Aeryn Rudel's Blog, page 60

Rejection Letter Rundown: The Considered Rejection

Often youhave to wait quite a while for a publisher to get back to you about a submission, which is just a reality of being a writer, butwhen you have good reason to hope your story will be accepted, the waiting can be pretty nail-biting and the possible rejection all bitmore disappointing. Therejection letter du jour is the considered rejection, which is a whole process that begins with an encouraging note like this.

“XXX” has been accepted into our final round of consideration. We will be l...

September 2016 Submission Statement

September was a solid month, and my progress with short story submissions was much less sloth-like than previous months. It’s a mixed bag this time,with rejections, acceptances, and some noteworthy publications.

September Report Card

Submissions Sent: 7 Rejections: 5* Acceptances: 1 Other: 0 Publications: 2

*Three (3) of these rejections were for submissions sent in September.

Rejections

Here we go. This is what Rejectomancy is all about! Fiverejections this month; let’s have a look.

Reject...

Author Self-Promotion: 4 First Steps

In today’s literary market, it pays to self-promote, and there are plenty of options available to authors for that purpose.So, if you’re just getting started with this whole publishingthing, how should you begin promoting yourself? I’m not a marketing expert, but I can point you at some basic and fairlyeasy-to-do things that have worked for me and can help expand your presence on the ol’ interwebs. Like the title of the post says, these are very basic first steps, not any kind of recipe for i...

Listen to “Night Games” on Pseudopod

My vampire/baseball story “Night Games” was published on Pseudopod today. If you’re unfamiliar withPseudopod, they’re a top-notch horror podcast that features short stories in audioformat. Their readers are fantastic, and my reader, Rish Outfield, did a hell of a job bringing my story to life. Anyway, click the link below to listen to “Night Games” and let me “stake” you out to the ballgame. (Hah! I’m a bad person.)

Click Here “Night Games”

Picture Me: Some Thoughts/Advice on Author Photos

Along with a bio, a lot of publishers big and small will ask you for an author photo to display alongside your story, on the back cover of your book, and so on and so forth. I know lots of folks hate having their picture taken, and if that’s you, I understand, but if you DOwant to have an author photo, here are some things you might consider. Note, I am not a professional photographer, so take any technical advice I offer with a grain of salt. These are things that have worked for me; you may...

7 Top-Tier Horror Markets: My New Story Gauntlet

Once I’ve finished a new story and it’sready for submission, I have a short list of top-tier spec-fic markets that it goes to first. I have dubbed this list “The Gauntlet,” and theyare some of the toughest but most prestigious publications I know of that accept horror. They also work veryfast, and I oftenget a response to my submissionwithin a few days or even a few hours.

Here’s my list, presented in no particular order:

Clarkesworld Magazine The Dark Magazine Nightmare Magazine Black Stati...

It Came from My Hard Drive! Part 3 – A Red Night

Once again I’ve delved deep into the digital ruins of my hard drive and unearthed a tidbit of ancient fiction. Well, seven years ancient, but it’s never been read by anyone. (You’ll have to decide if it should have stayedthat way.) This is yet another piece from when I wasan RPG designer/writer/editor for Goodman Games(posted with their kind permission). Like the othersin this series, “The High Road” and “The Challenge,” this is from an unpublishedmanuscript for a player-oriented 4E Dungeons...

Fightin’ Fiction II: 3 More Melee Myths

Since the first article I did in this Fightin’ Fiction series was so popular, I thought I’d double down and do another onein the same vein. So, here you go, threeMORE melee myths.

Like the last article, this one is aimed at authors who would like to add more realism to melee combat in their work. The first article covered some broad stroke concepts, but I’m going get just a bit more granular with this article. Again,everything here should be taken as advice on writing melee combat in a very s...

August 2016 Submission Statement

Well, August was certainly better than July, where I did pretty much nothin’ in terms of submissions. I managed to get a few stories out last month, and I even snagged an acceptance and a publication.

AugustReport Card

Submissions Sent: 3 Rejections: 1 Acceptances: 1 Other: 0 Publications: 1 Rejections

Here’s the lone August rejection.

Rejection 1: 8/14/16

Thank you for submitting work to our Flash Icon contest. There were some incredibly high-quality entries submitted this time around.

Unf...

“Flashpoint” Fiction Contest at Red Sun Magazine

As I’m sure many of you gathered, my little spat with the folks over at Red Sun Magazine was just a bit of fun. Its primary purpose, besides engaging in some entertaining kayfabe, was to drum up some interest in a flash fiction contest to be held by Red Sun. Well, that contest has been announced, and I’m one of the judges.Contest winners will receive real cash money, some cool prizes, and the first place winner will be published by Red Sun Magazine on their website and in their newsletter.

He...