tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2703861414547309188.post483318240968626276..comments2024-03-25T20:40:44.806-04:00Comments on Literary Rejections on Display Now Has Long COVID: Letter From A Reformed EditorWriter, Rejectedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17241982229214057815noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2703861414547309188.post-84746036677249248522011-10-28T16:41:37.026-04:002011-10-28T16:41:37.026-04:00I'll submit to non-paying online markets, but ...I'll submit to non-paying online markets, but only if they have been around for at least 5 years, or sustain themselves through contests, or have other funding. Just some indication that aren't going to disappear overnight. What Editor Resigned described is exactly what I'm afraid of happening. <br /><br />The point about zine editors not actually editing is good. I've seen zines publish otherwise fine stories rife with typos. Or like Boris said, word choice that makes me cringe. I don't know if it's sloppiness, or just overwhelming desire to publish <i>something</i> before the deadline.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2703861414547309188.post-60314827946569525032011-10-28T15:46:55.183-04:002011-10-28T15:46:55.183-04:00Mr boris maybe right.Mr boris maybe right.Radeknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2703861414547309188.post-35488331082071671362011-10-28T15:00:36.165-04:002011-10-28T15:00:36.165-04:00I think there should be a magazine that accepts wo...I think there should be a magazine that accepts work only from the old, cranky and unhip.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2703861414547309188.post-65431143382812752292011-10-28T09:34:45.792-04:002011-10-28T09:34:45.792-04:00I don't know if agree with anon and others who...I don't know if agree with anon and others who say only go for paying markets. There are a lot of really good non-paying markets in literary fiction.<br /><br />But, frankly, only about 1% of the e-zines on duotrope are worth submitting to. And there's some bad writing out there even on e-zines that are supposed to be good. (Who uses "bellow" as a dialogue tag three times in a 2,000 word story?)<br /><br />I accept the possibility that I may be old and cranky and unhip.Borisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2703861414547309188.post-6882759148674640612011-10-27T17:10:49.609-04:002011-10-27T17:10:49.609-04:00@anon 1:44 pm,
My acceptance/rejection rate hasn&...@anon 1:44 pm,<br /><br />My acceptance/rejection rate hasn't changed, but I suppose I'm more resigned to it now and I don't take it as an indication that I am a horrible writer. (Though I could very well be!) When I ran the magazine I had to pass on a lot of stories that were pretty good but either not the right style or in need of editing to make the publishable.<br /><br />@anon 12:53<br /><br />That is also my personal rule. When you think about it, submitting to non-paying outlets is only encouraging their proliferation. What I didn't see before is that little non-paying zines like mine are more likely to fold than lit mags that are run like actual businesses--the paying print journals. Who wants to be in publication that may go belly up? <br /><br />Everybody wants their writing to exist in a more permanent form, to get paid for it, and to be able to find their writing in a store or library. And racking up publishing credits in non-paying zines doesn't really help anyone get into good, paying journals, unless the zine editor is well-connected. (like, husband of one of the Glimmer Train editors.) I think people who are serious about their writer should boycott the non-paying magazines, leave them to ESL man and remedial English MFA boy.<br /><br />**Another glimpse into the slush pile: A weirdo of indeterminate gender, whose pseudonym was something along the lines of BaTHeD iN THe uNiVeRSe, kept sending me stream of consciousness acid trip stories intercut with rap lyrics. Half way through each one, the writing would change to all caps and become a dialogue of several people yelling obscenities at each other. I'm ashamed to admit I read them from beginning to end to try to find the meaning in them. Another lesson learned, there is no meaning in some of this shit!LLJ (Editor, Resigned)noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2703861414547309188.post-2518392350424559432011-10-27T15:22:37.429-04:002011-10-27T15:22:37.429-04:00As long as bad writing sells, agents and publisher...As long as bad writing sells, agents and publishers will run after it, and bad writers will continue to clog up the works. Good writing will be drowned out ... unless you are insanely talented and/or get plain lucky.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2703861414547309188.post-84311124349902588042011-10-27T14:56:17.052-04:002011-10-27T14:56:17.052-04:00Thank you for this, it will help me with vintage,p...Thank you for this, it will help me with vintage,poetry,publishingRadeknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2703861414547309188.post-15665857721607939802011-10-27T13:44:53.583-04:002011-10-27T13:44:53.583-04:00Very good analysis.
But you write:
"I have be...Very good analysis.<br />But you write:<br />"I have been on the receiving end of more rejections than I can count and I got the point where could no longer bear to be just another insignificant, replaceable little cog in the literary machine."<br />You haven't offered a solution to the problem you were (and are still?) having. I assume that you believe your writing deserves to be published in a good (and paying) magazine. Why were you unable to succeed in reaching this goal?<br />Yes, bad writers are clogging up the works. Is there some way to disable these people?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2703861414547309188.post-36503079131474428742011-10-27T12:53:22.112-04:002011-10-27T12:53:22.112-04:00i agree with his point about payment. for me as a ...i agree with his point about payment. for me as a writer, submitting to mags that don't pay is questionable practice. i have promised myself I would no longer publish in journals that don't pay and in fact, in 2010, I only published in one journal that didn't pay. and then that story is the one story I published that year—out of eight—that was picked for a big anthology—an anthology that actually pays. so I broke my own rule and was rewarded for it. this year, I'm publishing 8 stories, and four of them are in non-paying venues. I feel stupid about that and in each case there was an attenuating circumstance: I knew the editor, the journal is one that I highly regard or I couldn't publish the story anywhere elseAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2703861414547309188.post-39622368368860869322011-10-27T08:18:33.691-04:002011-10-27T08:18:33.691-04:00Wow. Thanks for posting this, and thanks to Editor...Wow. Thanks for posting this, and thanks to Editor, Resigned for speaking the truth.Tena Russhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08630397939303203418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2703861414547309188.post-48450643161476330852011-10-26T22:59:05.625-04:002011-10-26T22:59:05.625-04:00This is hilarous. Love the Croatian. Maybe your ne...This is hilarous. Love the Croatian. Maybe your next litzine should be entirely for ESL people with hooker fixations? Might sell big.Anne R. Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02420000168356370825noreply@blogger.com