Analog Submissions

A form rejection + explanation of technical glitch.

Really??

Damnit. I just checked and I got rejected - but I don't even get an email...

I think Analog will be my last choice from now on.

I am seriously pissed off. Someone talk me out of sending a strongly word email.

I am seriously pissed off. Someone talk me out of sending a strongly word email.

You have a right to be pissed off. If you feel the need to vent, send the email.

But other than venting, don't expect much. They KNOW they're screwing up. They know you are angry, and you're not alone. They know they have to fix this. So you won't be telling them anything they don't know already.

And given that, I don't even think they'll hold the email against you. They expect the anger at this point.

As long as you know it won't change anything, I see no problem with the email. I wouldn't do it myself. I would just vent here. But I wouldn't blame you if you sent it.

Strongly worded e-mails are probably a bad idea. E-mails expressing disappointment are probably a good idea.

They do know they're screwing up, but every reminder they can get is helpful in terms of pushing them towards not screwing up any longer.

I have written and deleted a moderately worded email. I will have to see whether this irritation persists.

This story was the first thing I ever subbed. I sent it, well, you can work it out, back in June. Luckily, since then I've subbed a lot of other things and had some success, but if I hadn't, this whole Analog saga could well have been the beginning and the end of my writing career. The most disheartening thing is the dishonesty in the query responses. Why did they tell me they were "still considering" my story - when the patent truth was the story was dead in the water long ago. I think it is no coincidence that Hazlett and I submitted on the same day.

I've never experienced this kind of poor slush management at any other publication.

Sod it. Decided to have some fun with them.

Dear Editors,

I feel compelled to write you a short note to express my disappointment to discover my story, which I queried three times about over its 300 day vacation in the Analog Vaults, has now been rejected without so much as a form rejection. After so long a stay, the story had just paid for a subscription for satellite television and its cupboard was stacked full of its favourite snacks. Worse, after your response to my last query stated the story was "under consideration", the story had gone out and bought itself a new suit and a shiny pair of new shoes. Sadly, these will never see the light of day due to the tiny "Analog" insignia it had had sewed into each item.

The thought that my story might have graced your magazine was an exciting one - a holiday romance I could only dream of - but the nature of our eviction has been most troubling. I do hope that, in future, any stories that begin to feel like permanent fixtures around the Club Analog Slush Pool will be treated with a little more respect and sent on their way with, at the bare minimum, a complementary glass of Rejection 2014.

Thanks for the memories,

Leo T. Lion

P.S. A rejection note would still be appreciated. I will frame it and put it on my wall.

Sod it. Decided to have some fun with them.

Dear Editors,

I feel compelled to write you a short note to express my disappointment to discover my story, which I queried three times about over its 300 day vacation in the Analog Vaults, has now been rejected without so much as a form rejection. After so long a stay, the story had just paid for a subscription for satellite television and its cupboard was stacked full of its favourite snacks. Worse, after your response to my last query stated the story was "under consideration", the story had gone out and bought itself a new suit and a shiny pair of new shoes. Sadly, these will never see the light of day due to the tiny "Analog" insignia it had had sewed into each item.

The thought that my story might have graced your magazine was an exciting one - a holiday romance I could only dream of - but the nature of our eviction has been most troubling. I do hope that, in future, any stories that begin to feel like permanent fixtures around the Club Analog Slush Pool will be treated with a little more respect and sent on their way with, at the bare minimum, a complementary glass of Rejection 2014.

Thanks for the memories,

Leo T. Lion

P.S. A rejection note would still be appreciated. I will frame it and put it on my wall.

I'll take that as a vote of approval, Martin!

I'll take that as a vote of approval, Martin!

It made me laugh, and I think it's a healthier response. I definitely approve.

By the way, just last week there was a sale at 287 days. So it really might be that your story was under consideration. We really can't know right now.

On the other hand, we have heard from multiple sources that the big markets almost never buy your first salable story. Part of what they want is persistence combined with quality. So your odds on your very first submission were definitely long odds.

I have the story back now. That's what matters. I still think it is a great story, so I should be able to sell it somewhere. I'm just waiting for that break to give me my first pro-sale.

I hope they send me a rejection or response with a little character now. I really will frame it.

Sheesh. I'm disappointed and they weren't even my stories. My commiserations to you guys.

Sheesh. I'm disappointed and they weren't even my stories. My commiserations to you guys.

Just think of it like plotting a story: the greater the adversity you face along the way, the sweeter the triumph when you reach the end!

Sod it. Decided to have some fun with them.

