Question about the Submission Grind

I've never withdrawn something, but I have been 'lucky' - most of my rejections come back in the expected time window 😉

In seriousness though, I would give it a query in the window they say to query, if they do state that, then if I still didn't hear in the 2 week to 4 week range I'd give another query followup referencing the first query. If nothing at that point I would withdraw, if I had another market open I wanted to submit to.

I don't know that the above is reasonable but I also try to remember that most of these places are not some fulltime operation, they're usually one part-time editor and a whole lot of volunteers or very, very part time others on whom the main part-time person who has another job relies on. 

Unless we're talking small presses where they truly have fulltime people. I would expect quicker/more professional turn around from them.

You'd be surprised at how many markets just don't respond at all. Usually the lower paying ones, though not all. I've found anthology publishers to be the worst. 

I usually query once it's gone past their lead time. If they don't respond then I query again. After that I mark it as a no response and send somewhere else. Usually give each query a couple of weeks. 

It's annoying though. You stick to their guidelines, the least they could do is afford you the same respect. 

@pdblake Yeah. I submitted to The Mantelpiece 183 days ago and queried them once. I also submitted to a SpeKulative Stories anthology about aliens and haven't heard back from them after two queries.

Posted by: @amstard

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@pdblake Yeah. I submitted to The Mantelpiece 183 days ago and queried them once. I also submitted to a SpeKulative Stories anthology about aliens and haven't heard back from them after two queries.

Had a similar response from the same anthology. They did reply to my first query and then nothing. I think they bit off more than they could chew and got swamped. I just moved on. 

Posted by: @amstard

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I also submitted to a SpeKulative Stories anthology about aliens and haven't heard back from them after two queries.

I've also submitted for this anthology and now queried (they said to query end of August but I thought I'd leave it a touch longer). I haven't got an alternative market in mind for my story so will leave it a bit longer before accepting that no news is not good news and moving now.

I appreciate the insights!

@pdblake I agree on never responders. I have three that I never heard back from.

I've been using Duotrope for a few years to track my submissions. 

I just tried to mark one submission as 'never responded' that's been out for 190 days and Duotrope put up an error and said I should wait 306 days.  I've not seen that recommendation before.