Short Story Submissions Help

[B.McKenzie]

I'm submitting my first short story and had two questions.

1) What do you make of these rejections? I've had many responses (form rejections) but two I've gotten a little more info from, Fantasy & Science Fiction and Escape Pod.

F&SF said: "I enjoyed the voice in this, but unfortunately, this story didn't hold me until the end as I'd hoped, and I'm going to pass on it for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. But I wish you best of luck finding the right home for it, and I hope you'll keep us in mind in the future for your other new stories."

Escape Pod: Unfortunately, this story wasn’t a good fit for us. Choosing stories is a subjective process, and we have to reject many well-written stories. Please note that we do not accept revised stories, but we wish you the best in finding this one a good home, and we look forward to your next submission.We liked this story's voice, but we wanted more specificity about the world in the opening pages, and the story felt too long for the ground it covered.

I guess I'm looking to hold on to any good feedback for dear life. But since they both mention voice, I'm not sure if this is part of a form too? Or did they actually engage more with it?

2) Since I'm not getting any hits, I'm not sure what to do. My story is soft sci fi. It reads more commercial as well and I'm not sure where a good home for it would be. I've had a lot of good feedback and even took it to an editor after getting these responses and they thought it was good and said not to cut much, they thought the scenes added to the story. I know this is one editor's opinion though. I've thought about publishing on amazon and doing an anthology. But before I do that, any one have any other suggestion of what to do with the story? My goal is to use it to build writing credentials in hopes of getting attention from publishers for a forthcoming novel.

Any insight would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[JS Wiig]

Try some other publications. Also, continue writing and submitting new stories.

 

[RBKelly]

The fact that they took the time to offer personalised feedback beyond the form rejection means that they genuinely saw something they liked in the story. Those are serious publishers and they liked your story, so you're right to hold onto that good feedback! Also F&SF are interested in seeing more work from you, which is very positive.

Honestly, I'd put this story to one side for now and come back to it in a few months with fresh eyes. In the meantime, keep writing and submitting. The more you write, the better you get at writing, and given how positive those two rejections were for your first short story it sounds like you have a good dose of talent to begin with.

 

[B.McKenzie]

The fact that they took the time to offer personalised feedback beyond the form rejection means that they genuinely saw something they liked in the story. Those are serious publishers and they liked your story, so you're right to hold onto that good feedback! Also F&SF are interested in seeing more work from you, which is very positive.

Honestly, I'd put this story to one side for now and come back to it in a few months with fresh eyes. In the meantime, keep writing and submitting. The more you write, the better you get at writing, and given how positive those two rejections were for your first short story it sounds like you have a good dose of talent to begin with.

Thanks for the encouragement! This is my first time doing anything like this, so I wanted to check with others. Yeah good idea to step back, thanks!

 

[Tirellan]

F&SF said they liked the voice. That's good. Do you have any idea how hard it is to sell to F&SF? Send the story out again and someone a bit further down the food chain will buy it. I've had stories sell after 15+ rejections.

 

[Margaret Note Spelling]

F&SF said: "I enjoyed the voice in this, but unfortunately, this story didn't hold me until the end as I'd hoped, and I'm going to pass on it for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. But I wish you best of luck finding the right home for it, and I hope you'll keep us in mind in the future for your other new stories."

Interesting. I had a rejection just a couple of days ago from F&SF with almost the exact same wording. I'm still not sure whether it's form, or whether their use of the first person indicates some kind of more personal rejection than the baseline "Sorry, we can't accept your story" type of wording. There wasn't any feedback in it at all, really. This was it:

"Unfortunately, this story didn't work as well for me as I'd hoped, and I'm going to pass on it for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. But I wish you best of luck finding the right home for it, and I hope you'll keep us in mind in the future for your other new stories."

I, too, was wondering whether this counts as a personal rejection or not. Perhaps something in between, like a second-level form rejection?

 

[alexvss]

I guess I'm looking to hold on to any good feedback for dear life. But since they both mention voice, I'm not sure if this is part of a form too? Or did they actually engage more with it?

I've been rejected multiple times by both of these markets, and I can confirm that the voice part is not part of the form. And they also mentioned the lenght/not holding them until the and, so I'd advise you to trim it down.

My goal is to use it to build writing credentials in hopes of getting attention from publishers for a forthcoming novel.

I don’t have any experience with traditional novel publishing (I only have one self-published novel), but FWIW: I heard that publishing short-stories won’t help you break into novels. I heard it in Writing Excuses Podcasts, among other places. In the episode I’m thinking of, I remember the podcasters saying that a study found out that successful novelists didn’t start off with short-stories. I think this is the episode: click here.

