I have a story submission out to Apex that will meet the "query if you haven't heard from us in sixty days" limit in two days (but who's counting) and I was wondering if you folks have any tips on how to go about that diplomatically? The market has undergone a change of editor, so I'm sure there's a backup in responses from the transition, but I also figure there may have been a few things that slipped through the cracks. Should I give them an extra few weeks to catch up? I'd be less antsy if I wasn't pretty certain it's a rejection I'm waiting for. :)
I have a ready made template in my email. Basically all it says is hello I have X story (or whatever) submitted (enter date here) I would like to know if it is still up for consideration. Thank you for your time blablabla.
After I send the email I mark on my spreadsheet the date and then depending on the market will decide if I want to send a formal withdrawal or not.
Also with the market getting a new editor I would give them at least another 10-20 days unless you're itching to send the piece someplace else.
Thanks so much, Shannon, that's a huge help. I'll give them a few more weeks and send them a note.
yep, what shannon said, all of it. i have a similar template.
"Dear Apex,
My story "Best Ever" has been with you for 63 days now, which is past your expected response time, according to Duotrope. I just wanted to check and make sure that you were still considering it, and that it didn't get lost or anything. I'd be honored to publish with you.
Sincerely,
Richard"
then give them like 30 days to respond, and then keep on them every 30-60 days, checking in. i had to do this at Cream City Review for almost 500 days. new editor, got short-litsted, then passed on to the next editor, then eventually i withdrew it as it got accepted at Cemetery Dance. don't be annoying, be polite, and make sure you're sending it out to other places. or is Apex a NSS submission? meh, i never listen to those anyway, especially if the acceptance rate is <5%. what are the odds. :-)
I can promise you that Apex will be getting back to you. They got back to me yesterday.
It wasn't good, but I was able to stop cutting myself to let out the feelings by 10:00 last night.
Oh, Apex, you wily market! You're like a fox! So elusive, and nobody really knows...what you say...
Thank you, Richard. I want to be patient and considerate of their current situation, but I also don't want to waste any time getting it someplace else. I would have flouted the NSS rule and sent it someplace else already, except they're the place I withdrew my story from when you took it, haha, so I figure I should wait this time and play nice.
Utah--good to hear they are starting to catch up, though I'm sorry for your rejection. Save a place in the corner for me! Sounds like I will be joining you shortly. Can I ask when you sent yours in?
SRead,
I sent it in July 28, and they have what, like a 12 day return time. But it got shortlisted (which made me crap my pants) and sent to the Head Gazeek Editor, who then stepped down.
That's how awesome my story was. It made the Chief Editor of Apex Magazine quit her job.
And then it took a while for the transition and then for the new editor to not be all "hey, that shit's amazing", and for them to send me the rejection.
I hope that timeline holds some meaning for you.
So this is all your fault! I should have known!
That is the same day I sent my story. I guess I should expect to hear soon, then!
Congrats on the shortlist! That is awesome, even if it ended up being rejected. It probably just didn't fit the "feel" of the issue, and you'll find an awesome place for it.
I burned it and deleted all the copies of it.
SO glad to know I'm not the only one who does this, Utah! I feel really supported in my choice to burn my rejected stories and delete all the copies.
COMMUNITY!
My thought is that if 5 editors don't like it, it's not worth liking.
And I'm sure as hell not editing it again.
Done with you, tiny manuscript.
It's so nice to see you two agreeing, even if you're both wrong.
The point is, we are all supporting each other in our wrong-ness!
COMMUNITY!
I love and respect your terrible decisions! Group hug!
please don't tell me that ANY of you are really deleting/burning these stories? do i need to point you to the story of "Rudy" again, or "Chasing Ghosts" which just got into Cemetery Dance? each had 50+ rejections.
Richard, I'm shocked you found 50+ places to send each of those stories to. More so that they passed on them. "Rudy" was a favorite of mine from SITA.
I've never burned my stories...but I have sent them to the corner for a very long time without dinner.
I am telling you, Richard.
Burned.
