Almost Success - The "Mixed Feelings" Thread

That sounds like a hair's breadth, George. I know how you feel about so close and yet so far. However it's really better for one's self confidence than a form rejection, isn't it?

It is. On the down side, this type of rejection usually comes months later than a form rejection which gives you more time to get your hopes up.

In fact this was a 5-day rejection. On the other hand, I've got 150-day forms. There are fast markets and there are slow... thankfully we've got the Grinder so we know what to expect.

Still it's better than waiting months to find out they never got my submission in the first place because I failed to successfully fill out all the fields on the Submittable form (which happens more times than I'd like to admit).

That sucks. I've waited for months on AE only to find out I accidentally sent them an attachment instead of pasting the story to the email... but well, I submit to >100 day markets when I'm desperate anyway so I didn't really mind that. I just submitted to them again. There are stories I really feel I must sell and there are stories I just want to send somewhere and forget about for a long time

It's been a long time since I posted to this thread, but I feel that I must.

Editor's telling me that he enjoyed my story, it held his attention right up to the end, and he goes on to say that it was his favorite for the week.

He doesn't buy it, though.

(sigh)

Give me form acceptances, any time.

That's the sort of thing that drives a person to drink.
(just don't drive back -- that's not safe.)

Even though this is a "publication," I'm putting it here because it's not really a success. This little ditty made the top cut for both DSF and FFO, but was ultimately rejected. So, on it went to a sure thing, TFFP, grossing me a whopping $3.00.

Anyway, in case you're interested:

http://www.theflashfictionpress.org/2016/08/29/two-words/

Even though this is a "publication," I'm putting it here because it's not really a success. This little ditty made the top cut for both DSF and FFO, but was ultimately rejected. So, on it went to a sure thing, TFFP, grossing me a whopping $3.00.

Anyway, in case you're interested:

http://www.theflashfictionpress.org/2016/08/29/two-words/

Great story. A sales a sale. Congrats!

And a very neat piece too. Well done.

Thanks

Ok either C.C. Finlay is some kind of power reading machine that plows through every story entry, or he must have really taken a liking to my work. I just got my second personal rejection from F&SF this month. I really hope this is a good sign, and he doesn't just read and critique all entries. Perhaps he's keeping an eye on me now, so I really have to step up my game!

I think I've finally graduated from the near 100% form rejection phase to the about 50% personal rejection phase. In the past three months or so, I've received seven personal rejections on various stories including a couple HMs from WotF. Many of the rejections have read something like this (sometimes with more specific suggestions):

"We really enjoyed reading this interesting piece. You should easily be able to get this published, but it's just not a fit for our publication."

I guess if I really want to sell stories I'll need to start "honing" them for particular markets instead of just writing what I want to write. Although something feels a little wrong with that.

I think I've finally graduated from the near 100% form rejection phase to the about 50% personal rejection phase. In the past three months or so, I've received seven personal rejections on various stories including a couple HMs from WotF. Many of the rejections have read something like this (sometimes with more specific suggestions):

"We really enjoyed reading this interesting piece. You should easily be able to get this published, but it's just not a fit for our publication."

I guess if I really want to sell stories I'll need to start "honing" them for particular markets instead of just writing what I want to write. Although something feels a little wrong with that.

It doesn't hurt to have a particular market in mind. That might raise the odds from say 2% to 5% or maybe even 10% but if that market doesn't take it you're still going to keep sending it out until it sells so why not write what you like?

For what it may be worth, my poetry submission just set the Grinder 12 month record for the longest time to a rejection by Rattle (157 days).

It was fairly crazy to submit Tyke poetry to a US publisher, I thought. Maybe not so silly after all since they do seem to have thought about it.

Essentially there appears to be no market in the UK for poetry that (The Horror!) usually both rhymes and scans.

I understand that some other US poetry outlets still do actually publish poetry, so if anyone knows another one, do please point me towards it.

It's been a long time since I posted to this thread, but I feel that I must.

Editor's telling me that he enjoyed my story, it held his attention right up to the end, and he goes on to say that it was his favorite for the week.

He doesn't buy it, though.

(sigh)

Give me form acceptances, any time.

Should see the one I got from Heroic Fantasy Quarterly earlier this year. They informed me that they held my story for publication and then decided not to!

Two tries later and my markets exhausted for it, it got a rewrite adding about 3000 words and is now a self-published novelette.

I got what was either a personal or a general 'This shows promise, please submit more' rejection from Lawless Lands. While the encouragement to submit to them again pleased me, I was hoping I'd actually make the cut.

Oh well. Back to submitting and writing!

