A few days late, but I tabulated all my fiction submission numbers for calendar 2007. I had:
44 submissions (all short fiction)
40 rejections
1 rewrite under consideration
2 contracts offered
1 acceptance
0 publications released
It was certainly an interesting year. I got a lot of “almost” rejections, including one that literally began with “Almost!” I had three rewrite requests from editors, two of which offered astute comments on weakness in those stories, and the resulting rewrites were definite improvements. I had two stories passed up to the head editors at top magazines. I made my first genre sale, to Ann VanderMeer at Weird Tales, and I have several other developing situations that hopefully will result in at least one sale at some point in the new year.
Comparing 2007 to 2006, there was a definite improvement in the quality of the rejections I received. But I’m still not consistently able to lure editors into my dense stories of round characters and lush settings. I’m working on some specific writing strategies to improve that. I’m also hoping that any notice from my Weird Tales publication, due out any day now, may persuade editors to give my fiction a deeper look when it crosses their desk.
It was a better year than the last, but it’s still not yet where I want to be. So it’s back to the salt mines until I am consistently at that level.
