Other year in review stats, in case you care

[agilebrit]

The Submission Grinder has a super-handy tool that lets you know your subbing stats. Were I actually smart, I would sit down and put everything in there, at least from 2013 and the stories I still haven't placed. That... is a lot of work. But my stats from last year are fairly complete, so here they are.

Submissions: 174
Acceptances: 4
Form rejections: 126
Personal rejections: 29

And the reason the numbers don't quite add up is because I have several subs from 2014 I haven't heard back on yet, and I'm sure some of those acceptances and rejections were from stories subbed in 2013.

So far, this year, I've subbed five stories. December tends to be slow (I had 15 subs in December), and then publishers play catch-up in January. A couple of those were markets that opened on Jan 1.

So, there's a peek behind the curtain. I hope it's somewhat useful.

And, yes, that's another example of "psychotic persistence."

Comments

[mauser.livejournal.com]

I used to have a dream of getting a story into Asimov's. I managed three rejections when I tried, none personalized.

Eventually though, I realized just how SJW/Grey Goo Asimov's has gotten under the Sheila Williams that I dropped my subscription.

[werewolf-hacker.livejournal.com]

I just don't actually write much SF, honestly, (as That Werewolf Writer, I tend more to urban fantasy) but of my stats on the Grinder for Asimov's, I've received four rejections, one of which was personal. I know I've been rejected there more times than that, however.

Honestly, though, I've been banging my head against all of these markets for years, and if I crack any of them, I'll be thrilled. I still remember the Topanga Canyon Writer, and how the editors were all talking about him, and were just on the cusp of accepting something...

And then he stopped subbing and disappeared off the face of the planet.

Not forever, it turns out--funnily enough, we found out who he was on the Writers of the Future board. He got a job doing technical writing and stopped writing fiction for awhile.

BUT STILL. That is my cautionary tale. I will not give up, I will not surrender, and one of these places will BY GOD publish me.

[mauser.livejournal.com]

My goal now is to go the Corriea route, self-publish until I manage to produce something that makes them come to me.

Of course, I have to finish my first full novel for that to happen. The one Novelette I've got out there isn't going to make it happen for me. And I sure as hell don't write as fast as everyone else.

[werewolf-hacker.livejournal.com]

Alas, I am, at heart, a short fiction writer. Self-pubbing short fiction is a road to ill-read obscurity, I'm afraid.

Which isn't to say I won't do it if pressed, because Lord knows I've got enough short fiction that I could put several themed anthos together. But it's early days yet, and I haven't run out of markets, so I keep subbing.

You can do it! Just keep swimming...

[mauser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the first novel length tale is the hardest, once you know how it gets easier, like birth, and eventually you get to the point where they install a zipper on your Cesarian scar like Nadia Suleman....