, Personal 6 14 Strange Bedfellows Rejection, Personal 43 21
Thus far I've only been submitting this story to pro markets because I believe it is worthy. I know the table above is hard to read, but the main thing to note is that for Apex Magazine, Electric Velocipede, and Strange Bedfellows, the editors held on to the story much longer than the average. This can mean the story made it past the slush pile (I had as much confirmation from EV via query), or it could just be that the editor is busy with other things (also contributing to why it stayed 149 days at EV).
The other two stories I've published have been accepted on the 4th and 7th try, and I consider them to be inferior to this one. I could get emotional and annoyed about all the rejections, and say oh I'm never going to submit to this market or that.
Or I can be a pro. Being a pro isn't having a pro publication, as far as I'm concerned, its behaving like a pro. That means you write the best you can, as often as you can, submit everything, and keep submitting. When rejected, re-submit. I usually do it within five minutes of receiving the rejection letter.
Posts: 1043 | Registered: Jul 2010
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My rule is, when I get a rejection, I have to get the story submitted to the next place before I get to go to bed that day. This is great incentive, because most days I am desperate to get to bed by the end of the day.
Posts: 1528 | Registered: Dec 2003
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Let's say you wanted that response time table to read in formatted columns. The UBB code "code" fulfills the bill. Code blocks preserve tabs and other plain text ASCII formatting, like multiple spaces, not usually displayed in UBB. Code doesn't internally support other UBB codes though, like bold or italics emphasis. And a code block displays in a monospaced typeface, Courier New on my system. For example:
code:
House Outcome Response Average Clarkesworld Magazine Rejection, Form 2 3 Lightspeed TEMP CLOSED Rejection, Personal 2 2
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