Being Epic

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 Your story is officially withdrawn from our reading queue.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 Just make sure it’s a different story as I don’t accept stories that have previously been withdrawn.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.

SEO is HUGE, and while one could do a class on that alone, I’m pretty sure I’m not qualified to teach it, having only explored the iceberg’s tip. If anyone’s got a text or resource on it that they’d recommend, please drop it in the notes.

Mentioned in class:
Keyword resource: www.trackur.com
Free tools for SEO analysis on your website: woorank.com, websitegrader.com
Way to see how search engines see your site:
http://www.youtube.com/user/GoogleWebmasterHelp#p/c/B52807846359D2EA
Beginners Guide to SEO: http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo
SEO Basics: http://knol.google.com/k/seo-basics#
Search engine ranking factors: http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors
Keyword investigation: http://adwords.google.com and http://knol.google.com/k/seo-basics

Useful information:
Building a Monthly SEO Action Plan: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/building-a-monthly-seo-action-plan-whiteboard-friday
Conversion Tweaks: http://www.copyblogger.com/test-and-tweak/
Dirty Little Secrets of Search Engine Optimization: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/business/13search.html?_r=1
Get Ahead with a Grasp of Semantic Web: http://www.mediabistro.com/articles/cache/a10755.asp
Google’s Cat and Mouse SEO Game: http://www.seobook.com/googles-cat-mouse-seo-game
How Google Makes Its Billions: the 20 Most Expensive AdWords Keyword Categories: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2095210/How-Google-Makes-Its-Billions-The-20-Most-Expensive-AdWords-Keyword-Categories
How Will Google+ Affect SEO?: http://www.readwriteweb.com/biz/2011/07/google-plus-impact-on-seo.php
Intelligent Site Structure For SEO: http://yoast.com/site-structure-seo/
Keyword Discovery Tips:http://www.suite101.com/content/keyword-discovery-tips-a126098http://www.suite101.com/content/keyword-discovery-tips-a126098
SEO Copywriting: The Five Essentials to Focus On: http://www.copyblogger.com/on-page-seo/
SEO Higher Learning: http://www.huomah.com/Search-Engines/Algorithm-Matters/SEO-Higher-learning.html
Shoestring Budget SEO Tips For Small Businesses: http://www.seobook.com/shoestring-seo
Sitemaps XML format: http://www.sitemaps.org/protocol.php
Tutorial: Web Information Retrieval: http://www.tcnj.edu/~mmmartin/CMSC485/Papers/Google/icde.pdf
Website Optimization: The Art of Making Websites Awesome: http://www.sofionik.com/blog/search-engine-optimization/website-optimization-the-art-of-making-websites-awesome
What Social Signals Do Google and Bing Really Count?: http://searchengineland.com/what-social-signals-do-google-bing-really-count-55389
Will Google+ Affect SEO?: http://www.readwriteweb.com/biz/2011/07/google-plus-impact-on-seo.php
5 Easy Ways to Boost SEO: http://socialmediatoday.com/len-ostroff/268803/five-easy-ways-boost-seo
5 Free Tools for Keyword Research: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/5-free-tools-for-competitor-keyword-research/28015/