The Writer's E-Zine Home

Writers' Village University - F2K: Free Fiction Writing Course - ePress-online
Writers' Village University Membership Information

Market Watch

Nancy B. Leake

Staying Positive When Rejected

"This is good. Not for us, but good. You have talent. Submit again." This and many other rejection slips were impaled on a nail in the wall above Stephen King’s desk, until he needed a spike to hold them all. Even the best writers have had work rejected. I doubt there is a writer whose work was accepted by all. From the form letter to the occasional (albeit, thoughtful) handwritten rebuff, they are part of the acceptance process. Everyone must pay dues. Why should you be any different?

The problem is, how can the writer inside not be crushed by rejection? Leave the refusal and move on. Easier said when you’re not on the receiving end. But to sell the story, the negative response must be forgotten. That doesn’t mean learning shouldn’t occur, but use it constructively.

If the little voice inside can look objectively at the rejected story, start here. Take another look at the story from a fresh perspective, re-edit and submit it elsewhere. A rejection does not mean the story was bad. Perhaps, the story came into the hands of the wrong market or the wrong editor. You can’t please everyone. Rewrite and re-send until the story lands in the right place and is accepted.

If your inner voice is saying nasty things about this story and you can’t get beyond. Set this story aside and move on to something new or old. This is the time to pull from deep inside, vanquish the negative thoughts on a blank piece of paper until it is all spent, ball it up and trash it. Grab the journal and re-light that spark, then start fresh on the next project, and don’t forget to market it.

If the voice inside is clamoring for attention, but won’t be relieved by any writing. Then it’s time to follow up on the submissions you haven’t received any response on. Remember to check the market for response time before you start knocking on doors for answers. It takes time to go through all the materials editors receive, especially if the submission was by the Internet. Thousands of people see the same markets you do. Send a pleasant business reminder asking about the status of your submission. This is your time to clear up loose ends.

If nothing works to filter out the rejection clutter, this little trick works for me. There are books filled with examples of rejections received by famous people, one of which is, Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews & Rejections, edited by Bill Henderson & Andre Bernard. Read how cruelly they were rejected. For instance, "It would be in extremely rotten taste, to say nothing of being horribly cruel, should we want to publish it," written about The Torrents of Spring by Ernest Hemingway.

Remember when you submit your writing to always enclose a query letter that looks professional and enclose a self addressed stamped envelop (SASE), if you want a response or want your manuscript returned.

A home without books is like a house without windows. H.W. Beecher

I would like to hear about your experiences in submitting your writing, whether good or bad. When you send your suggestions to me please enclose: The name and type of the market, What type of writing they publish and the word count, The guidelines for submission or how to get the guidelines. How to contact the company, and who to contact, What they pay, and if they accept submission from new writers, if noted.

Print Markets:

New Age Magazine is a national bimonthly magazine for holistic living. They need articles on holistic health, food/nutrition, spirit, home, community, travel and life lessons (600-1,300 words); book and music/media reviews (200-750 words); and short news items (50-250 words). Payment ranges from $50 to $1,500 for electronic rights. Send a query letter with clips of recent work and a resume before preparing a lengthy article to Elizabeth Phillips, managing editor, New Age, Editorial Department, 42 Pleasant St., Watertown, MA 02472. Phone: 617-926-0200. No e-mail or phone calls. Responds within eight weeks.

Mature Outlook, a bimonthly magazine on travel, health, nutrition, food, money and people for an over-50 audience. It provides information for establishing a secure base of health and financial well being, as well as stories of travel, hobbies, volunteerism and more. They need how-to, travel, health, fitness, financial, and people profiles (75-2,500 words). No poetry, celebrities or reprints. Pays $50-2,000 for all rights or makes work-for-hire assignments. Byline given. Offers 25% kill fee. Query with published clips. State availability of photos with submissions. Sample copy for $3 and a 9X12 SAE. Writer's guidelines for #10 SASE. Send to Peggy Person, editor, Meredith Corp., 1716 Locust St., Des Moines, IA 50309-3023. E-mail: outlook@mdp.com. Responds in 2 weeks.