Got my first personal from IGMS today! The editor said he loved the idea but the protagonist seemed a bit bland, which means I'm going to look the story over and see if it needs more internal conflict. (He also said he didn't think one of the other characters seemed vicious enough, but I think that's open to interpretation because of the nature of said character and the wide variety of characterizations in the mythos he was inspired by. Also, I was trying to keep the story PG-13.)

Got my first personal from IGMS today! The editor said he loved the idea but the protagonist seemed a bit bland, which means I'm going to look the story over and see if it needs more internal conflict. (He also said he didn't think one of the other characters seemed vicious enough, but I think that's open to interpretation because of the nature of said character and the wide variety of characterizations in the mythos he was inspired by. Also, I was trying to keep the story PG-13.)

Not too bad at least You seem to be getting close

Got my first personal from IGMS today! The editor said he loved the idea but the protagonist seemed a bit bland, which means I'm going to look the story over and see if it needs more internal conflict. (He also said he didn't think one of the other characters seemed vicious enough, but I think that's open to interpretation because of the nature of said character and the wide variety of characterizations in the mythos he was inspired by. Also, I was trying to keep the story PG-13.)

Not too bad at least You seem to be getting close

Close, perhaps, but not there yet. I got another personal rejection on the same story, this one from Shimmer. They said that long stories are a hard sell for them right now and the story seemed slower-paced than the ones they usually buy.

...I really could only think of one scene that might be considered slower-paced, and it's necessary to the story.

Funnily enough I recently got a PR for a story being too fast-paced. I don't think this has ever happened to me before, though the reverse frequently has. Maybe I over-corrected.

In this case the entire action of the story takes under three hours so I'm going to need some effort if it's to be slowed down. Probably not worth it for the sake of one PR.

Funnily enough I recently got a PR for a story being too fast-paced. I don't think this has ever happened to me before, though the reverse frequently has. Maybe I over-corrected.

In this case the entire action of the story takes under three hours so I'm going to need some effort if it's to be slowed down. Probably not worth it for the sake of one PR.

Yeah, I wouldn't worry about it unless you get that critique multiple times.

This one almost broke my heart; from Liminal:

"The story is excellent, but it's not quite right for us. Thanks for the read -- I loved the emotional depth and complexity of this piece, and the multi-layered protagonists felt rounded and real."

This story has been getting a lot of similar rejections where editors say they loved it, but no.

I get it, Davian. Those are always rough.

aww, thanks. XD

At least when rejections tell me about the things they didn't like, I have something to work on before resubmitting. But with these, there's nothing to go on. This and another story keep getting really close - including being shortlisted two or three times - so I know they're good, but they're proving near-impossible to sell.

Just keep sending it out until it sells. When you get rejections like that it just means you haven't found the right market at the right time. In fact the more places you send a quality story like that before it sells, the better, because you are making a good impression in multiple markets and therefore they are more likely to take a closer look at your next offering.

This one almost broke my heart; from Liminal:

"The story is excellent, but it's not quite right for us. Thanks for the read -- I loved the emotional depth and complexity of this piece, and the multi-layered protagonists felt rounded and real."

This story has been getting a lot of similar rejections where editors say they loved it, but no.

Geez.

I half-expect someone to post a letter saying, "This is the greatest story I've ever read. You are probably the reincarnation of Shakespeare. But unfortunately this wasn't quite right for us."

I've sent several stories out to Flash Fiction Online this year. None have been accepted yet, but I've received personal feedback on two of them. In my last one, Suzanne Vincent emailed to say my story made it into the final round of reviews, wasn't selected, but if I was interested, she'd be happy to send me staff comments about the story during their discussions. I was totally THRILLED! It took about a week for her to gather them together, edit them for anonymity, etc. and get them over to me. I'll use them to revise the story before sending it on to the next market, but not until AFTER I've turned in my WOTF story this week! lol

~Morgan

I've sent several stories out to Flash Fiction Online this year. None have been accepted yet, but I've received personal feedback on two of them. In my last one, Suzanne Vincent emailed to say my story made it into the final round of reviews, wasn't selected, but if I was interested, she'd be happy to send me staff comments about the story during their discussions. I was totally THRILLED! It took about a week for her to gather them together, edit them for anonymity, etc. and get them over to me. I'll use them to revise the story before sending it on to the next market, but not until AFTER I've turned in my WOTF story this week! lol

~Morgan

I had the same experience with FFO and was just delighted.

For those of you getting final rounds, "so close!", etc., this Twitter thread from Apex's Lesley Connor is important reading.

Once you're at that level, it's not a lack of skill or competence; it's just taste and magazine style. You are good enough: the magazines aren't big enough. You're almost there, so keep pushing.

For those of you getting final rounds, "so close!", etc., this Twitter thread from Apex's Lesley Connor is important reading.

