The Upside of Publishing

I was forcibly reminded today that trying to get published is not just about rejections and faceless editors booting your stuff into their outboxes. Yesterday I got a "Wow. This is a GREAT story" from an editor willing to take reprint rights on my story if I wanted to sell it to a bigger market first. Today I got an editor who has been patiently trying to contact me for 3 weeks through an accumulation of email bounces to buy a different story. I have to appreciate such people, who not only think my work is grand, but are willing to go an extra mile to get their hands on it. I appreciate all the editors who launch magazines in hope, struggling against the beat-down of a fiercely competitive marketplace and increasing numbers of people who think 140 characters of Twitter is adequate communication, and the discouraging realities of trying to build a brand and a loyal readership. I salute the dreamers and the pragmatists and the people I will never meet who provide markets for my writing and encourage me to keep at it even while gently turning a particular story away. I appreciate all the personal comments, the "might be better if you do this" suggestions, the "let's see a rewrite" requests.

So let's hear it for editors, and the acceptances that ease the pain of the rejections and give us hope enough to keep on.

Another fiction market down the tubes

Sigh. Cat Tales, a small but fun print pub from Wildside Press, just folded. I had a story in serious consideration there. Since October.

Argh. Doesn't anybody read anymore? 'Zines and print rags come and go like shooting stars these days. Thank heaven for electronic submissions, because otherwise it would be a horrendous waste of postage even subbing stuff for consideration.

Honorable Mentions in contests

Does anyone know whether Honorable Mentions are worth spit to agents or editors? I now have an Honorable Mention from Writers of the Future (see the pretty certificate?) and an Honorable Mention in the 16th Annual Year's Best Fantasy and Horror anthology edited by Ellen Datlow and Terry Windling. So far as I can tell, these are consolation prizes awarded to anyone who actually got a story accepted by a recognized mag or subbed to a contest. True? Not true? Anyone know?

Don't get me wrong. Even an honorable mention is better than a kick in the head, but I would like to know if it actually means something. This, to me, is a bit like having a novel advance from the slush pile. Now that it has been proven better than the run-of-the-mill slush and survived outright rejection, it has progressed to that grand state called Limbo. This means an editor can now sit on it forever without ever answering a query as to its status. Tor did this to me for 2 years before claiming they had lost the manuscript (which they had requested!!) and inviting me to start over. Now the lovely and harried editor-in-chief at Baen has stopped answering my queries after 2 years of the same MS being in her review pile. I get it that everyone is busy. I don't get why the "better" manuscripts end up getting treated worse, actually, than the outright rejects, which are at least free to try their luck somewhere else.

Score with this MS so far: sent to 2 publishers, both advanced it past the slush. Working on 6 years, no definitive yes or no. AAAAGH!

Calling all artists

Heh heh heh. News flash from the secret water cooler: the Commiseration Station is open for business. We all know how hard it is to break in, even if you have all the talent in the world. If you don't know where to start, if you're afflicted by shyness, if you are soooo close and can't seem to shatter the ceiling, this place is for you. Want to whine and vent about your most recent rejection? Did somebody actually say something good about your work? Let it out! We're here to listen. Just please, don't burn our ears, don't burn your bridges, and don't expect us to jump on your bandwagon if all you're here to do is badmouth somebody.

The founder of this blog is S. A. Bolich, Sue to her friends, a writer who recently figured out that working for anybody but her muse was never going to be anything but a day job. Don't get me wrong. Employers love me. I do quality work. I make my deadlines, boost their sales, and work harder than they have a right to expect. But. It's their job, their work, and their bottom line all that sweat is enhancing. It is not fulfilling to me, and it is not what I want to spend my limited lifetime doing. I can't focus on making my writing a success when I am giving 100% of my brainpower to an employer. So. At the height of a recession when the mutuals I was depending on decided to crash the second I quit ... I am writing fulltime. Scared? You bet? Motivated? Even more so. People say I'm good. Lately a few editors have agreed. I hope to continue that trend. I have 18 subs out the door for January 2009. Track record so far: 1 acceptance, 1 rejection. Stay tuned.

Better yet, let me hear from you guys. What are your goals for the year? What are you doing to get there? You know what they say: write down your goals, and you have a far better chance of achieving them. What are you waiting for?

Time to commiserate. What's your story?

Sue


Posted by a rising star at Commiseration Station