Category: Writing

The Submission Grinder

I’m grinding again today.

Those of us who write short stories generally follow Heinlein’s fifth rule of writing: send it out and keep sending it out until it sells. For lesser talents than Heinlein, that can take a while but never give up. I sold a story ten years after I wrote it. One editor’s meat is another editor’s poison.

There are various websites that give market information and allow you to track submissions but my favourite is The Submission Grinder, mostly because it’s free, though you can make a donation and I have once or twice.

I used to used Duotrope before they started charging. I even tried them after they started charging but found little difference for my SF and Fantasy purposes between them and the Grinder, though Duotrope may be better for other things.

So hurray for The Submission Grinder. May it live long and prosper.

 

Why stories get rejected

I regularly read and review On Spec: The Canadian Magazine of the Fantastic and also follow them online. It’s a great magazine. Today I received an interesting communication about why stories get rejected with a link to this article by editor Barb Galler-Smith.

Why Stories Get Rejected (Even Good Ones)

The email which conveyed this to me mentioned that in their recent open submissions period – which wasn’t long – On Spec received 500 stories. 500! I have the current issue at hand and it contains just 7 stories. You can see why so many are rejected.

Depressing. On the other hand, if you do sell a story somewhere – anywhere – remind yourself that it isn’t easy and feel free to be glad. There’s a lot of competition out there.

Eamonn Murphy

Alexander Bottom

A while ago I tried to launch a career as a paid Beta-Reader. It didn’t work as nobody really wants to pay a Beta-Reader and I wasn’t at all sure they should. I don’t use beta-readers because I think my story is my story and I ain’t gonna change it to suit someone else. It may be crap but it’s mine. As long as some editor buys it, that’s all the beta reading I need.

Anyway, one Lee Richie sent me a book: Alexander Bottom and the Dreamweaver’s Daughter. I read a couple of sample chapters and told him it didn’t really need beta-reading as it was great. He went off and improved it even more and it was published yesterday.

I’m proud of my slight association with this book so it’s only fair to give him a bit of extra promotion now it’s out. I enjoyed the wit of the first part and it should be a good read.