It's a frequently asked question on the Short Mystery Fiction Society posting board as to how long the wait time is for replies on short stories submitted to Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. The publication's website does not currently provide an official response time, so I mostly depend upon other submitting authors to get an idea of how long my submissions will ne relaxing in the magazine's e-slush pile.
In the last year, according to my personal notes, the response times I had received were running at about eleven to twelve months. Based on that information, I expected to get a reading and a response about November 29, 2021 for my November 29, 2020 short story submission. Therefore, my mind settled in to wait until then with no expectations until about that date.
As time drew close, I learned that two of our contributing SleuthSayer authors (John Floyd & Rob Lopresti) had each recently received a response of acceptance about fourteen months after they had submitted their stories. I subsequently readjusted my mind to a new date of January 29, 2022. Come the evening of January 9, 2022, I was pleasantly surprised to receive an e-mail of acceptance from the AHMM editor. That made for a thirteen month and one week turnaround. The editor must've been reading like crazy over the Christmas and New Years holidays, while the rest of us were socializing, in order to knock three weeks off the response time during that short of a period of time.
Naturally, I understand that some authors don't like that long for an acceptance or rejection on their submission. And yes, it does tie up a story for a length of time. In which case, my suggestion is to write more stories, send out more submissions and forget about them for a while. In the meantime, to improve your odds, write and submit more.
As for my track record, the AHMM editor had just accepted my 48th story in her magazine. That gave me a 66.66% acceptance rate. I will admit the acceptance rate had been higher than that at one time, but it seems I hit a speed bump last year when I received a run of four straight rejections. Now, with that 48th acceptance in hand, I will use this information to more carefully decide what story content and writing style to send her in the future, which should improve my odds. It's a learning curve.
One more slant on the long wait time. It has been mentioned before that whereas EQMM has a shorter turnaround time, that editor tends to read the first few pages of a submission and if the author doesn't capture her interest in those pages, then the read is finished. The editor of AHMM tends to read the entire manuscript, which admittedly does take more time.
Of course, there is another fairly well-paying publication out there where the author's submission is not acknowledged as received and the author may never receive a reply of acceptance or rejection, in which case the submission sets in limbo unless the author sends an e-mail or letter of withdrawal.
In the end, it's the author's story, the author's time involved and the author's decision or business model as to how they wish to proceed on where to submit their creations.
Best of luck to you all. I love reading good stories.
And, while you are here, give us your thoughts on the submission process.
That's about right for time from AHMM. I've had a story recently (very nicely!) rejected after close to a year. They are the only market I have sent more than one story at a time too (or rather, I send another there a few months later.) Appropriately, Hitchcock was known for keeping people in suspense. (The record for a story I had published was about two and a half years (the publisher had been sold!) I have a story out now that a small-press says they want for this anthology which may be coming out soon--I submitted it around 2015! Patience! Patience! Patience!
ReplyDeleteJeff, you definitely have more patience than I do. From a 2015 submission to a potential 2022 publishing by that small press is unbelievable. But, an acceptance is an acceptance.
DeletePatience and write more stories and send them out.
ReplyDeleteO'Neil, you got it. It's a lesson well learned. Keep turning out those good stories.
DeleteCongratulations on your acceptance rate, R.T.
ReplyDeleteMine is about ten percent, including two Black Orchid Awards. I received a rejection last week for a story I sent December 19, 2020, and I still have two others out there, one sent the day after that one, and another I only sent last October.
While the pay rate is good, the wait time is absurd, especially since Ellery Queen, in the same building and with the same publisher, replies in about two months. But they've never taken one of my stories, so I guess there's that.
While more anthologies are springing up, they don't generally pay much. And some of the other magazines, like Black Cat, are not open for submissions all year around. Does anyone know when or if Tough will open again?
Steve, we are in the same club. For all the stories I've sold to AHMM, my total at EQMM is still ZERO. But, never say die.
DeleteInteresting, RT. And sincere congrats on that that outstanding track record at AHMM. Looking forward to finding out you've sold your 50th to them!
ReplyDeleteI agree with your take on those long response times at AH--no one likes it but it's sometimes worth the wait. And your advice is exactly right: the way to deal with those waits is to send the story off, forget about it, and write another one, and another and another.
And congratulations once more on your Edgar nomination! Well deserved!
John, thanks for the congrats.
DeleteIf anyone knows the write, submit, write, submit cycle, I've got to say it's you. Don't think I'll live long enough to add that extra zero to the end of my published stories, like you've done. Keep 'em coming.
R.T., always in awe. I've sold 31 stories (including my very first mystery) to AHMM, and so I always send it there first and tell myself - while waiting - to write while waiting. And congratulations on your Edgar nomination!
ReplyDeleteEve, thanks for the congrats.
DeleteAs much as Linda likes your stories, it won't be long before your total published in AHMM will be right up there.
I've given your advice myself: Submit to AHMM and then try to forget about it because focusing on it will drive you crazy. (That last part might just apply to me, I realize.) Congrats again on your Edgar nomination, R.T.!
ReplyDeleteGee, Barb, with you being a 35 times finalist for various national crime writer awards, I'm a relative newbie. I've got this nomination and 3 Derringer nominations.
DeleteThanks for the congrats. It's a heady time, but my wife still had me wash the breakfast dishes the morning of the announcement.
Congratulations R.T. for the Edgar nomination, & selling so many stories to Hitchcock & Woman's World & others.
ReplyDeleteYou asked for people's thoughts on the submission process. The printable version of some of my thoughts goes kind of like this: Imagine that you are a successful writer of short stories, featuring a detective Benjamin "Ben" Dover. You sell 10 of these stories, in chronological order, to AHMM. As far as you know, the editor loves you, fan mail arrives, etc. etc. (All this has taken seven or eight years but who's counting.) Then, for unknown reasons, your 11th Dover story is rejected. Do you submit it elsewhere? If it's accepted in a different magazine won't that piss off, or at least confuse, the fans?
Obviously this is a problem I've never had ... LOL
Elizabeth, your last line could be read at least two ways, so I assume you must have sold all dozen or more!
DeleteElizabeth, in my Armenian series (set in 1850s Chechnya, think Leo Tolstoi and "The Cossacks") most of the stories got published in AHMM, but two were rejected. One of those ("A Private Matter") ended up being published in an anthology. The other story went straight to a story collection (9 Historical Mysteries, Vol I) in e-format and in paperback. So yes, submit it elsewhere as long as the next in the series doesn't depend on what happened in that rejected story. But then stories #8 & #9 in my Golden Triangle series were rejected because (and I paraphrase here) they better belonged in a novel or serial, rather than as standalone stories in a series. So, stories 8 & 9 will now go directly to 9 Tales from the Golden Triangle out in e-format and paperback sometime in 2022. These days, you do what you have to do. If fans truly follow you, they will buy the collection or anthology to get the other stories.
DeleteYes, that makes sense! After I posted my question, it occurred to me that the editor of the second magazine, might not want the story because it obviously was rejected somewhere else. I guess this crazy system works out, most of the time.
DeleteI was surprised to find my acceptance time coincided with yours, RT. I hadn't realized it was that long.
ReplyDeleteRT, I think I might know of that other mysterious magazine you mention, and if so, I have a story lost in the weeds there too. I rather hoped they'd buy it for a historical reason, which probably puts it on a kill-your-darlings track.
PS, congratulations, RT!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Leigh. We'll see how all this works out.
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