Living the Fictional Dream

Have you ever had a market that you just couldn’t figure out? You think you’ve nailed what they want in a story, and yet you still get rejected?

One of the reprints I submitted last night was to a fairly big name podcast market. This particular market emphasizes fantasy fiction, and it’s one that, from the first time I learned about it, I’ve wanted to write for.

Everyone always says to figure out what a market wants, you have to read (or in this case, listen to) past issues. Well, I’ve done that. I’ve listened to quite a few issues.

Theoretically, any type of fantasy is fine, but I’ve noticed that the market has a bias more toward stories with a more literary style. Stories that I would label magical realism instead of fantasy (a slim difference, true, but one that can be seen).

But, this market does publish stories of a more typical fantasy nature, too. On occasion.

Since audio markets take reprints, when I first discovered the market, I peppered them with all my previously published fantasy stories, one after the other, as soon as the rights returned to me. No takers. None of them even garnered more than a form rejection.

So, I calmed down a bit and decided to wait until I had the perfect story. There was one out there — I just had to wait until it completed it’s run in its current publication, per the terms of the contract. Somewhat impatiently, I waited. I consider this particular story one of my best — perhaps the best, or at least in the top two.

And then, finally, it was time, so I bundled it into an email and sent it of, feeling sure that this was the one.

It wasn’t.

So I haven’t sent them anything else until last night. I had another fantasy story that I really thought was right up their alley. They’ve published other stories with a similar feel to them (not the same plot, but just that quality). And since the story was written in the second person, I thought it would be perfect for audio. Now, granted, it was flash and this market, while accepting some flash, goes in more for short story length. But I thought there was a shot…

But again, no. (At least this market is super fast about sending rejections!)

**sighs**

Part of me starts to wonder if the editors at this market are biased by previous publications. I mean absolutely no disrespect to any market when I say this, because I love and enjoy every single market that I’ve been published in. But perhaps, if you’re the editor for a market that regularly receives reprints that were originally published in professionally paying publications, you get used to that and don’t want to seriously consider a story originally published in a market that publishes stories for merely a token payment or **gasp** for free.

I suppose, though, the truth is that my work, no matter how much I like a particular piece, just doesn’t resonate with the editors of this publication. Considering how much they will pay for a story, they probably get tons of submissions (which makes the 1-day response rate all the more impressive!). The more a market pays, the more fierce the competition to get into it is, and as much as I might have liked those particular stories (and as much as the editors of other publications liked them), maybe my writing just isn’t on the level yet of getting into a professional publication.

So, what this means to me is that I need to work harder. I need to hone my craft and keep putting it out there in the world. Writing is one of those things that you can’t improve on without practice. You have to have a germ of talent and a glimmer of an idea, but the rest of it — it’s practice and honing.

It’s good to have a goal, right?