Aeryn Rudel's Blog, page 4

Aeryn’s Archives: Tomb of the Blind God

I’m in a reflective mood, so let’s look back at my twenty-plus-year writing career and talk about one of my favorite projects. This is another D&D adventure, and while I wrote a fair number of those while I was working in the gaming industry, only one gave me the opportunity to meet an absolute legend of Dungeons & Dragons. So, yeah, let’s go back to a time when I was known as Aeryn “Blackdirge” Rudel (it’s a long story) and talk about Tomb of the Blind God and that time I got to meet and work w...

Submission Statement: October 2024

Another month in the books; let’s see how I did with submissions, acceptances, and, of course, rejections.

October 2024 Short Story Submissions




Submissions Sent: 6



Rejections: 7



No Response: 0



Acceptances: 0



Further Consideration/Shortlist: 1



Withdrawals: 0



Pending: 9

I only managed 6 submissions in October, partly because I’ve been so focused on revising my novel and partly because I’m trying to take a bit of a hiatus from writi...

Submission Statement: September 2024

Another month has come and gone, so let’s take a look at my submission report card for September.

September 2024 Short Story SubmissionsSubmissions Sent: 5Rejections: 4No Response: 0Acceptances: 1Further Consideration/Shortlist: 0Withdrawals: 0Pending: 9

Only five submissions in September, half of what I sent in August. A lot of that stems from running out of open markets for the stories I currently have. I expect October to be a much more productive month because a bunch of markets I u...

Current Pending Submissions: What Are My Chances?

One thing I spend far too much time doing is poring over my pending submissions on Duotrope and trying to divine my chances of publications by studying the market in question, my past history with said market, how long the story has been under consideration, and a myriad of other rejectomantic factors. I thought I’d share that process with you in more detail (inflict it on you might be a better way to say it), show you my current pending roster, and tell you what I think my chances of publicatio...

Submission Statement: August 2024

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, mostly because I just haven’t been as active with short story submissions as I used to be. Well, that’s changed in recent months, so it’s time to return to my monthly updates and share the trials, tribulations, and occasional triumphs of throwing yourself to the mercy of the publishing industry.

August 2024 Short Story SubmissionsSubmissions Sent: 10Rejections: 8No Response: 0Acceptances: 1Further Consideration/Shortlist: 1Withdrawals: 0

T...

Overanalyzing Story Acceptance Rates Part 271 – Rates By Market Tier

One of my favorite rejectomantic topics is acceptance rates. I’ve picked apart my own for nearly a decade, overanalyzing them in an attempt to understand the whims and vagaries of the publishing industry. What have I learned? Not much, honestly, but, fuck it, let’s take an even deeper dive into my acceptance percentages and look at them by market payment tier! I mean, that’ll teach us something, right? RIGHT?

Okay, so if you’re new to this whole story submission nonsense, what do I mean by mark...

Rejection Feedback – Inspiring, Informative, or Insensitive?

Editorial feedback on a rejection is as varied as editorial tastes, and how an editor chooses to relate something like “close-but-no-cigar” to an author can be radically different from market to market. A recent discussion about a comment I received a while back got me thinking about this and how we, as authors, might react to different styles of feedback, even when feedback from different editors essentially says the same thing. So, let’s look at three comments I received on three rejections an...

On This Day in Submission Land: June 21st

Time for another installment of On This Day in Submission Land. Slight change in format going forward. I’ll show you the submissions I sent on the fateful day, including my cover letter if it’s interesting, as well as responses I received. So, let’s take a look at June 21st.

Submissions Sent

1. 6/21/15 – “Manny” to EGM Shorts

Dear Fiction Editors,

Please consider my flash fiction piece “Manny” for publication at Evil Girlfriend Media. The story is approximately 1,000 words in length.

Bio: I cur...

On This Day in Submission Land: June 12th

It’s time for another installment of On This Day in Submission Land. Today, we cast our gaze back to the dim, misty past, to the ancient before times of 2015 and 2020, and a pair of rejections for two of my most-rejected stories. Let’s have a look.

June 10th, 2016 – Rejection

We have read your submission and will have to pass, as it unfortunately does not meet our needs at this time.

This was a form rejection from The Dark for my story “Paper Cut.” As per usual with The Dark, the rejection was ...

On This Day in Submission Land: June 10th

Over the last decade and change, I’ve sent 803 submissions. Most of those submissions came back as rejections, with the occasional further consideration, short list, or even an acceptance providing a bit of sunshine in the nigh-perpetual gloom the clouds every writer’s literary skies. I thought it might be fun to look back each day, and see what kinds of publisher responses I received on the same date in prior years. So, let’s do that. I’ll try to keep up with this, though I likely won’t do ever...