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I'm on cloud eighty gazillion million....I just heard from Daily Science Fiction that they're buying a story of mine!
It's my first sale, after four months and ten rejections across four stories (the other three are still out there, along with a new one!). I feel really lucky to have made a sale already...I'd expected to have to rack up my 100 rejections first.
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Well done, Grayson! There really isn't anything quite like that first pro-level sale. Nice work, and congratulations!
Posts: 386 | Registered: Sep 2008
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The title is "A Puddle of Dead." I'll post here when I know the pub date. *swoon* I'm going to have a pub date! (Not to be confused with a date in a pub, which would probably also be fun, but not nearly as immense.)
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How many words was it? If it was [words] x 8c = [greater than/equal] to $50, then it becomes a qualifying SFWA sale in October when DSF become an approved SFWA market. You can join the SFWA as an associate member and can also join Codex Writers immediately you've had the contract from DSF.
[This message has been edited by skadder (edited May 13, 2011).]
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In other words, if it's longer than 625 words. Good info, by the way, Skadder. That gives me an incentive to send them a story.
Congrats on your story! I subscribed to DSF just recently so I'll keep an eye out for it. You mentioned you had four other stories in publication. Any thoughts as to the reason why this one got picked up first? What do you think set it apart? Also, did you send the others into DSF before you sent this one?
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Axe, thanks! Just be honest if you review me. (Unless you don't like the story, in which case, lie through your teeth. ) I do have to say that the agony of fearing editorial rejection has now been replaced with the greatly multiplied agony of fearing reader rejection...I know not every story will appeal to every reader, but I sure do hope my story (my virgin, baby entry into the world of publisheddom) appeals to several, and that they say so somewhere on the Internet where I can hear them.
Adam, yes, a week or two after your name appeared there! Thanks for the information - the story is about 2000 words, so it will qualify me. Woo hoo!
jcavonpark, I've got four other stories out making the rounds, not published! (I wish!) I sent one of those four to DSF before the story they bought; it was the only one that met length requirements (most of my stories tend to be 6K-ish). That one earned me a quick "no, thanks" from DSF. (It got an actual line of - pretty lukewarm - personal feedback from Jed Hartman at Strange Horizons, though!)
The story DSF bought was the fourth story I wrote (out of the five), which given my "newbie" level -- I've only been writing seriously since December -- almost certainly means it's a better story than the three before it. Naturally, I hope this means that my fifth story is even better and thus will also be snapped up by a pro market soon.
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Are you sure about their requirements (word length)? Because I thought I read on there that it just had to be less than 10,000 words.
Posts: 86 | Registered: May 2011
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jcavonpark, you're right -- you can submit up to 10K words to DSF. They do strongly prefer shorter stories, however, so I haven't submitted my longer ones there (yet). If I run out of markets for the longer stories, perhaps I will...
Posts: 381 | Registered: Oct 2010
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Ah I got ya. Sounds like you know what you're doing, so that's good. I'm actually trying to write a shorter short story right now after that mammoth 10k one I just finished. Writing something and keeping it under 1000 words is actually pretty tough. Any advice?
Posts: 86 | Registered: May 2011
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posted
Hey Grayson, sweet story! I really enjoyed this one, and didn't notice who the author was until I read your bio at the end. Very nice job!
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