I got my first rejection letter over the weekend

[EstimatedProphet]

for a short story I submitted.

I'm a writer now!

[Beware the Beast Man]

1. Woo-hoo!!!!!

:woohoo:

I wish I would face adversity every now and then....

[EstimatedProphet]

2. I celebrated by submitting another short story to another publisher

I mean, yeah, it hurt a bit at first, but nobody gets their work accepted right off the bat in the professional markets. Not even the most famous writers have ever had it that easy. I read an essay by Stephen King saying that if someone isn't willing to be rejected 50 times or more at a start, they're going to be very unhappy.

[Beware the Beast Man]

5. Good luck to you, man!

:hi:

And yes, rejection is part of the game.

[EstimatedProphet]

10. Thanks-and, yes it is

[MissMillie]

3. Um... congratulations?

I mean, congrats on being a writer. Sorry about the rejection.

[EstimatedProphet]

9. Feh

I'm trying to put as positive a spin on this as I can. One rejection is nothing to complain about.

[pitohui]

22. the financials would bother me

50 rejections to get accepted? first off, there are not 50 paying markets for a short story

but even if there were, what are your costs in all this? what is priority mail to ship the story plus SASE (a number #10 envelope that will need another 39 cent stamp on it) -- almost $4 right

so that is an investment of, em, 50 times $4.40 is around $220 to maybe get a story published?

i'm not sure there is any positive spin, the short story market has been dying for decades, even kurt vonnegut has said it's dead as a way to make a living

at least with a novel there is a tiny, tiny chance of some financial reward instead of a loss at the end of all your efforts

stephen king kind of buried it well in his book, on writing because you don't sell writing books to beginners by telling them the truth, but if you really read that chapter on rejection, you will note that his experience in the 60s and 70s couldn't happen today -- because he had many, many pulp markets buying stories -- and the modern example he gives the kid ends up getting something like $25 and copies before expenses

if you seriously want to be discovered as a writer, you can't take the path any longer of sitting back and mailing envelopes, what i am about to tell you stinks for the more reclusive writer but it is the truth, you have to get out and get accepted into the best workshops and programs and actually meet a mentor who will get your work read

maybe you are already doing this, if so, never mind

but if you're not trying just as hard to get into a serious mfa program that produces published writers as you're mailing out stories, then you are unlikely to have a shot

good luck but the trail is rockier than it used to be

[EstimatedProphet]

26. Well...

50 rejections to get accepted? first off, there are not 50 paying markets for a short story

There are still a bunch out there though. Here's a listing:
http://www.ralan.com/

If you seriously want to be discovered as a writer, you can't take the path any longer of sitting back and mailing envelopes, what i am about to tell you stinks for the more reclusive writer but it is the truth, you have to get out and get accepted into the best workshops and programs and actually meet a mentor who will get your work read

At some point I'd like to do that, but it's just not feasible right now.

but if you're not trying just as hard to get into a serious mfa program that produces published writers as you're mailing out stories, then you are unlikely to have a shot

Go back to school? No thanks. I've got 3 degrees-I'm full.

[RebelOne]

4. Don't feel bad about the rejection.

I have been in publishing for over 30 years. When I worked for a magazine in Miami, I started as editoral assistant. The editor would have me send out rejection letters. I read one story that I was convinced was a keeper, but the editor said no. Well, several months later, Saturday Evening Post published it. So your story probably didn't appeal to that particular editor. Keep trying at other publications.

[EstimatedProphet]

6. That's very much like what I thought

I just got a form letter back with not much information on it at all.

Rejection is just part of the game, that's all. If I let one rejection stop me then I'm never going to get anywhere.

[CBHagman]

7. Yes, you are!

Was it Kurt Vonnegut who papered the wall with rejection letters? How's that for company?

Best wishes on your career.

[EstimatedProphet]

8. Thanks!

[miss_american_pie]

11. Congrats!

You've arrived! :toast:

[EstimatedProphet]

13. Exactly!

[Call Me Wesley]

12. Welcome to the Club!

:thumbsup:

That is part of the profession, no worries.

