Has this happened to you?
It has happened twice to me. Once, I ended up getting published on resubmit.
Did you wait for the journal's recommended "do not query until X number of days has passed" time? (I've had a piece out for months now at a place that normally rejects in 1 month, but they don't want you to query for 6 months. I'm new, my work was totally not a level for the journal in question and I mostly just sent it to get over my initial hesitancy to submit. Gotta play to win, right? heh.)
Emails don't always reach their destination. I suppose an editor can accidentally delete an email as well (or accidently move it to a folder where it shouldn't be).
It hasn't happened to me, cause I've largely given up on short fiction work. My work usually ends up being to short (under 1K), or to long (at over 5K.) And it's not of a genre that's generally taken in a typical science fiction zine. (Social Episodic SF.)
It's only happened to me once that they've acknowledged, though I've had plenty of non-responses, many where I didn't even get an original receipt, and many that I've followed back up on well after their usual window, still with no reply.
I would wait six months and possibly simultaneously submit elsewhere considering that's an awful long time.
Bradley---that seems to be the best answer to this. I was totally ready for rejections when I started sending the piece out (and believe you me, have I got 'em, mailed and electronic), but it falling off a cliff (or behind a shelf, behind a radiator or whereever it really did go) to be never heard from again is like an interrupted sneeze.
I've had a couple non-responses but they were also at really competetive markets, so I don't know if that was a case of losing my sub or just not bothering to acknowledge it.
You sent the submission snail mail rather than email?
Um...yes. I like envelopes and I like getting mail, even if it is addressed to me in my own handwriting.
Though in defense of snail mail---I have mostly had swift turn around time with it.
I didn't know lit mags still took physical submissions except for maybe the really prominent ones.
heh, yeah. I was aiming way way too high, which is why I am pretty sure it got lost. Meh, I will just wait out the last few weeks of the 6 months and then queury.
Was it the New Yorker? Because apparently they have a bunch of these rules that are 'unwritten' or something, which doesn't make any sense.
Fifty Shades of Gay is not a suitable title for a story about someone who prefers girls but sometimes a guy comes along and makes him feel a little funny.
'Ironic racism' is not acceptable.
There's no such thing as writing in the 'fourth person'.
Sometimes it actually feels like they're making up these rules as they go along...
To their credit though, they will respond within twenty four hours if you sumbit a Pringles tube full of human eyeballs to the Editor.
Definitely wait the recommended time and query. That's what I always do. If I don't get a response, I might send a second query. If nothing after that, I send an email withdrawing my story. Some markets don't respond well. I've seen markets on Duotrope that apparently only respond for acceptances.
I do the same as Jack, query a couple of times, only I might not withdraw my story unless/until it's accepted elsewhere (assuming it's a market that allows sim subs, which the majority seem to be these days.)
I've had one story lost and it took a year of regular back and forth correspondence before they realized it was lost. It was also some years ago in the snail mail days.
Prominent mags often don't bother to respond.
