Monday, February 25, 2008

From first submission to sale

Among the many things new writers want to know is how long it takes/how many submissions it takes to sell a short story. While there is no clear answer to that question, here's some info on my first 10 sales of the year.

In no particular order:

Story 1--first and only submission 12/23/7

Story 2--first and only submission 11/28/7

Story 3--first and only submission 1/10/8

Story 4--first and only submission 1/20/08

Story 5--first submission 4/17/4, two submissions

Story 6--first submission 4/2/3, four submissions

Story 7--first submission 11/2/3, two submissions

Story 8--first submission 2/27/00, seven submissions

Story 9--first submission 1/31/91, 23 submissions

Story 10--first submission 6/6/5, three submissions

Six stories sold to the first or second editor to see them. That's good.

Two sold to the third or fourth editor to see them. That's not bad.

One sold to the seventh editor to see it. That's dedicated marketing.

One story sold to the twenty-third editor to see it, 17 years after the first editor rejected it. That's just masochistic. How much rejection can one poor writer take before he gives up on a story?

1 comment:

Patricia said...

You tell it like it is. Thank you.