My very first rejection letter!
Aug. 18th, 2003 05:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rowynHow exciting!
"An Old-Fashioned Chat" got turned down by F&SF, in record time. I put it in the mail less than two weeks ago. Wow!
Now I have to decide who I'm going to send it to for rejection next. Hmm. Analog, I think; I haven't sent them anything yet. I'm glad "Chat" got rejected first; "She's Having a Baby" is quite short, and accordingly a little harder to find a market for. At 3,000 words, "Chat" ends up right in the middle of most magazines' "usual range" for story length.
The rejection letter was a bit less formal, and less form-letter-ish, than I expected. It was signed, for example (not stamped) by the editorial assistant, and it had the name of my story in it. Not that this is any more personal than a standard mass-mailing, but I expected, you know, a preprinted "Thank you for your submission. It does not suit our needs at this time" snatched from the stack and stuffed into an envelope. I guess they don't have the kind of volume of submissions that they need to be *that* impersonal.
I'm half-tempted to scan in the rejection to show. :) I'm really tempted to send a different story to F&SF, just to see if I get the same rejection letter.
I'll probably send F&SF another story anyway. "She's Having a Baby", when it gets rejected by Asimov's, maybe. Or if I ever do write something new, I'll send it. If Chang Juan gets her own short story, it'd be fantasy, so I'd likely send it to F&SF 'cause they're the only magazine I know offhand that publishes fantasy. :)
I wonder how long the process of being rejected will continue to amuse me? I have these two big boxes of 9x12 and 10x13 envelopes (for mailing submissions out flat -- the larger envelope so that I don't have to fold the smaller SASE). And a whole bunch of stamps. And I know what the postage cost for mailing "Chat" is ($1.06 for the mailer, $0.83 for the SASE). All I have to do is a new cover letter, mailing labels, and I'm set. I really should buy a new printer so I can do the mailing labels and cover letters at home.
I've been wanting to mail out another story anyway. And now I have one to send! :)
"An Old-Fashioned Chat" got turned down by F&SF, in record time. I put it in the mail less than two weeks ago. Wow!
Now I have to decide who I'm going to send it to for rejection next. Hmm. Analog, I think; I haven't sent them anything yet. I'm glad "Chat" got rejected first; "She's Having a Baby" is quite short, and accordingly a little harder to find a market for. At 3,000 words, "Chat" ends up right in the middle of most magazines' "usual range" for story length.
The rejection letter was a bit less formal, and less form-letter-ish, than I expected. It was signed, for example (not stamped) by the editorial assistant, and it had the name of my story in it. Not that this is any more personal than a standard mass-mailing, but I expected, you know, a preprinted "Thank you for your submission. It does not suit our needs at this time" snatched from the stack and stuffed into an envelope. I guess they don't have the kind of volume of submissions that they need to be *that* impersonal.
I'm half-tempted to scan in the rejection to show. :) I'm really tempted to send a different story to F&SF, just to see if I get the same rejection letter.
I'll probably send F&SF another story anyway. "She's Having a Baby", when it gets rejected by Asimov's, maybe. Or if I ever do write something new, I'll send it. If Chang Juan gets her own short story, it'd be fantasy, so I'd likely send it to F&SF 'cause they're the only magazine I know offhand that publishes fantasy. :)
I wonder how long the process of being rejected will continue to amuse me? I have these two big boxes of 9x12 and 10x13 envelopes (for mailing submissions out flat -- the larger envelope so that I don't have to fold the smaller SASE). And a whole bunch of stamps. And I know what the postage cost for mailing "Chat" is ($1.06 for the mailer, $0.83 for the SASE). All I have to do is a new cover letter, mailing labels, and I'm set. I really should buy a new printer so I can do the mailing labels and cover letters at home.
I've been wanting to mail out another story anyway. And now I have one to send! :)
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no subject
Date: 2003-08-19 10:15 am (UTC)Then again, I've never submitted anything for publication. It was always by accident for me.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-19 12:37 pm (UTC)Anyway, I will be happy to be surprised by Asimov's. But I'm not gonna be particularly surprised or disappointed if they turn me down. :)