Originally posted by Xiabei
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Sorry that they declined however I'm giving you HUGE props for your attitude. Keep submitting...Looking for the fonting of youth. -
Hey, how are you? Is it bad form or rude if you submit a story to a publishing house and they don't acknowledge receipt of your tale? I had the most embarrassing thing happen to me and now I'm not sure how to proceed. I'll do the synopsis version-- by the grace of God duotrope came out with a miracle market for that love story that I wrote a while back that came in at 19k (novellas are a bitch to place and a good, Christian themed story is just as hard to place... oh yeah... with profanity in it. So I read the website submission guide and for some dumb-ass reason I thought it said Single spacing required. I took out the profanity and sent a single to the publisher. I was also submitting that Zombie Western that I just completed to another publisher. You guessed it... that one wanted the single spacing. I was like, Son-of-a Bit. and recopied my double spaced version ( the one with the one word of profanity in it (an F-bomb) and sent that with an apology letter for being so stupid... uh unprofessional... computer illiterate. Any way they now have three versions of the story and I haven't heard anything back saying they have any versions. Should I bother these people a fourth time to see if they received it in any version? Is that totally amatuerish?Comment
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Hmm...tough call. Mistakes happen, though. Anyone who doesn't see that is either being a bit self-righteous or ignorant.
I once sent a publisher the wrong story altogether and he didn't even notice. I had to query him, and he was very cool about it. He even said he liked the story, made some positive comments about it, and asked me to send in something else. So it worked out well for me, and he was very understanding.
On the submission notice front, there are quite a few who don't send out notices. Some don't even send rejection notices, let alone one saying they received it. It sure doesn't do anything to sooth the writer in either case LOL. I try to keep in mind what they must go through daily, and it is likely hectic. Thus far, all but two have gotten back to me.
For your particular case, it is difficult. A fourth time might be make you come off a bit crazy, but then again, writers can be a paranoid bunch. I know I get that way about sending stuff out. If you think it will make or break you, I would apologize like nuts and hit them up. If it likely won't change anything I'd leave it alone as is.
Perhaps, one of the editors here might offer you better advice, but this is what I have for you.Comment
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Check the submission guidelines and duotrope again, it might mention the usual timeframe for acknowledgement. I would wait a while before contacting them again. Waiting is hard, but par for the course. You don't want to come off as unsettled....even if you are
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Thanks guys and gals. I'm just having one of those crazy weeks. I'm going too fast and have too many things on my plate. The guidelines mention three to five days for the Love and ninety days for the Zombie story. I guess I'm impetuous and expect a 'yes we've received it but no we're not reading it for a few weeks so leave us alone' and I'm good with that. Lots of love everyone and thanks for being there. I'll wait patiently and keep my fingers crossed. ('course then I can't finish this story called Runner's High that I'm working on, so I'll uncross them to type.)Comment
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Gosh Ozmo you can't catch a break. What does that mean exactly? Someone is downloading both of your volumes or selling it as something else under someone else's name?Comment
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Is this from Amazon or whomever allowing it to be free for one day like I've seen them do Brian's 'Seven Stories' and other writer's work for one day only or for one weekend only? If in fact you give it away is it then free domain legally? I'm SO NOT versed on this new Kindle-Amazon-Nook-E-book- free reads marketing. Where can one find out the ins and outs of this new frontier?Comment
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No. If you make your price zero, than it is just that, free for people to download. It doesn't make it free to distribute afterward when the price returns to normal. In fact, some of the books I am grouped with might not have even been free before. I only glanced at the list, but I saw Graham Masterson in there. I'm thinking he likely doesn't need to do the "free" thing to gain readability, but I could be wrong.
If you want to read about the DMCA there is a write-up on Wikipedia, as well as the government sites of course. If you are interested in learning about the Kindle Select program...
https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/signinComment
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Thanks Ozmo.Comment
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Nothing but form rejections lately. I really need to focus on getting more out in circulation. I think I'm too much of a perfectionist. Everything I write feels like crap. I edit the shit out of it and then months later I finally send it out. I think I should set a goal of one story every two weeks--or less.
MLDComment
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I feel your pain, brother. Keep at it. I've had 27 rejections already this year.Originally posted by mlouisdixon View Post
As for ST, somebody was talking about them, I just sent them another story. It feels like a good fit, and I hope they take it. We'll see!
Oh, and as for keeping on your toes, I'm a member and columnist over at Litreactor.com, come on over. We're in the middle of a tournament where you write a new story every two weeks, an NCAA style set of brackets. We'll be starting up a new one in a few weeks.Comment
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Like the brackets idea, sounds fun!
need to get back to writing stuff as it has been ages since I've sat down and written. Have to get some ideas on paper...Comment
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I just finished another tale called, The Delightful Aroma of Rubber Cement. I keep getting shot down with rejections as well my friends. Here lately, nothing I'm working on fits anyone's anthology theme or monthly magazine theme. It's so disheartening sometimes.Comment
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