Dear Editors,

I feel compelled to write you a short note to express my disappointment to discover my story, which I queried three times about over its 300 day vacation in the Analog Vaults, has now been rejected without so much as a form rejection. After so long a stay, the story had just paid for a subscription for satellite television and its cupboard was stacked full of its favourite snacks. Worse, after your response to my last query stated the story was "under consideration", the story had gone out and bought itself a new suit and a shiny pair of new shoes. Sadly, these will never see the light of day due to the tiny "Analog" insignia it had had sewed into each item.

The thought that my story might have graced your magazine was an exciting one - a holiday romance I could only dream of - but the nature of our eviction has been most troubling. I do hope that, in future, any stories that begin to feel like permanent fixtures around the Club Analog Slush Pool will be treated with a little more respect and sent on their way with, at the bare minimum, a complementary glass of Rejection 2014.

Thanks for the memories,

Leo T. Lion

P.S. A rejection note would still be appreciated. I will frame it and put it on my wall.

Are you related to Ishmael ?

Is Ishmael English? I haven't visited the other boards too much.

Well, Leo, at least you simultaneously submitted your manuscript to Apex.

So it wasn't a total loss.

Yeah, they sent me a rejection the other day. 🙁 False optimism. I sent it to Asimov's because it is character based. Where did you send yours?

This story was the first thing I ever subbed. ... The most disheartening thing is the dishonesty in the query responses. Why did they tell me they were "still considering" my story - when the patent truth was the story was dead in the water long ago.

I was annoyed with the rejection for my first ever sub. The editor read it as part of a workshop I was at, told me it was "very, very good" and asked me to sub it to his mag. He rejected it 7 months later saying it didn't fit in with his mag.

But I've gotten a thicker skin since then.

I actually saw the same editor about a year later, at a con. He was at a trader's table actually buying a copy of the anthology to which I had later sold that same story. I told him I knew he'd buy that story one day. We both had a laugh about that.

I suppose it depends on their definition of 'considering'. Considering, as in yet to be rejected/accepted, as in it was in the queue and hadn't yet been looked at? I doubt it was 'dead in the water' when you enquired, as it would simply have been rejected. I don't suspect any malice here.

Are you surprised it took so long? I know I stopped subbing to Analog about a year ago when the subs started swelling out, and with all that backlog it's going to be a hard sell to rise above so many more than usual.

But I don't think I would have ever sent a letter, even in jest. I *personally* don't want to come across that way. If it works for you, that's fine.

For what it's worth.

Steve

Come across that way?

How does it come across to keep hold of someone's work for three hundred days and then reject it without telling them? I couldn't care less how I come across because there is no way I can look less professional than they do. They have a computerised system that takes and orders submissions - yet they can't deal with their slush in any coherent order and when people point it out they don't do the kind thing (a quick rejection) but rather fob you off and make you go through the same process a month later. Then, after all that, I didn't even get the dignity of "it isn't right for us". I got nothing at all.

So no, I don't give a damn if I come across that way.

Fair enough. And their ultra long slush is the reason I stopped subbing there.

I agree the response time is unprofessional - particularly when they don't allow simultaneous subs and so on. And you should have received a rejection email.

I simply made the conscious decision never to respond to editors. I chose to operate that way.

Steve

I think all sane writers operate that way. But I am not responding to a rejection. I am responding to bad manners. I hate the one sided nature of their system.

I am responding to bad manners. I hate the one sided nature of their system.

I agree.

Steve

Yeah, they sent me a rejection the other day. 🙁 False optimism. I sent it to Asimov's because it is character based. Where did you send yours?

Ha, ha!

I sent mine to Asimov's too!

Here we go again!

Yikes. Sorry about the mess, guys. That's way too long to be waiting on a story.

Yeah, this wasn't good waiting so long just for a common rejection. I really thought it would be a lot closer if not get in. Or is that they would have gotten in.

Is Ishmael English? I haven't visited the other boards too much.

I forgot to respond here last night.

He's Scottish. But maybe an ancestor, or two, of both of you was related.Since he likes to do stories kinda of like that. If that isn't sacrileges to suggest a common ancestor.

Is Ishmael English? I haven't visited the other boards too much.

I forgot to respond here last night.

He's Scottish. But maybe an ancestor, or two, of both of you was related.Since he likes to do stories kinda of like that. If that isn't sacrileges to suggest a common ancestor.

He's actually a Yorkshireman who happens to be resident in Scotland. Now once upon a time Yorkshire, Northumberland, Durham, and the entire south east of Scotland up to the Forth estuary were all inhabited by Angles. However my grandfather came to Yorkshire from Norfolk which used to be largely inhabited by Danes. Therefore I am known as Ishmael, which is a good name for someone who is a foreigner everywhere.

And if you look back in this thread you will see that my Analog submission only just made it past 200 days. I haven't troubled them with another as yet.

Hi Ishmael,

I asked if you were English because we Brits have a similar sense of humour. I'm from Hampshire myself.

I'll trawl back and have a look at your Analog Adventure.