Hello, everyone! First time posting. I’ve learned much from this community, reading old and new threads alike to help answer many of the questions I’ve had. So, thank you, WotF Community, for your frequent conversations and banter and encouragement to get those stories submitted.
I’m a big numbers person and like to look at data whenever possible. Some say to submit and forget, and where that’s great advice in order to encourage writers to stop checking their emails and write something new…I’ve been a writer for over fifteen years and still can’t help myself. So, I decided to make it part of my daily writing routine. I allow myself to check my submissions once a day, that way I’m obsessing less and writing more. Everything in moderation, as they say.
That said, I wanted to contribute, in some small way, and provide the community with some historical response dates (and days), going back to Volume 29.
It wasn’t easy to pin down any single date for responses, as rejections can range months apart. For this reason, I’ve opted to note the first date of the first Honorable Mention as the ‘response date’. This wasn’t always easy to identify. It might not be 100% accurate, but it’s pretty close. If anyone finds any errors, I’ll be happy to change it.
Thanks for having a look and wish everyone luck with their writing and submissions!
Volume 29
Q1: April 26, 2012 - Thu
Q2: July 16, 2012 - Mon
Q3: November 2, 2012 - Fri
Q4: December 13, 2012 - Thu
Volume 30
Q1: March 18, 2013 - Mon
Q2: June 19, 2013 - Wed
Q3: September 25, 2013 - Wed
Q4: December 5, 2013 - Thu
Volume 31
Q1: April 28, 2014 - Mon
Q2: June 17, 2014 - Tue
Q3: September 15, 2014 - Mon
Q4: December 4, 2014 - Thu
Volume 32
Q1: April 27, 2015 - Mon
Q2: July 23, 2015 - Thu
Q3: September 11, 2015 - Fri
Q4: December 2, 2015 - Wed
Volume 33
Q1: April 25, 2016 - Mon
Q2: July 14, 2016 - Thu
Q3: September 16, 2016 - Fri
Q4: November 7, 2016 - Mon
Volume 34
Q1: April 26, 2017 - Wed
Q2: July 7, 2017 - Fri
Q3: (Cannot find)
Q4: November 6, 2017 - Mon
Volume 35
Q1: April 16, 2018 - Mon
Q2: June 26, 2018 - Tue
Q3: October 4, 2018 - Thu
Q4: November 14, 2018 - Wed
Volume 36
Q1: April 18, 2019 - Thu
Q2: July 22, 2019 - Mon
Q3: September 27, 2019 - Fri
Q4: November 23, 2019 - Sat
Volume 37
Q1: April 20, 2020 - Mon
Q2: July 14, 2020 - Tue
Q3: October 5, 2020 - Mon
Q4: November 3, 2020 - Tue
Volume 38
Q1: April 24, 2021 - Sat
Q2: June 25, 2021 - Fri
Q3: December 2, 2021 - Thu
Q4: December 8, 2021 - Wed
Volume 39
Q1: May 13, 2022 - Fri
Q2: August 10, 2022 - Wed
Q3: September 26, 2022 - Mon
Q4: November 6, 2022 - Sun
Volume 40
Q1: April 10, 2023 - Mon
Q2: July 5, 2023 - Wed
Q3: September 14, 2023 - Thu
Q4: November 10, 2023 - Fri
Volume 41
Q1: March 16, 2024 - Sat
Q2: July 10, 2024 - Wed
Q3: August 23, 2024 - Fri
Q4: November 14, 2024 - Thu
Volume 42
Q1: March 11, 2025 - Tue
Q2: June 26, 2025 - Thu
Q3: September 22, 2025 -Mon
Q4: November 25, 2025 – Tue
Day of the Week Frequency
Sunday: 1
Monday: 15
Tuesday: 6
Wednesday: 9
Thursday: 12
Friday: 9
Saturday: 3
Cheers!
2025: HM x2
That said, I wanted to contribute, in some small way, and provide the community with some historical response dates (and days), going back to Volume 29.
Day of the Week Frequency
Sunday: 1
Monday: 15
Tuesday: 6
Wednesday: 9
Thursday: 12
Friday: 9
Saturday: 3
Excellent information, Zatarra! Thanks very much for cataloging it. Of course, this sort of blows away the constant theme in the Forum that Thursday is the day... 
Write so long as words keep flowing...
http://www.DocHonourBooks.com
WotF: 18 submissions, every quarter since V38
SFx1; HMx8; RWCx6
FWA RPLA: 1st place Gold story (2022); 1st place Gold novel (2023)
@zetarra This. Is. Beautiful. Thanks for sharing!
