For months I have had a fragment of a story idea kicking around my head. Just something I knew I wanted to write about someday.
Then on May 23rd it blossomed into a complete plot. I started writing and finished the first draft on the 29th. So it took me a week. That's pretty fast for me.
And that led me to do the math. Brace yourself. All that follows is based on my most recent five stories in each category mentioned below
From the time I start writing a story to the day I am ready to submit it to a publisher turns out to average 635 days. (I hasten to point out that I am working on many stories at the same time.) So I will be ready to send the story in or around September 2025.
The first market I send it to will probably be Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. Based on past experience they will hold it for 49 days and then reject it (zero out of the most recent five). So now we're in November.
Eventually I will get a contract for the story. I will sign it and send it back and then I will get a check. The contract/check process for my last five stories averaged out to 73 days after the story was accepted. Based on the length of this current tale, it will probably be for about $300.
Roughly a year later my story will be published. So the story I conceived in May 2022 will, if everything goes well, finally see the light of day in the spring of 2027.
As somebody said, it's a slow way to get rich.
Believe it or not, the working title of the story is "Was That So Hard?"
Interesting post, with a great final sentence, Robert.
ReplyDeletePatience is a virtue for every one of us writers.
Rob, sounds like you have things planned out a lot better than I do.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the new story!
Like you, Rob. I am a very slow writer. Wish I could be faster. No mater the time is worth the money. Gotta only do it for the satisfaction and creativity. (And getting to chat with you all, my fellow short story authors!)
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I'm anonymous above. Guess I wasn't logged in. (Damn public computers...)
DeleteGreat post, Rob, and your figures match pretty closely with mine, except that you sell exponentially more.
ReplyDeleteMystery Magazine and Tough used to respond slightly more quickly than EQMM, but that's no longer the case. I suspect the pandemic has a lot to do with it.
Congratulations Rob, I'm sure your story is great, as usual. I used to shoot for the highest-paying markets first, but now I tend to choose markets by how quickly they respond. I'm a slower writer than anyone here, & have less to show for it. That is probably one of the reasons AHMM rejected the one & only story I ever submitted there, because they never heard of me. I would imagine they read submissions first from writers they've published before, & then from names they know but haven't published, & then miscellaneous stuff that found its way into the slush pile. That's the way I'd do it if I were editing a magazine. Anyway it took them over a year to reject my story, & I do not have that many years left to try to impress AHMM, so I don't plan to submit anything else there. /rant
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, I don't pretend to know the exact procedures the editors of EQMM and AHMM use. I suspect that Certified Big Names like Joyce Carol Oates go to the front of the line, but I can tell you that, after 30+ stories in AHMM I still wait a year for a verdict, just like you.
DeleteYikes! I'd think a person with 30+ accepted stories would be promoted to the next level! Anyway, I look forward to reading your next story or stories.
DeleteRob, your math and my math pretty much show the same big picture, except that these days you are writing more stories per year than I am. I need to get back in gear.
ReplyDeleteVery helpful! James Patrick Focarile
ReplyDeleteI'm a slow writer, too, Rob, who also has multiple stories going at the same time. The only good thing about that is that sometimes a whole bunch of stories get finished at about the same time. Ecstasy!
ReplyDeleteEve, ecstasy unless I want to send both stories to the same magazine and have to space them out. Then it's frustration.
DeleteDepressing, Rob. Especially Alfred Hitchcock taking 385 to decide. Most book publishers don't take anywhere near that long.
ReplyDelete