Do You Submit Your Contest Stories To Publications |
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jdadams1
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 13 Jul 2018 Status: Offline Points: 4559 |
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Absolutely. The more you are sending out*, the better your chances are. I have only been submitting for maybe nine-ish months, and I've got around 300 or so rejections, LOL * within reason. You still need to read the publisher's needs/requirements and not submit Romance to a Sci-Fi pub or a 100-word story to a place looking for 500- to 2,000-word stories.
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jdadams1
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 13 Jul 2018 Status: Offline Points: 4559 |
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My experiences have been very similar to Jennifer's at least when it comes to judges' feedback correlating to publication acceptances. I tend to have at least slightly better luck placing the stories that did not do as well with the judges and worse luck submitting the ones that do well with the judges; I have three first-place NYCM wins that are still looking for homes! I'm not sure there has been a correlation for me between forum feedback and placing a story, though I often find that my forum feedback differs from my judge feedback/ranking, so that is to be expected.
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ChristiLB
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 12 Apr 2019 Location: NY Status: Offline Points: 2314 |
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Too funny about your motivations for publishing - I think everyone desires that kind of validation so no worries there, . Your life sounds like a combo of what my life is, and what I hope it could be. I also have a dog that is quite accustomed to a certain lifestyle (not that it's all that fancy of course) but I do aspire to make money as a writer. Earning a living as a writer is of course the ultimate dream.
Congratulations on getting one of your pieces published in the Curiosities book - Looks like an interesting collection of quick reads. I'll have to check it out. Your mention of hiking in the Green Mountains of VT caught my attention, in your bio, as I am on the other side of Lake Champlain, in the Adirondack Mountains.
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ChristiLB
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 12 Apr 2019 Location: NY Status: Offline Points: 2314 |
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Wow, that's so cool, and must be such a great feeling to have so many stories in different phases of the publishing process. I've definitely got to step up my game with sending stories out. I tend to discourage myself by feeling like nothing is good enough or finished editing enough to send out. I've just got to do it Your post is quite inspiring. I might take you up on your offer to discuss publishing as I dip my toe in,
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jdadams1
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 13 Jul 2018 Status: Offline Points: 4559 |
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Submit, submit, submit!!! Get in a habit, keep a tracker, find a system that works for you. I could not have submitted as many without a good system for myself.
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ChristiLB
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 12 Apr 2019 Location: NY Status: Offline Points: 2314 |
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Yes, I definitely need to get into a routine but I also need to get into a routine of writing more as well. I have a running list on my phone of story ideas that pop into my head but I need to get more disciplined about sitting down and writing them out. What's your system, if you don't mind me asking? Is there a program you use to keep track of everything? Thanks again for the motivation,
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jdadams1
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 13 Jul 2018 Status: Offline Points: 4559 |
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I have a massive Excel file that would probably make sense to no one but me, LOL, but it's easiest for me to manage. I know there are some paid services like Duotrope that others use and have success with.
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KarenB
NYC Midnight Addict Joined: 11 Jul 2019 Location: Northern, NY Status: Offline Points: 782 |
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I envy your track record! Having stories at different publication stages seems most productive! I just subscribed to Duotrope based on earlier posters' generous recommendations, but lost most of the day exploring publications! It was quite overwhelming! And I still didn't settle on a market. I may need to return to my Writer's Market hard copy...
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jdadams1
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 13 Jul 2018 Status: Offline Points: 4559 |
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If you are on Facebook, one of the best things for me has been joining various “submission opportunity” groups. I bet I’m on a half dozen or so. Facebook has a ‘save’ option, so if a post comes up in my feed, I can quickly save it and review it at a more convenient time (versus having to investigate it the moment I see it, which is rarely the ideal time). You can even create a collection for your saves, so you could save it right to a Submission Opps collection.
But many of these submission opportunities are only open for a limited time, and I’ve definitely had situations (as recently as last night!) where I waited too long to review a saved submission opportunity, and the deadline had passed. :)
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ChristiLB
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 12 Apr 2019 Location: NY Status: Offline Points: 2314 |
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Ah, ok, thanks for the info. I'll probably try to keep track with a spreadsheet of my own as well. I'm excited to check out Duotrope and other sites listed for finding places to submit to.
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