Thirty Times Nothing

I received a very nice rejection letter today. The editor had nothing but nice things to say about my story. Oh, and, I won’t be publishing it. By my count, that makes thirty different literary magazines (some more literary than others) that have rejected my work. The unnamed editor advised me to try simultaneous submissions because publication is a “numbers game.”

Perhaps my skin is too thin to be a writer. I think about writing all day long. As soon as I wake up—literally. I’m writing before five minutes have passed from eye-opening. On my way to work (sometimes at work), on my way home from work. As I drift off to sleep, I am thinking about my stories. It is, in brief, my life.

I read a lot too. Some of what I read is shit. I try to refrain from harsh words, but some people succeed in writing who should be condemned to the slush pile hell I inhabit most of the time. I get enough encouraging rejections not to jump off the bridge just yet, still, why can’t they spare me a page or two?

Is it really just a numbers game? I’m friends with an editor. He tells me a big part of his job is rejecting stuff, a lot of it good. He also tells me the publishing industry is foundering. Hmm... any relationship between these two things? “Why don’t you take the good things?” I ask.

“The publisher wants the big ticket items.” So if you’ve got a story about a lesbian vampire who survived the zombie apocalypse, you’ve got a winner. Anything less is banal and beneath the radar. I would say it might just be art.

Of course, it is art that will never be seen. Edgar A. Poe had difficulty finding publishers. He turned to a somewhat successful career as a critic, hatcheting away at writers who were, admittedly, not half as talented as was he. Poe, however, always struggled.

So, what is thirty times nothing? It is life as usual for a writer, I guess. It is time to send that story out yet again. And if I fail, I know a grave in Baltimore where I can be remembered nevermore.

Comments

Patterns

There’s a pattern I’m noticing. For fiction publishers. Even if you aim low you’ll find it a struggle. Part of the reason is the pattern. Lots of websites list publishers. The smaller, hungrier presses either eventually close or get to a place where they require an agent to get in. That’s the kiss of death. Although my stories have won prizes, and been nominated for prizes, I can’t get an agent interested. I’ve queried well over a hundred, so the agent route is one of diminishing returns. This too is a pattern. Back to the smaller presses. I check many lists. What I write, you see, is highly idiosyncratic. It’s literary but it’s weird. Publishers don’t know what to do with it. If a smaller press published stuff like this, I’d find it. The pattern includes writers who never get discovered. Ironically, a number of editors of fiction literary magazines (mostly online) tell me they enjoy my wor...

Creative Righting

Rejection of my writing is a rejection of my imaginative world. That’s why I was cheered by the acceptance of one of my stories this week. That makes number 31. I’ve been working on a lot of fiction lately, even as nonfiction book number 6 is going to press. The ideas are still there, and bizarre as ever, but publishing venues just aren’t welcoming. The other day I had lunch with a professor whose wife is also a professor. She just had her first novel published, and so he pointed me to her indie publisher. I went to their website to learn that they’re closed to submissions. I have to admit that my latest accepted story, “Creative Writing Club,” was probably given the green light because I know the editor. That seems like a pretty dicey way to get any notice, doesn’t it? You have to know the right people even in the low circulation world. My fiction is difficult to classify. It’s got speculative elements to it. ...

Maybe Okay

A couple pieces of encouraging news, perhaps, dear struggling writers. I had a couple short stories accepted for publication in recent weeks. As a fellow writer recently said, “You've got to keep trying. Somebody will like what you wrote.” That’s a bit of sunshine. And it’s likely true. But the stories: “The Crossing,” about two men in a boat trying to cross the Atlantic, was accepted by JayHenge Publishing. JayHenge is a small, but paying publisher. I was flattered when they wanted it for their Masque & Maelström: The Reluctant Exhumation of Edgar Allan Poe anthology. Being associated with Poe in any way feels good. The second story, “St. Spiders’ Day,” had been brewing in my mind for years—yes, this is a long game! A friend pointed me to The Creepy podcast. Since the story hadn’t been written, I followed their guidelines of what they wanted. It worked. I recently heard a successful wri...

K. Marvin Bruce

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