Do you submit your stories one per one or to several publishers at once?

Oh, and I think the market for short stories is actually the hardest regarding literature. Pretty tough.

[EstimatedProphet]

14. Just one publisher

Every publisher that I have come across has a stated no simultaneous submissions policy. so, I unfortunately have to wait for rejection before I can move on.

[pitohui]

24. you'll get tired of playing that game

sometimes editors hold stories for 6 months or more, if they actually read the stories instead of just rejecting unread stories from unknown persons, which is more and more often the case

i sold stories in the 80s and quit because it was really not worth the time involved for a few hundred bucks per story (which you're not going to get today unless you're real lucky so don't even bother to get excited) but i think it's safe to say that you're going to discover even today that simultaneous submission policies are best honored in the breach, they can't publish the story until you've accepted the contract anyway, so it is no longer the case of what might have happened in the 50s of two magazines accidentally setting the same story in type before even bothering to tell the writer the story was accepted

i never had a problem, the odds of two editors actually accepting the same story are pretty high, they have different tastes and markets

good luck but do the math, 50 rejections at an average of 2 months for an editor to read a story and reject it before it's accepted, that's going to be a long, long road

[EstimatedProphet]

31. Maybe, but there aren't any successes down the road of not trying

[Squeech]

15. Good luck

I like to analogize this process with Discovery Channel documentaries about predators in the wild. In those shows (the honest ones, at least) they tell you that your typical cheetah has to pounce at 20 antelopes before she actually bags one. (And, unless they have enough of a budget to follow her around for a week, the footage they'll show you is likely to be of an unsuccessful attempt.)

And short stories are tough! You might actually have better luck selling a novel, if you've got one in you.

Do you read the Making Light blog, by Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden? They're editors for Tor, and they write a lot about the agony and the ecstasy of trying to get published.

[EstimatedProphet]

17. Actually, I'm working on a novel

and I have several more coming.

What's the address of that blog?

[Squeech]

23. And now for something completely different

http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/

The blog is actually a blog, which is to say it's a rambling series of ruminations on whatever its authors feel like thinking about, much of it political. There are occasional posts that are directly relevant to publishing, most of them having to do with the scam artists that prey on aspiring young authors with insufficient defensive paranoia. But every once in a while they'll post something about their actual day jobs. They're also contributors to other web sites that really do have good advice for writers, I just don't remember any of those names, sorry to say. But if you read their archives, you'll not only get some really valuable URLs, you will probably also be immensely entertained.

[pitohui]

25. they are science fiction editors

if you want to write science fiction i don't think there is much getting around getting accepted to clarion and getting the right training/contacts, if you're serious abt writing sf, you need to get to clarion

the authors published by the haydens are not random authors who just sent out mailers

[EstimatedProphet]

29. OK, what's Clarion?

[RetroLounge]

16. Congrats!

I save all my rejection letters.

My favorite was on a pack of poems.

The guy wrote on the cover page "Don't think so..."

:rofl:

RL

[EstimatedProphet]

18. That's the spirit!

I hope I can keep that spirit myself.

[WCGreen]

19. YEa, I have tons of those....

Not really, but a lot....

I know it sounds Orwellian and all, but failure is success....

[EstimatedProphet]

30. That's kind of how I'm trying to think about it

This may not be that effective a way to make it, but the surest way to fail is to not try.

[Cathyclysmic]

20. Found this for you!

:hug:

http://www.hauntedcomputer.com/scottst3.htm

[EstimatedProphet]

28. That's a great page! Thank you!

[WritingIsMyReligion]

21. Congrats!

:D :P :D

[EstimatedProphet]

33. Yay me! I'm failing!

:rofl:

[BigMcLargehuge]

27. Huzzah and welcome to the family!

keep at it man!

[EstimatedProphet]

32. I plan to