Back Home Magazine, is a how-to magazine to help people gain control over their lives by doing more for themselves. They are looking for interesting, lively, preferably first-person articles in the fields of gardening, home construction and repair, workshop projects, cooking, crafts, outdoor recreation, family activities and vacations, livestock, home business, home-based and other education, and community or neighborhood action. They seldom publish essays and they do not publish poetry. Pays $35 a printed page and extra for photographs for first North American serial rights. Send to Lorna K. Loveless, editor, Back Home Magazine, P.O. Box 70, Hendersonville, NC 28793. Phone: 828-696-3838. Fax: 828-696-0700. E-mail: backhome@ioa.com. Web site: www.backhomemagazine.com.

Cats Magazine is a monthly consumer magazine for cat enthusiasts. They need articles for Cat Tales, personal stories of our readers and their cats. Categories include: Last Meow, a humorous piece that reveals something about the nature of cats and how we humans fit into the feline world; and Spotlight, a profile of a person or cat who has done something extraordinary to benefit humankind or catkind (800 words); and feature articles (1,500-2,000 words). The two main requirements are that they be funny and that people recognize a basic truth about catdom. Pays $15-$500, $25 for exclusive print rights for six months and nonexclusive electronic rights. Samples available on newsstand. Query for feature articles by mail or fax to Beth Adelman, editor, 260 Madison Avenue, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10016; Fax (917) 256-2304. Guidelines http://www.catsmag.com/Pages/writeforcats.html. E-mail: info@catsmag.com. Response time one to two months.

Freelance Markets:

The Girl Within will be a book that shows that female role models were once young and struggling, to help enrich and inform teenage girls by speaking the plain truth about your experiences of growing into womanhood. Contributions may focus on different aspects of your teenage years. The four main themes for the book are: Within Myself, Within My Family, Within My Friendships, and Within My Spirit (one to six pages long). Conclude your reflection by writing a paragraph or so entitled "What I Know Now." This closing paragraph offers the opportunity to pass along the wisdom you've gained from looking back. Deadline March 1, 2001. Include a brief biographical sketch of yourself, including the following: name, contact information (mailing and e-mail address), and your racial, ethnic, religious, and educational background. The Girl Within, c/o 4033 Skyline Road, Carlsbad, CA 92008, or e-mail to: lauriedelgatto@msn.com.

Interfaith Anthology, Jewish Daughters Of Interfaith Marriages. When one parent is Jewish, and the other Gentile, what kind of a Jew does that make you? Intermarriage is raising new ideas, questions, and fears about the nature of Jewish identity. Reyna's Press is seeking essays, memoirs, Midrashim, and poetry about the experiences of Jewish women who were raised in interfaith families. Your Jewish identity can be religious, cultural or family-based (to 5000 words). Send submissions by March 1, 2001 to Reyna's Press, PMB #816, 298 4th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94118-2468 or e-mail to reynaspress@aol.com. Please paste the text into the body of the e-mail.

Women & Horses Anthology, Saddle Up: Women Write About High Adventure With Horses, is an anthology that seeks the personal, original true stories of women whose lives are or have been deeply affected by adventurous experiences with horses, from the physical to the spiritual. They want stories detailing women's journeys, from wilderness expeditions to urban wilds, that push boundaries, challenge the self, and ultimately have a profound influence on the writer. Some examples of the writing style and quality can be found in A Different Angle: Fly Fishing Stories for Women edited by Holly Morris and Two in the Wild: Tales of Adventure from Friends, Mothers, and Daughters edited by Susan Fox Rogers. Deadline August 30, 2001. Double-space, number, and staple pages, and put your name, address, phone, e-mail, and where you heard about this anthology on the first page or in the cover letter. Include a brief bio. Saddle Up, P.O. Box 750363 Torrey, UT 84775, or EditWorks@hotmail.com, Subject: Saddle Up.

Fillers

Open Spaces, is a quarterly general interest magazine for informed writing and intelligent thought. They accept anecdotes, facts, and short humor. Payment varies depending on rights purchased. Sample copy $10 or on website, www.open-spaces.com. Contact Elizabeth Arthur, editor, Open Spaces Publications, Inc. PMB 134, 6327-C SW Capitol Hwy., Portland, OR 97201-1937. (503) 227-5764. Fax: (503) 227-3401. E-mail: info@open-spaces.com.