And it makes sense. It’s simply another format. Being good in one doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be good in the other. But if you manage to sell to markets like F&SF or Escape Pod, I believe that you could convince publishers to publish an extended version of an award-winning short-story.

 

[alexvss]

Interesting. I had a rejection just a couple of days ago from F&SF with almost the exact same wording. I'm still not sure whether it's form, or whether their use of the first person indicates some kind of more personal rejection than the baseline "Sorry, we can't accept your story" type of wording. There wasn't any feedback in it at all, really. This was it:

"Unfortunately, this story didn't work as well for me as I'd hoped, and I'm going to pass on it for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. But I wish you best of luck finding the right home for it, and I hope you'll keep us in mind in the future for your other new stories."

I, too, was wondering whether this counts as a personal rejection or not. Perhaps something in between, like a second-level form rejection?

Some markets send out high-tier rejection letters, but this is not of them. This is just the lower-tier, ordinary form letter from F&SF's current editor. I think the wording is meant to not hurt your feelings or something like that.

 

[B.McKenzie]

F&SF said they liked the voice. That's good. Do you have any idea how hard it is to sell to F&SF? Send the story out again and someone a bit further down the food chain will buy it. I've had stories sell after 15+ rejections.

Thanks so much!

 

[B.McKenzie]

Interesting. I had a rejection just a couple of days ago from F&SF with almost the exact same wording. I'm still not sure whether it's form, or whether their use of the first person indicates some kind of more personal rejection than the baseline "Sorry, we can't accept your story" type of wording. There wasn't any feedback in it at all, really. This was it:

"Unfortunately, this story didn't work as well for me as I'd hoped, and I'm going to pass on it for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. But I wish you best of luck finding the right home for it, and I hope you'll keep us in mind in the future for your other new stories."

I, too, was wondering whether this counts as a personal rejection or not. Perhaps something in between, like a second-level form rejection?

Yes exactly! Sounds sort of personalized but not?

 

[B.McKenzie]

I've been rejected multiple times by both of these markets, and I can confirm that the voice part is not part of the form. And they also mentioned the lenght/not holding them until the and, so I'd advise you to trim it down.


I don’t have any experience with traditional novel publishing (I only have one self-published novel), but FWIW: I heard that publishing short-stories won’t help you break into novels. I heard it in Writing Excuses Podcasts, among other places. In the episode I’m thinking of, I remember the podcasters saying that a study found out that successful novelists didn’t start off with short-stories. I think this is the episode: click here.

And it makes sense. It’s simply another format. Being good in one doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be good in the other. But if you manage to sell to markets like F&SF or Escape Pod, I believe that you could convince publishers to publish an extended version of an award-winning short-story.

Thanks for this, I think I was putting too much weight on this after an ex-publishing executive suggested it. this takes a lot off my shoulders

 

[Tirellan]

If you sell to F&SF that will get you noticed by maybe one or two publishers who are really embedded in the SF/F culture, particularly if that story gets picked up for a "Years' Best" anthology. I believe that having a decent slate of published short fiction and "honourable mentions" in Years' Best anthos may have got me some extra positive responses from agents. The previous responses are correct though that novel writing and short story writing are not the same art. Related yes, but being good at one does not always translate to be good at the other.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

The first sounds form to me, the second form with a little extra which is encouraging. Both these markets are hard to get into - donot be downheartened at all, keep subbing and you will find a home for them

 

[VRlass]

What do they mean by “the voice”? What is it?
@B.McKenzie if you want you can send me the SS to beta read (but I am brutal).

 

[Tirellan]

What do they mean by “the voice”? What is it?
@B.McKenzie if you want you can send me the SS to beta read (but I am brutal).

Voice can be a little difficult to categorise. I believe they mean the author's writing style, use of dialogue, description that adds up to something unique.

 

[alexvss]

What do they mean by “the voice”? What is it?
@B.McKenzie if you want you can send me the SS to beta read (but I am brutal).

If you read a Stephen King book, you know from the get-go that's a Stephen King book. That's because he has his own "voice".

 

[RayDaleyWriter]

Sheree is a tough person to impress. If you want a better idea, go on Youtube and watch her appearance on Apex Magagazine's "Snap Judgement" series. Those are really useful in finding what editors want in a story. Arley Sorg did one so you can see what Fantasy Magazine like. There are about 4 of those available to watch now.

TBH, both of those are fairly form, in terms of rejections from those markets.