Yesterday I withdrew a story from a market because we were starting to near the one year mark, and the couple of queries I’d made all got the usual “It’s in the queue, we’re swamped, just a little longer” reply. I don’t mind waiting a little longer, but I do mind when it gets used to keep you going for months.
So that’s cool, and no hard feelings over them having sat on it a while. I end up withdrawing a story for similar reasons once every couple of years. But here’s the reply I got regarding the withdrawal:
Thanks for the note. Your story is officially withdrawn from our reading queue. One thing you might want to consider in the future is that pro markets take a lot of time. So I’d tailor a story for a certain market and then move on while you wait. That’s what Bradbury and Matheson and all those guys do. Some pro markets such as Cemetery Dance take up to two years. So that’s why I say. But the credit one receives when they break pro is worth everything. I hope this helps you future endeavors. You can send along something else in the future when we reopen for subs in [identifying information redacted]. Just make sure it’s a different story as I don’t accept stories that have previously been withdrawn.
Some pro markets do take up to two years, but it’s darn few of them. Most of the professional magazines are professional; they get stuff back to you fast. Even without e-submissions, Gordon Van Gelder manages to wade through swamps of rejections and still return them in a timely manner. Sure, Tor.com is slow, but given that they pay five times as much as most, I’m willing to give them five times as much time in which to reply. Asimov’s, Analog, Lightspeed, Clarkesworld, Fantasy Magazine, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Strange Horizons all pay professional rates and yet manage what is apparently a highly unprofessional rapid reply rate.
We got 550-600 subs a month towards the end of my tenure with Fantasy, and I would have felt terrible making people wait over a month, let alone more. And I’m going to say, this particular rejection is a great argument for form rejections, because the patronizing tone here really put me off, plus this is TERRIBLE advice for a new writer. Write what you want to write, not what you think a magazine wants to see.
I dunno. Maybe the editor is working off a different definition of professional than I use.
Couldn’t agree more. I cannot think of a single pro market for short fiction that feels it is OK to hang on to a submission for a year, let alone two. A good number of the so-called semi-pro (based on smaller payment, not necessarily quality) are just as speedy in their editorial decisions. My last sale to one of those markets, a highly respected UK magazine, had a 30-day response time from the editor. The layout spread and payment arrived within another thirty days. We’ve all had a few incidents where a story languished for a very long time, but they’re the exception, thankfully. (I personally strongly dislike it when an editor or publisher holds a story for eight months or longer and then sends a form rejection — if they held the story that long through a cut or two I think they owe the author some concise feedback.) And yes, writers should always write the stories that inspire them, and not attempt to imitate stories they read in F&SF or Clarkesworld in hope of making an easier sale. Good luck with that strategy.
Oddly enough I got a very similar note recently, and the wording was only slightly different. I decided to give the editor another couple of months, but perhaps I made the wrong decision. Many thanks for posting this. If the 1-year mark rolls around without an answer, I’ll withdraw the story.
This editor doesn’t seem to be very abreast of the field, either, given (a) you’re hardly a newcomer and (b) as you mentioned, several highly respected pro markets have very timely turnaround, including the big 3. An editor so unaware of today’s oft-published authors and his competition would turn me off permanently.
Naw, I can’t fault anyone for not knowing who I am, there’s plenty of short story writers out there and I have only been publishing for a few years.
But they -should- know better than a) equate long reply time with professionalism and b) to assume a submitter has never made a pro sale. The latter is just plain condescending (imo).
Well, I’m pretty new to the field — just started submitting professionally in December — but I’ve done my reading, and I have an idea who the established names are in the field. Okay, you’re not Bradbury or Matheson, but if I ran a magazine, I think I’d be keeping up with what was being published elsewhere. Seems like good business sense to me, knowing one’s market. Heck, just a visit to this website’s “Fiction” page would have told the editor you’ve published in many of the leading magazines over the past five years, and hardly need advice on “breaking into” the field.
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~K. Richardson
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In knocking around this world, one of the few things that has sunk in well enough to make it a daily maxim is this, “Be kind to yourself, because you can depend on yourself.” Build a treat into your day that is aimed at increasing your happiness in some small way: lunch outside, a long walk, that book on Amazon you want every once in a while.
We all have a shitty time of it sometimes — maybe it’s something we live with all our lives, or something that intrudes and sends us for a total, utter loop: the event that causes PTSD, the relative with a terminal illness, some terrible loss beyond words that we carry around like a permanent gut-punch.
I’ve found that writers excel at angst and guilt, at worrying at 2 am over whether or not they stuck their foot in their mouth (human nature being what it is, the answer is sometimes yes), at being anxious and projecting futures far out of proportion to actuality in their degree of horror.
They’re also tough on themselves, holding themselves to sometimes impossible standards, trying to hit goals that are unreasonably grandiose or demanding. Writers need to cultivate a willingness to accept themselves as they are. Sometimes that means forgiving yourself and the illness you live with, to not just knowing yourself but being comfortable with yourself.
