tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post1359405341952922655..comments2023-07-03T07:26:04.780-04:00Comments on The Rejecter: Form Letter CodesThe Rejecterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09087643296072075641noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-54536056521692286502007-03-26T11:46:00.000-04:002007-03-26T11:46:00.000-04:00Of course there's a code at F&SF: everyone knows ...Of <I>course</I> there's a code at <I>F&SF</I>: everyone knows that when Gordon Van Gelder sends a rejection that reads "I'm afraid that this won't work for us," it really means "Come and get it like a big funky sex machine." Of course, you're only able to read this if you're off your medication, but them's the breaks.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-43707725295741474822007-03-18T17:30:00.000-04:002007-03-18T17:30:00.000-04:00I agree with those who say a reject is a reject, a...I agree with those who say a reject is a reject, and I'm puzzled, especially in light of the editor who says that, in a competitive business, there isn't time to engage the rejects in conversation, at those who feel they've somehow accumulated merit by keeping someone's attention until page seven, instead of page four. <BR/><BR/>I guess if that floats your boat, that's great, but it suggests there's a huge population of folks out there who are satisfied with not getting anywhere and who somehow read tea-leaves into their lack of success.<BR/><BR/>And I guess they support all the zines with "Writer's" as part of the title. Do they also pay the entry fees for all the contests? What about all the vanity MFAs?<BR/><BR/>And what about the editors whose cranks apparently get turned by sending out such coded non-messages? Tell me again how the publishing industry is a business, rather than a huge vanity exercise.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-6694837512477315532007-03-18T12:39:00.000-04:002007-03-18T12:39:00.000-04:00Hmm. Could've sworn I read in JJA's blog where JJ...Hmm. Could've sworn I read in JJA's blog where JJA denied the existence of the code, but the weight of evidence is clearly against me :D.<BR/><BR/>*scampers off, corrected*nonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00415222406280230021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-48365971194491526072007-03-18T00:54:00.000-04:002007-03-18T00:54:00.000-04:00I submitted to SF/F and I don't even write the stu...I submitted to SF/F and I don't even write the stuff...so when he said "not for me" I figured he really meant it. :)<BR/><BR/>JenAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-35630628505304114742007-03-17T15:33:00.000-04:002007-03-17T15:33:00.000-04:00I'm an editor at a smallish zine and I'm not half ...I'm an editor at a smallish zine and I'm not half as busy as the folks at SF&F. I still don't have much time to write anything personal on my rejections. The sad fact is, my fellow editors and I are interested in making the best zine possible, so we only put time into the writers and stories that make it so. <BR/><BR/>If you get a personal note from me, it means your story was damn good, just fatally flawed in some way. I always do my best to detail it in a sentence or two if I really liked it. But understand, that's for about two stories a year. The rest of them get the form letter. <BR/><BR/>The sad reason we on the recieving end of writing often don't detail our thoughts is because at some point it's inadvertently invited a conversation with a writer desperate for critique. (I admit I've been on both sides of this table.) I already give much of my time to my two crit groups, http://crapometer.blogspot.com, and sometimes to fellow bloggers. That's the time and place for it, not at my zine.<BR/><BR/>Critiques come from critique groups. Unexplained decisions come from editors and agents. Unfortunately, we're in a competitive business.Betsy Dornbuschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10980243336873019233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-65566793655607621782007-03-17T09:52:00.000-04:002007-03-17T09:52:00.000-04:00Not a myth. A direct quote from Gordon:"but I gene...Not a myth. A direct quote from Gordon:<BR/><BR/>"but I generally use "doesn't grab me" for stories that don't carry me past page four or so, and "doesn't hold me" for stories that I don't finish."<BR/><BR/>http://www.nightshadebooks.com/discus/messages/378/7227.html?1170262564<BR/><BR/>You've got to scroll down a bit to get to it. But basically, yeah, "didn't grab" is didn't make it past the first few pages, "didn't hold" is got that far but didn't finish, and "not right" means finished but, well, not right.Ann Leckiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15908600867617985904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-90310945503391701172007-03-16T23:38:00.000-04:002007-03-16T23:38:00.000-04:00I subscribed for several years and still have the ...I subscribed for several years and still have the back issues.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-23930632565777750692007-03-16T20:32:00.000-04:002007-03-16T20:32:00.000-04:00Hey manic mom - thanks for the nice words. I love ...Hey manic mom - thanks for the nice words. I love making people laugh - it beats the hell out of the alternative. But it really is my system and I stay sane by working on the next one whilte I wait and wiat .. .<BR/><BR/>anon 2:27Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-3039902552198581422007-03-16T18:22:00.000-04:002007-03-16T18:22:00.000-04:00The whole coded F&SF rejections thing is a myth. ...The whole coded F&SF rejections thing is a myth. Sorry.nonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00415222406280230021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-70264811892974832612007-03-16T17:33:00.000-04:002007-03-16T17:33:00.000-04:00Anon 2:27--your system made me smile, which I real...Anon 2:27--your system made me smile, which I really, really need at this point.