Very cathartic.
thanks, Sound. i knew "Rudy" would be a tough sell, due to the subject matter, but i thought that the horror community would be more open than it was. especially since, in the end, he "wins" the battle. i think it was a weird place where it was stuck between literary and horror and neither camp wanted to take it. :-) getting into Slices of Flesh alongside Ketchum, Ramsey Campbell and Graham Masterson made it worth it.
"Chasing Ghosts" was even tougher, it was in this weird place between literary and horror and crime. it was paranoid and dark, one i wrote for my MFA. so i sent that to a lot more literary publications than "Rudy" and i got a lot of personal responses with my rejections, inlcuding Ellery Queen, and it got short-listed a few places before Cemetery Dance took it. I was suprised they took it, because it's not really HORROR per se. but man, so thrilled that they did. their guidelines said they were open to more than horror, including dark suspense/thrillers, so i guess that's where it fit.
and UTAH. shame on you. BOOOOOOOOOOO. there could have been ONE LINE in there that you could have pulled out and used to inspire something else. i did that with my story "Tinkering With the Moon," at the insistence of my professor, and it became "Garage Sales." you never know. :-)
but if it felt good, and it motivated you, then in the words of Ray Bradbury, "It was a pleasure to burn."
Did a quick search at Duotrope to find the exact numbers:
"Rudy Jenkins Buries His Fears" (longest submission 168 days)
Acceptance: 1 (Slices of Flesh anthology, Dark Moon Books)
Never Responded: 1
Form Rejection: 18
Rejection: 15
Personal Rejection: 8
Withdrawal: 8
TOTAL: 51
"Chasing Ghosts" (longest submissions 523, 436, 415, 367 and 358 days)
Acceptance: 1 (Cemetery Dance)
Form Rejection: 21
Rejection: 15
Personal Rejection: 8
Withdrawal: 4
TOTAL: 49
Richard ~ out of curiosity, did you tweak and rework your stories much between rejections, or just persevere and send it out again?
If you can't type it out word-for-word in its entirety from memory each and every time you decide to submit it, it probably wasn't that good to begin with, right?
You're joking, but when we had Jon Gingerich on Books and Booze he said one of the best ways to revise is to print out your original and re-type the entire piece, instead of going into the existing story and tweaking.
Seriously, he was FULL of awesome advice on writing/revising/writing.
I can see that: comparing what you remember to what you forgot might give some insight to the 'essence' of the story. And you could always combine elements of the two versions.
EDIT --- haha, I totally misread your comment.
@em - No, I did not make any revisions. I believed in both stories otherwise, I wouldn't have sent them out. I mean, if I found a typo or something, an awkward sentence, a missed tense shift of something, sure, but nothing major. I will say THIS though—I went back and re-read each story at least ONCE of that time span, wondering to myself, "Is it missing something? Did I screw something up? Does it not feel satisfying in the end?" And each time, when I was done, I thought, "Nope. I like it just the way it is. Sticking to my guns." Which is tough in the face of so many rejections. The personal rejections helped me to keep the faith, especially the one from Ellery Queen and the short-listing at Cream City Review, both very tough markets, low acceptance rates. I think it's just about finding the right editor at the right publication, knowing your target audience. That being said, I've been trying to break into Shock Totem for YEARS now, and I really felt like every story I've sent them (well, okay, maybe 75%) were good fits. (FYI: They passed on BOTH of these stories).
Just an update--I sent them a query yesterday and heard back this morning that they never received my submission. I double checked, and it did seem to go through, but it apparently got lost. And of course, they're closed to subs now! So I guess I'll just go to the next on the list.
Oh man that sucks. Was it the only place you had it out to?
YES, I was being good. That'll teach me! ;) 77 days down the pit.
And I get antsy at 30 days. You definitely have more patience than me!
sarah. if you don't send that story to TEN PLACES immediately i'm going to stand outside your window and haunt you until you do. 77 days. blech.
let me know if you need ideas! :-)
LOL Richard. SIR YES SIR. I'll start making a list of possible places. If I don't get to ten, I'll let you know. :)
