The Waiting Continues.

I don't usually sweat on stories.

Once they're written I send them off and do my best to forget them. At some later point I hear back, either a rejection or acceptance, and I'm either happy and beaming for a day or so, or annoyed for about five minutes. With a few rare exceptions, the days of stewing for days over rejections are long gone.

Mostly I have some idea as to when I expect to hear back from the editor or publisher. The submission guidelines give some clue of how long they expect to take. Other websites such as Duotrope or The Grinder keep data on submissions so a writer can anticipate response times.

But this week I've actually been checking my email a little more often than usual. I have six stories out, and most of them appear to be overdue a response, based on the data I'm seeing online. These are stories I have high hopes for, and I'm keen to receive a couple of acceptances.

But there's danger in reading too much into long response times. No news, after all, is nothing but no news.

In the meantime, I'll be over here refreshing my email.

Duotrope and Grinder.

We're a couple of months into 2013 and I'm coping without Duotrope.

For those late to the game, Duotrope is a market and submission manager for writers. I've used it for the past couple of years and made every effort to ensure my statistics were accurate. I've even donated money to the project.  As of January, they have decided to operate on a subscription basis - no pay, no access.

While I fully understand the operators' need to do this, as well as their right to run the site any way they see fit, I was disappointed at the cost.  $50 a year may not seem like much, but if I were to tally my writing income over the past four years and deducted an imagined $200 Duotrope cost for that same period, I would have spent about as much  on Duotrope as I'd earned.

Yes, I found it useful, and yes, I might join up once my earnings become somewhat more than they are now. But so far I've been able to find everything I need elsewhere online.

Diabolical Plots run an alternative, The Submission Grinder, that seems to borrow heavily from the Duotrope layout. The only downside is it doesn't have anywhere near as much information or useable data yet. Hopefully that will improve as time goes by.

Please, I am not attacking Duotrope for their decision and practices. I'm simply disappointed that I can't justify paying the charges they have set.

Never Tell Me The Odds.

One thing to always remember about odds is that they only pertain to chance - and generally only when all outcomes are equally possible.

When a writer looks at Duotrope (sigh...) and its acceptance rates, it's important to remember this. An acceptance rate of  .25 does not mean you have a one in 400 chance of selling to that market. That would presume that all submissions are of an equal standard. From what I've been told, as much as 90% of submissions are rejected before the end of the first page. Most editors can reject a story after reading only a paragraph or two.

I still find it hard to believe, but I've been told that one SF market (and I'm sure this is true of most markets) receives submissions of all sorts; non-fiction, articles, poetry and even recipes/cookbooks. Don't people read guidelines?

And so the odds are actually much lower than advertised, once you reach a certain standard. But even then it's not a random selection. It comes down to competing with the other submissions regarding quality of writing, editorial tastes, themes, differences to other recently accepted stories, word length and even whether you have a recognised name.

It's not a crap shoot. The odds don't matter.

My Deep Thoughts For The Week.

1. Unfortunately, as defined in a dictionary, means undeserved bad luck, disastrous or regrettable. Most editors and publishers commence rejection letters with this adverb. My rejections have nothing to do with luck, they weren't disasters, and I suspect the editors didn't really regret their decisions.

I've recently had three or four personal rejections that commenced with this word, and then pointed out strong aspects of my work before declaring that the story simply didn't fit in with the 'vision' of the anthology.

So what is this elusive vision? My stories hit the guidelines and met the published 'what we're looking for' criteria.  I guess at some point during the slushing process the editor forms a more detailed overview of the direction the anthology is taking.

I understand this, but I do feel a little frustrated this couldn't be defined earlier. (And I recognise that's not always possible) I only wish they could let me know my story isn't a fit prior to the closing of subs to allow me a second chance. I feel most annoyed when my story is rejected like this, but when I read the final anthology I see stories that neither fit the guidelines or theme. (None of this is a criticism of the editors and their processes.  They can choose to buy and publish whichever stories they want, like and believe fit together the best. It's merely my own frustration and lack of understanding at what they are looking for.)

So when I receive a rejection with the words 'unfortunately' and 'didn't fit the vision', I have to wonder whether this is completely true, or whether they are just being polite and trying to pre-empt further correspondence from crazed writers.

2. Duotrope is about to become a paid service.

I have previously donated, but I must say I haven't yet sold enough work and made enough money from writing, or found Duotrope necessary enough to warrant the $50 per year subscription charges.

One area I do find useful is the suggested response time based on data received. The suggestion is that this user data represents approximately 10% of all submissions. As of next year I suggest this will fall as fewer writers will subscribe. Thus, of course, will lead to less accurate data.

I understand the need to finance this website. I don't believe it's worth the subscription they want.

3.  So the Universe is accelerating its expansion. I've known this for some time, but the consequences of this hit me during the week. Of course, we can't think of this expansion occurring from a single central point as it's more of a stretching expansion that anything else.

The Universe is estimated to be around 136 billion light years across, and it's expanding at a rate of 74.3 plus or minus 2.1 kilometers (46.2 plus or minus 1.3 miles) per second per megaparsec (a megaparsec is roughly 3 million light-years).

OK, fast and big. And one day it's going to tear itself apart.
 
See? Not all my thoughts are happy thoughts about writing.

No News Is No News.

No real news on the writing front this week, apart from the announcement of After Death's TOC.

I have quite a few other stories out in the wilderness - some of which I have high hopes for. Of course I love all my stories, and generally have hopes for them, but I have really good feelings about some of these stories with these particular markets.

At least I haven't heard anything back from them yet. Several of my stories are still with editors, while other stories (from other writers) which were submitted more recently have already been rejected, according to Duotrope.

This, of course, bodes well, doesn't it?  It means the stories are still being considered, and appear to have made it past some arbitrary first round. Or maybe they're not being read in order, and will be rejected any moment now.

There is always the danger of reading too much into Duotrope's figures. You can't read anything into silence. As an online friend of mine, Martin L. Shoemaker, is wont to say, No News Is No News.

I Guess I'm Hooked.

So last night I dreamed that I was attending the launch of an anthology in which I had a story.

As I entered, I bumped into a couple of small press publishers, and we spent some time chatting about writing. They congratulated me, and said nice things about my work, (OK, so most writers are insecure and our egos need attention from time to time) and then I told them how impressed I was with their latest anthologies.

Someone once told me that if,  eighteen months after you commence, you are still writing and submitting, then you will likely be around for the long haul. Most people give up well before that, after receiving a few rejections.

It's been three years or so for me now. And now I'm dreaming of publishers, sales and book launches. I check my email every morning anticipating a sale that has arrived over night but more often receiving a rejection. I research markets looking for places to sub. I keep an eye on recent activity at subbed markets over at Duotrope. I long for those times when I get to hold a new anthology with my writing inside. And I am delighted when I see favourable comments and reviews on my work.

Yeah, I think I'm hooked. And it's exactly the way I wanna be.