Cemetery Dance magazine to re-open to submissions later this year

[Michael Wehunt]

So, we've been waiting hundreds of day for this dude to finish his frikkin book? He doesn't have the decency to put his book down for five minutes to let a bunch of aspiring writers that he's NOT going to buy their stories (cause let's face it, he's going to reject +90% of us)? I mean, seriously, he's made me wait this long and he can't even take the time to let me down professionally. Thanks, dude.

Hey, we're all eager, but Mr. Chizmar has been publishing this magazine for over 20 years. It didn't get to be revered through unprofessionalism. I trust that he knows what he's doing.

[Brian James Freeman]

So, we've been waiting hundreds of day for this dude to finish his frikkin book? He doesn't have the decency to put his book down for five minutes to let a bunch of aspiring writers that he's NOT going to buy their stories (cause let's face it, he's going to reject +90% of us)? I mean, seriously, he's made me wait this long and he can't even take the time to let me down professionally. Thanks, dude.

Email me at [email protected] and I'll let you know where your story stands. Thanks!

Brian

[truantoranje]

Check your email. Rejection received. Good luck to the rest of you waiting.

[ozmosis7]

Holy...! I didn't make the first cut on this go around, but I've waited more than a year and a half to hear back at times. Some markets just take that long. It depends on how bad you want to be in them.

Anyway, as some cuts are being handed down, I'lll offer another GOOD LUCK to all those still in the race.

[Brian James Freeman]

If we open to submissions again, one of the changes we'll make it is closing the submission window when we hit 500 stories in the queue. That would have been in less than a week this last time.

Brian

[ozmosis7]

If we open to submissions again, one of the changes we'll make it is closing the submission window when we hit 500 stories in the queue. That would have been in less than a week this last time.

Brian

I can't imagine the sheer volume of submissions you all must have received. I see some of the stats on various anthologies and have read interviews with popular editors, and those numbers are staggering.

[Brian James Freeman]

By the way, if you haven't heard back by this afternoon, please do email me at [email protected] with Submission Update in your subject line. I can tell you on Monday exactly what we're thinking in terms of your story. We might be on the fence and just need time for one more read.

Brian

[Brian James Freeman]

I can't imagine the sheer volume of submissions you all must have received. I see some of the stats on various anthologies and have read interviews with popular editors, and those numbers are staggering.

The biggest problem with getting thousands of submissions for what amounts to 20 open slots is that we're going to pass on a lot of very solid, very well written stories that are just missing that tiny little spark that makes the difference. We don't give notes on rejections because it would double the time required for what has already been too long of a process, but we've had to pass on some very fine work that we know we'll be reading in other anthologies and magazines very soon.

If folks are interested, I'll look at some of the internal discussions we've had about stories and put together a posting about why submissions are rejected (in general).

By the way, as I think someone pointed out in this thread, our goal when we open to submissions isn't to make authors wait around to hear back. We want to find new stories from new voices that really rock our world. That's an exciting moment. We certainly don't need to open to submissions to fill 20 slots in the magazine. We do it because we love finding new writers who are pushing the genre into new places.

We are sorry about the wait. Hopefully, next time it'll go much quicker!

Brian

[Lauren Dixon]

Check your email. Rejection received. Good luck to the rest of you waiting.

Got my form rejection when I woke up.

[Michael Wehunt]

Me too. I was honestly surprised that those of us in the final pile also got form rejections.

[Brian James Freeman]

Me too. I was honestly surprised that those of us in the final pile also got form rejections.

Reasons these last stories might be rejected:

* Too similar to something else we've already bought.

* Too similar to something else we've read recently.

* Just doesn't quite push us across the line enough for us to say, "Yes! Must. Buy. This!" No specific reason in particular. Could be extremely well-written, but we just don't pull the trigger.

* Although you tackled a trope or cliché with panache, at the end of the day a vampire/zombie/werewolf/serial killer story has to be one of the best in those categories we've read in a long time to make the cut.

In most cases, we have no specific notes to help you improve the story at this stage. If your story could make the cut with a rewrite or a tweak, we're contacting you individually to see if you're interested in discussing our suggestions.

Hope these general notes help!

Brian

[Lauren Dixon]

Me too. I was honestly surprised that those of us in the final pile also got form rejections.

Ditto, Michael. I know how busy the staff is, so I totally understand, but I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. C'est la vie though, right? Shall we pledge to continue writing words that scrape from the concrete below?

[Lauren Dixon]

Thanks for this, Brian. I appreciate that you take this time with us to talk about it.

[Michael Wehunt]

Yes, Brian. You, sir, have done an admirable job along the way.

[Victorya]

Wow, this thread blew up overnight! (well, my overnight, at least).

Had to check my e-mail, then submittable to double-check, so now I just try to somehow find more fingernails to bite.

Also, definately agree that the attention in the thread has been great.