Be kind to yourself, because you’re the person you’ll be living with for the rest of your life. Be a good roommate, one who leads by example and keeps the place neat (or at least livable, since mileage varies.) Don’t go off on guilt trips that leave you stranded in the Land of Panic.
For me, that involves taking care of my physical health, since often your body affects your mind. I started eating a cup of plain Greek yogurt for breakfast every morning a few years ago, and found it keeps me cheerful, energetic, and a lot more stable mood-wise. At the same time I started striving to walk at least a few miles every day and found that a mood elevator as well.
I don’t by any means intend to say that this is the only way to assist with your mental health. But being kind to yourself is a fundamental way to do, no matter how it manifests. And in these days when politics leans harder and harder towards rhetoric of violence, we must be prepared to model compassion, to model unflinchingness in the face of bullies in the defense of the weak, even when the weak one is yourself.
This is why I tell my students not to punish themselves for not hitting their word count, but to reward themselves when they do. That’s a basic way of approaching it, and like many basics, it can have a profound influence.
So give yourself a treat today. Go ahead. You deserve it.
And to fill in the cookery part, I will provide the recipe for the muffins I make for my household, which make for a nice mid-morning snack providing fiber, protein, and a touch of sweetness to make them hit the spot.
It’s also versatile; you can add or subtract stuff to cater to individual tastes as long as you don’t go too far outside the wet to dry to fat proportion. The recipe’s based on the Orange-Scented Corn Muffins recipe in Breaking the Food Seduction by Neal Barnard.
Mid-morning Muffins
Makes 12 regular-sized muffins
Equipment needed: 2 mixing bowls, a mixer or blender for blending the wet ingredients, a way to zest the citrus fruit if using it, an oven, and a muffin tin.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup mashed silken tofu
1/2 mashed banana (The riper the better, other fruit can be substituted.)
1/2 cup orange juice (Or other fruit. This is adding sweetness + liquid; keep that in mind when substituting.)
1 T oil
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup flaxseed meal
1 T orange zest (Or lemon/grapefruit/lime is nice too. This is optional but highly suggested.)
1 t cinnamon (1/2 t cardamon is also pleasant. If you’re doing lemon zest, try rosemary instead of the cinnamon for a more savory version.)
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
Optional adds: a handful of chopped up dried fruits, nuts, or sunflower seeds, a couple of spoonfuls of jelly or jam, 2 T honey/agave or 1/2 t stevia, 1/4 c chia or poppy seeds.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Oil/mist/whatever 12 muffins cups with nonstick oil or butter (coconut oil is nice).
Blend tofu, banana, juice, and oil until smooth and creamy.
Whisk together dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Mix in wet mixture until moist but don’t stir very long, just enough to get stuff combined.
Spoon evenly into muffins cups.
Bake 20-25 minutes.
Remove from oven and loosen muffins in the cups, turning them on their sides to cool. Cover the pan with a clean kitchen towel. After 5 minutes, transfer to a cooling rack or waiting hands.
7 Responses
Couldn’t agree more. I cannot think of a single pro market for short fiction that feels it is OK to hang on to a submission for a year, let alone two. A good number of the so-called semi-pro (based on smaller payment, not necessarily quality) are just as speedy in their editorial decisions. My last sale to one of those markets, a highly respected UK magazine, had a 30-day response time from the editor. The layout spread and payment arrived within another thirty days. We’ve all had a few incidents where a story languished for a very long time, but they’re the exception, thankfully. (I personally strongly dislike it when an editor or publisher holds a story for eight months or longer and then sends a form rejection — if they held the story that long through a cut or two I think they owe the author some concise feedback.) And yes, writers should always write the stories that inspire them, and not attempt to imitate stories they read in F&SF or Clarkesworld in hope of making an easier sale. Good luck with that strategy.
Hee hee. Sound like a very new editor, rather unsure of his/herself. They’ll learn.
Oddly enough I got a very similar note recently, and the wording was only slightly different. I decided to give the editor another couple of months, but perhaps I made the wrong decision. Many thanks for posting this. If the 1-year mark rolls around without an answer, I’ll withdraw the story.
This editor doesn’t seem to be very abreast of the field, either, given (a) you’re hardly a newcomer and (b) as you mentioned, several highly respected pro markets have very timely turnaround, including the big 3. An editor so unaware of today’s oft-published authors and his competition would turn me off permanently.
Naw, I can’t fault anyone for not knowing who I am, there’s plenty of short story writers out there and I have only been publishing for a few years.
But they -should- know better than a) equate long reply time with professionalism and b) to assume a submitter has never made a pro sale. The latter is just plain condescending (imo).
Well, I’m pretty new to the field — just started submitting professionally in December — but I’ve done my reading, and I have an idea who the established names are in the field. Okay, you’re not Bradbury or Matheson, but if I ran a magazine, I think I’d be keeping up with what was being published elsewhere. Seems like good business sense to me, knowing one’s market. Heck, just a visit to this website’s “Fiction” page would have told the editor you’ve published in many of the leading magazines over the past five years, and hardly need advice on “breaking into” the field.
I agree wholeheartedly on both your points.
I appreciate and enjoy your story/comments. And I believe you are instinctually a “professional”.