Once you're at that level, it's not a lack of skill or competence; it's just taste and magazine style. You are good enough: the magazines aren't big enough. You're almost there, so keep pushing.

That was a good read, Matt. Thanks for posting. "Three strikes and you're out" seems like a pretty lame attitude for any writer to have. I mean, why would anyone limit himself like that? Anyone who understands the markets should understand how competitive they are -- tons of submissions with very limited space for the issues. That's just basic supply and demand.

I was so ecstatic when I started getting personal rejections and notes from the editors and slush readers, especially when they started offering specific advice on how to strengthen my stories. And that little comment at the end that says, "Please keep sending us your stories." Priceless encouragement right there.

If your stories keep showing up during final reviews again and again, an editor's going to look at them and say, "This guy's consistently good enough and he's got more than one story in him. Let's publish him." At least, in my own mind that's how it's going to happen; I'm not published anywhere yet. lol

~Morgan

If your stories keep showing up during final reviews again and again, an editor's going to look at them and say, "This guy's consistently good enough and he's got more than one story in him. Let's publish him." At least, in my own mind that's how it's going to happen; I'm not published anywhere yet. lol

I'm going to disagree here, but with good reason. Editors will never, ever publish you out of pity: they will only publish you when the story is good enough and right for them. And the reason it's important I disagree is that one day soon the brain weasels will start to whisper "they only published you because they felt sorry for you... you're not really good enough..." and these are VICIOUS LIES, as with all brain weasel whisperings. Once you're published, it's because that story was so awesome they couldn't let it go, and they were compelled to give you money for the right to be the ones to show it off to the world. Ain't no pity involved.

But if your stories keep showing up during final reviews again and again, you're increasing your odds that one of them will be the right story for a market. Once you're writing at a pro-level (which it sounds like you are), submitting becomes a lottery--have they just accepted something similar or not*? Has it caught them in the right mood? Has it just been squeezed out by a sudden influx of incredible stories?--and all you can do is keep entering, over and over. Keep writing stories, because every one of them is a ticket.

*funny story: I once had two rejections in a row from Shimmer (for two different stories, obvs) that said "Yeah, we liked it, but we're about to publish/just published this other similar story..." and pointed at the same story both times. Like, goddamn. But in happier news, author of said story is a friend and particularly awesome, so it's hard to feel a grudge. And in even happier news, one of the said rejected stories just got accepted at Arsenika, so y'know. Keep entering that lottery

I'm going to disagree here, but with good reason. Editors will never, ever publish you out of pity: they will only publish you when the story is good enough and right for them. And the reason it's important I disagree is that one day soon the brain weasels will start to whisper "they only published you because they felt sorry for you... you're not really good enough..." and these are VICIOUS LIES, as with all brain weasel whisperings. Once you're published, it's because that story was so awesome they couldn't let it go, and they were compelled to give you money for the right to be the ones to show it off to the world. Ain't no pity involved.

I'd like to second Matt on this. Editors don't buy stuff that they don't love. They get a heaping pile of submissions, especially at the major magazines, and they only--ONLY--publish the very best and most fitting. I have let myself indulge in "you're not really good enough" brain weaselery, and it is entirely destructive to the creative process. If you're getting close-but-no-cigar personal rejections, that's awesome, and means that your story is probably good enough, but hasn't found the right editor yet. When it does finally sell, it will be because the story aligned with an editor's taste at just the right time and in just the right way.

Moral of the story: submit, submit, submit!

Got a personal rejection from F&SF last night. That’s pretty delightful, for me. I got a form rejection from them a few months ago on a different story. I still want that first sale, of course, but like you guys said, this means I’m on the right track. Just keep writing, finishing, and submitting!

Got a personal rejection from F&SF last night. That’s pretty delightful, for me. I got a form rejection from them a few months ago on a different story. I still want that first sale, of course, but like you guys said, this means I’m on the right track. Just keep writing, finishing, and submitting!

That's fantastic! They are such a hard nut to crack, so the fact that Charlie gave you a personal rejection is really saying something.

~Morgan

Thank you! It took a lot of explaining for my husband to understand why I was so excited about this rejection! I’m trying to work on the story based on the feedback I got, and will submit elsewhere.

Got a personal rejection from F&SF last night. That’s pretty delightful, for me. I got a form rejection from them a few months ago on a different story. I still want that first sale, of course, but like you guys said, this means I’m on the right track. Just keep writing, finishing, and submitting!

That's awesome. I got a personal rejection from them a couple years ago - for the story I got an HM in with WOTF. After the HM I started rewriting it - but then two other great story ideas have pushed it to the back burner - but someday I'll get to it! I figure I'm only getting better at this writing thing, so maybe I'll be good enough to salvage it eventually (I love the concept - and believe deeply in the underlying message - but it's a hard story to tell well)