Darius Jones's Blog: A Writer Begins - Posts Tagged "rejection"

It’s funny the illusions I once had about being a writer and how they’re all fading away.

I used to think writers once lived in a special place, away and apart from the public. But if you’re not Emily Dickinson or Kafka, but a writer who decides you’re actually going to share your stuff while you’re still alive, nothing could be further from the truth.

As such a writer, eventually, you have to face the fact that your writing will connect with some people, but leave others cold. You’re going to take pride in the former and have to steel yourself to face the criticism from the latter. Then you’re going to have to keep on writing.

And that’s how we get to today’s subject: rejection. Robert Heinlein had 5 Rules for Writing. They’re different than what I would have picked, but still, they’re kind of brilliant. Here’s a grossly oversimplified version:

1. You must write.

2. You must finish. (Finish your first draft.)

3. You must refrain from over-editing it (except to editors’ orders).

4. You must submit your work.

5. You must continue to submit, until it is accepted.



On this scale, I guess I’m about 4/5 a writer. True, I have self-published, so you could say I’ve reached stage 5. But in reality, the furthest I’ve gotten a work is to stage 4. It might not sound like much, but it was a huge step for me. Finishing a first draft of a work, any work is a huge step for a new writer. Polishing the work until it’s the best it can be is the next big step, a sign of commitment to your piece and your craft. Sharing it with friends is the next step and can be quite difficult when you’re starting out—what will they say about your creation? What if, after all that work, it isn’t any good. And then comes that final stage where you have to send it to a non-friend, a magazine or publisher and learn the awful truth. Whether or not you’re a writer after all.

A certain part of you doesn’t care what they think. You think “It’s good, so to hell with them!” But within every writer lurks a subsection of the soul that wants recognition, plaudits, glory. Whether it’s from friends, fans, editors, publishers or the Nobel committee. And I’m no different.

So what’s my track record so far? 2 submittals, 2 rejections. Impressive, eh? I submitted a sci-fi story to two magazines. The first rejection, though expected, was the hardest. It’s like jumping into a cold lake the first time. It’s shocking and sudden. But the more time passed, the better I felt about it. After all, it was a personal rejection from the editor-in-chief. The second rejection didn’t hurt nearly as bad. I guess I had become acclimated to the submission/rejection game. And again I saw that the story had bounced around to at least three people at the magazine before a top editor sent me a rejection email.

During this time, I had given a good friend the story to read and critique. He didn’t care for the first 8 pages and felt the narrator was not involved enough in the action of the story. I considered tweaking it, but decided to leave it unchanged and send it along. I made that decision and had the story off within two days. I didn’t give myself enough time to let doubt creep back in.

And now it’s going through the same process it has gone through before. I could be wrong, but the internal bounces at the mags are giving me hope. I’ll be interested to see where the story ends up.

So, another one of my cherished misconceptions about writing has bit the dust. For a time, we may be loners scribbling in garrets. But if you’re persistent, one day the story ends, you write your last line and you have to leave your garret. The world may not like your story, but at least you had the guts to see it through. And in the end isn’t that what writing is all about?

And I’m back.

After a nice visit out to California, I’m back in the saddle for another year of writing fiction. Today’s post is a grab bag of updates and musings. I’ll take them on one by one.

SF Story Rejection
My science fiction short story finally got rejected by Analog. The story was held up for quite awhile as they had some management changes over at the mag. But hey, it was a form rejection from the Editor with some useful, though boilerplate, tips for what they’re looking for. So what did I do? Dusted off the story, queued it up and sent it to the next magazine on my list for Sci Fi markets. However, I am thinking I will try some horror mags next (that is, after the next rejection) as the piece is on the border between both genres. (One of Analog’s tips was that they won’t consider stories where the science is incidental or peripheral. My story is set in a future world, but the science fiction takes a back seat). If you have suggestions for markets, let me know. It’s my 3rd rejection for the piece and I’m eager to get it out there. I also submitted another fantasy piece to Daily Science Fiction and will let you know what happens.

Why Nook Sucks
Don’t get me wrong, Barnes and Noble has created a great device. But the news this past week that Nook is not doing so well wasn’t a big shock.

First, I look at it as a writer. Amazon lets me self-promote with easy tools on it website. It lets me giveaway my book for FREE five days for every 3-month period. I’ve given away over 1,000 copies of The Library of Lost Books using their KDP Select program. They let me put in as many books as I want, which encourages me to write more. And I can make my book eligible for “borrowing” which at $2 for each borrow, adds up.

Last I checked Nook has nothing like this. Instead under the header for “marketing” it has useful tips on how to self-promote your book. Not exactly what I was looking for.

I’ve also heard from users that the Nook website can be frustrating when you want to buy something and that the customer service isn’t the best. I don’t know about you, but  I’ve never had those problems with Amazon.

In the end, I hope B&N uses this as an opportunity to change their game plan, focus on digital and self-publishing and get the Nook back on track. The last thing I want to do is be a creative negotiating with a monopoly. B&N could start by offering a KDP Select-like program that would let you giveaway a limited amount of books. It’s just the sort of thing that would get me to post my books on their shelves again.

Why Duotrope Rocks
Finally, this  brings us to Duotrope, the friend of every writer trying to publish short stories.

The website used to be 100% free and based on donations (I sent them a donation in 2012). They switched to a pay model January 1. At $50/year or $5/month it seems a little steep to me, but on the other hand you do get some great content:

- Detailed listings for magazines and publishers in almost every genre imaginable.
- Data for magazines like average acceptance rates, average response times, etc.
- You can input your story’s exact parameters (science fiction horror, 7,000 words, paying markets only) and the site will spit out a listing of mags looking for just that. Duotrope’s  Killer App!

So, I sucked it up and paid the $50. It’s well worth it for those serious about submitting a lot of stories.

Alright, that’s your post for this week. Hope you writers out there found it useful. I’ll see you next time.

,DJ