<BR/><BR/>I am almost being penetrated, and I need to score. <BR/><BR/>How frustrating this business is, but again, thanks for the laughs!MaNiC MoMMy™https://www.blogger.com/profile/14038801888210803955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-24008328053391378442007-03-16T15:08:00.000-04:002007-03-16T15:08:00.000-04:00I've read an issue of the magazine. I try to do th...I've read an issue of the magazine. I try to do that before submitting because it really helps tell me if I have a chance--Sometimes I'm so sure it's a fit, I have the mag on order, but submit anyway (we all know the wait is looong on submissions.)<BR/><BR/>I've been rejected by Gordon himself so maybe that means I made it up the chain. But a reject is still a reject...so in the end it still means: move on. :>)Mariahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11234907275906877802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-30561678050199066922007-03-16T14:27:00.000-04:002007-03-16T14:27:00.000-04:00Here's my system for dealing with reality:If an ag...Here's my system for dealing with reality:<BR/><BR/>If an agent asks for a partial based on a query, I made it to first base.<BR/><BR/>Now if the query process includes an automatic request for a partial, I have to start on first base even though I did nothing to get there.<BR/><BR/>If an agent then asks for a full, I made it to second base.<BR/><BR/>When an agent makes an offer of representation, I made it to third.<BR/><BR/>And of course, a contract from a publisher means I made it to homeplate.<BR/><BR/>If someone makes suggestions and asks me to resubmit, I do it and stay on the appropriate base.<BR/><BR/>Other than that, I file away the reject and forget about it and keep writing because I don't want to lose what's left of my mind.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-37014875656342794752007-03-16T12:29:00.000-04:002007-03-16T12:29:00.000-04:00All I know is that JJA sends the "didn't grab my i...All I know is that JJA sends the "didn't grab my interest" one if he didn't read the whole thing. <BR/><BR/>I keep mine, proudly.<BR/><BR/>There's different wording on the one he sends if he did read it, must be the 'not right for me', and then beyond that, you get rejected by Gordon himself.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-28498897717647687742007-03-16T11:41:00.000-04:002007-03-16T11:41:00.000-04:00As I understand it, if the F&SF rejection says it ...As I understand it, if the F&SF rejection says it didn't grab them, they stopped reading after a page or two. If it says the story didn't hold their interest, they read further but not to the end. If it says something else, they read to the end but the story wasn't suitable.Harry Connollyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11770312803048824423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-22324953637545361882007-03-16T11:35:00.000-04:002007-03-16T11:35:00.000-04:00This goes to the question that's raised now and th...This goes to the question that's raised now and then at writers' conferences: can't agents be more specific in discussing their decision-making process than to say "I just have to fall head over heels in love with the project!!!" <BR/><BR/>It seems to me that developing some kind of code by which a writer can somehow divine that he or she got three steps through the process, versus only two the last time, is a pure waste of time for the editors. If they're spending their time on that, it's a bad business decision.<BR/><BR/>Now, my own theory is that editors specialize in bad business decisions, so this shouldn't be a surprise. If nobody reads F&SF but everyone submits to it, then it sounds like this whole zine is a creature of bad business decisions. <BR/><BR/>Who, after all, buys any publication these days because they'll find <I>good writing</I>? (I read once of Yalies in the 1950s who'd run down to the New Haven station to grab the latest New Yorker with an Updike in it right off the baggage car. Who does that for Joyce Carol Oates?) <BR/><BR/>A publication that had that effect would be a product of <I>good business decisions</I> by the editors, it seems to me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-67699399238039564552007-03-16T07:50:00.000-04:002007-03-16T07:50:00.000-04:00I've actually tried to buy it at my local B&N and ...I've actually tried to buy it at my local B&N and Borders to no avail.<BR/>I looked and you can order it online, but that would take planning. Buying new magazines is an impulse buy for me. If I can't see it, I ain't buying it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-14137089828696197702007-03-16T07:45:00.000-04:002007-03-16T07:45:00.000-04:00I don't think any litmag asks writers to submit mo...I don't think any litmag asks writers to submit more work unless they're interested in reading more work. The good ones get too many submissions to just be polite about this. Then again, the editor could have been doodling ...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-35307017657819514622007-03-15T23:39:00.000-04:002007-03-15T23:39:00.000-04:00Ooo ME! I did. I read two issues when I first star...Ooo ME! I did. I read two issues when I first started getting into writing and decided I wanted to write horror instead. Now I wish I'd kept it around because I'm floating more toward sci fi and fantasty.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com