V39: - - - HM
V40: SHM, HM, SHM, HM
V41: HM, SHM, SHM, F
V42: DQ, HM, SHM, SHM
V43: P
Stories published in Triangulation: Hospitium, Neo-opsis Science Fiction Magazine, Flash Fiction Magazine, and others.
https://kzrichards.com
Monday is actually Thursday? Whaaaaat?
Awesome info!
Career: 1x Win -- 2x NW-F -- 2x S-F -- 9x S-HM -- 11x HM -- 7x R
Like me: facebook/AuthorTJKnight
@zetarra this is incredible! I've wanted to analyze this data for years but hunting down all the release dates was always a little more effort than I had motivation for. Now that you've done the heavy lifting for me, here's some analysis!
| Quarter | Average Days | Min | Max | Day of the Week |
| Q1 | 107 | 74 | 119* | Predominantly Monday |
| Q2 | 102 | 79 | 115 | Mostly on Wednesdays but pretty even |
| Q3 | 93 | 58 | 126 | Mostly on Fridays and Monday |
| Q4 | 54 | 37 | 75 | Mostly on Thursdays but pretty even |
*The four quarters impacted by the passing of the late, great (greater, greatest) David Farland have been ignored as statistical outliers.
Also worth noting that releases are more consistent since JLN has taken the helm:
| Quarter | Mean no. of days |
| Q1 | 85 |
| Q2 | 98 |
| Q3 | 75 |
| Q4 | 51 |
VOL 40 2nd Quarter: Third Place ("Ashes to Ashes, Blood to Carbonfiber")
Past submissions: R - HM - HM - HM - HM - HM - SHM - SHM
www.jd-writes.com
Kindle Vella - Ashes to Ashes, Earth to Kaybee
Hello, everyone! First time posting.
Welcome to the forum, and congrats on this - you made a real contribution to this forum from your very first post!
thank you!
"...your motivations for wanting to write are probably complex. You may have a few great passions, you may want to be rich and famous, and you may need therapy."
- Dave Farland, Million Dollar Outlines
"...I also miss almost 100% of the shots I do take."
- Gideon Smith
Writers of the Future:
2026 Q1: P Q2: TBD Q3: TBD Q4: TBD
2025 Q1: HM Q2: SHM Q3: HM Q4: HM (resub of 2024 HM)
2024 Q1: F Q2: HM Q3:SHM Q4: SHM
2023 Q1: RWC Q2: SHM Q3: SHM Q4: R
2022 Q4: R
Submissions to other markets:
2026: 0 submitted 0 acceptances
2025: 163 submitted 10 acceptances
2024: 53 submitted 8 acceptances
2023: 74 submitted 13 acceptances
2022: 22 submitted 1 acceptance
2026 goals: a. 2025 Novel submitted to agents/publishers b. Draft 0 of a new novel c. Speak at a con on panels d. Write 3 serious shorts NOT for WOTF e. Submit something, somewhere, every month
@ease This is a solid breakdown! Love the graph, too. I think we're going to get on just fine.
Happy seeing people out there enjoying this sort of thing.
Thanks for checking it out, everyone!
2025: HM x2
The data ties up with my experience. I tend to submit in the last day or two of the quarter, and my average response time is (my spreadsheet calculates it automatically based on all my submissions) 85.53125 days.
That's for 31 consecutive submissions since 30th March 2018 without a quarter missed. That does make me feel I've been doing this a long long time!
35: - R R R | 36: R HM R R | 37: HM HM HM SHM | 38: HM HM HM HM | 39: HM HM HM SHM | 40: HM R SHM SHM | 41: R HM SHM R | 42: HM R R HM
5 SHM / 15 HM / 11 R
Nice work.
Writers of the Future:
2026 V43: Submitted
2025 V42: RWC, HM (HM Resubmit), HM, SHM
2024 V41: RWC (HM Resubmit), HM, RWC, Finalist (RWC Resubmit)
2023 V40: HM, HM, R, HM
2022 V39: SHM, HM, Semi-finalist, HM (HM Resubmit)
2021 V38: -, -, -, HM
2020 V37: -, R, -, -
Other Achievements:
2025 SWA: Crime Fiction Contest - 1st Place, The Lighthouse Prompt - 3rd Place
Todd S. Jones
"Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right."~ Henry Ford