Bibliophilos, a quarterly journal of history, literature and the liberal arts concentrating on the 19th century, needs anecdotes and short humor (25-100 words). Payment $5-10 for first North American serial rights. Response time one month. Sample copy $5. Send to Dr. Gerald J. Bobango, editor, The Bibliophile Publishing Co., Inc., 200 Security Building, Fairmont, WV 26554.

Presence Sense Magazine, a bimonthly magazine covering etiquette, social customs and lifestyle, needs anecdotes, facts, gags to be illustrated by cartoonist, and short humor (5–250 words). Pays $25-45 for one-time and second serial (reprint rights). Response time three months. Sample copy $4.50. Send to Kimberly Teed, editor, The Horstman Teed Corp., PO Box 547, Rancocas, NJ 08073. E-mail: presencesensemag@jersey.net.

The Saturday Evening Post, a bimonthly general interest, family-oriented magazine focusing on physical fitness and preventative medicine, uses anecdotes and short humor as fillers (300 words). Payment $15 for second serial rights (reprint rights) and all rights. Response time is six weeks. Steve Pettinga, Post Scripts editor, The Saturday Evening Post Society, 1100 Waterway Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46202. (317) 636-8881. Fax (317) 637-0126. E-mail satevepst@aol.com. Website: www.satevepost.org.

Web Markets:

The Freelancer Magazine, is an online magazine for writers of all styles. "It offers relatively unknown authors with a penchant for prose a means to have some of their productions published." They accept fiction (to 5,000 words) $15, (5,000 + words) $25, nonfiction $15, poetry and all other genres $10. Include pen name, real name, address, email, and a short note granting the Freelancer permission to publish the work, purchasing electronic publishing rights. Submit as an email to submissions@freelancer-magazine.com. To protect the rights of the author, the author should print out a copy of the terms and conditions, sign and date, and mail to the Freelancer office within two days of submitting. The Freelancer Magazine, 2147 Arlington Ave. NE, Atlanta, GA 30324.

Furious Pen, is a bimonthly publication that features short-short stories. Each issue has a theme: Relationships - deadline April 15, 2001; Reunion - June 15, 2001; Freedom - August 15, 2001; and Redemption - October 15, 2001. No erotic, pornographic, discriminatory, racial or derogatory stories. Submit up to three stories per issue (200 words each). Payment is two complementary print copies for first electronic publication rights and one-year archival rights on the web site. One submission will be chosen as the issue's Best Furious Pen story and the contributor will receive a $20 gift certificate from Amazon. Include your real name, pen name, address, email address, and a 20-word biography. Give your story a title. And indicate the word count. Submit each story in separate emails. Send your submissions to furiouspen@ewritersplace.com subject: Furious Pen submission. Please indicate the theme of your story. Response time is 1-2 weeks. Furious Pen is delivered every two months via email. To subscribe, please send a blank email to furiouspen-subscribe@egroups.com. E-mail queries to Shery Ma Belle Arrieta, publisher and editor, publisher@ewritersplace.com.

Cardreps.Com, is a weekly updated website focusing on bringing together greeting card freelancers and markets; formerly theGreetingCardWriter.com. They need "instructional or informational articles relating to the greeting card industry and greeting card writing or art" on any topic (500 words). Do not submit greeting card verse or art. Payment is $30 and up per article for electronic and archival rights. Query first; please give some indication of your experience and the proposed topic. Terri See, director, Summerland, Ltd., P.O. Box 12947, Cincinnati, OH 45212. E-mail to tsee@cardreps.com. Response time one month.

Green Living Magazine, is seeking submissions of lyric essays, articles, and journals about all aspects of a greener world: people, housekeeping, energy, gardening, wildlife and pets, transportation, shopping, recycling, and well being. They’d "like to see writing about green thinking that’s fresh and beautiful" (1500-2000 words), no fiction or poetry. Send a query e-mail, resume, and writing sample (no attachments, please) to Miss Landon Godfrey, supervising editor, at lgodfrey@greenliving.com. Response time is four weeks

Don't Bother:

FindArticles.com, "an on-line content provider" run by LookSmart and the Gale Group, is apparently doing just that: selling articles created and owned by freelance writers without getting the writers' permission and without paying them. For more information see http://www.nwu.org.

Beware of the turnover of many websites and try to be paid for writing on acceptance. If not, you may never be paid for your hard work. Email your markets to me. All opinions stated in this column are my own and not opinions of T-zero or Writers' Village University.