Last month, I finished the story I posted on google groups, and then sent it to a million places. The impetus for finishing it, finally, was an email I got from the Adirondack Review, saying they wanted another story - the one that went into "I Am This Meat."
I finished it, I sent it in, and today I got an acceptance from them, with the caveat of what seems like a major rewrite. I checked out their site, and have found that they are now exclusively an online journal. I could have sworn I'd seen them on the shelves at the UT bookstore. I thought they were print, or, you know, that awesome combination of both.
I really wanted this story to find a home in print somewhere, though, because my other two stories are in online journals, and I have this hangup. But here's my question: should I take the acceptance from AR and suck it up and rewrite so I have another publication under my belt, even though it's not print? I'm not fucking Johnathan Franzen. It's not like I can be picky about shit.
Or should I wait for the print rejections to come pouring in in about four months?
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just pretend nick is rebecca and meagan is tracy and bearden is hiding behind michael's diploma and that's us
double O'sevens
just pretend nick is rebecca and meagan is tracy and bearden is hiding behind michael's diploma and that's us
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5 comments:
tough call, but it sounds like being in print is more important to you right now than just having another pub under your belt. i didn't feel properly published with my first two online pubs. it felt good when i got something accepted for print. it felt different, even though everything i see and read says things are moving online forever and ever. it is different. it's physical. it's partly why we fell in love with what we do in the first place. ENTER, OLD MAN: we didn't grow up with this internets thing. a part of me still doesn't trust any online pub, because it's so easily deleted, web editors/designers quit, get tired of updating, move on, whatver. but then there is the risk of ruining a relationship with a journal because you will have twice retracted a story. but there are a million journals, and you're not mean like that. i'd say if they don't pay and you don't need that cash pronto, then hold out, wait a while for other responses and then tell journal A your rewrite is taking longer than expected. buy some time. or, rewrite, and once the other print journals come back telling you they want it, start the same process with them - send them your newest, so on ad infinitum.
Molfey and I will do point/counterpoint for you:
I've been unlucky enough to have never had this problem, but Nick did all the time and I would always say the same thing: You are going to be a writer for many years to come. In the short term, it's a name you can add to your cover letter. In the long term, it's just another name on your juvenilia publication list. Take the online pub for exposure's sake, and send letters to the print mags expressing the happy news of your publication with a new story for them to read. That gets you out of the slush pile and gives you a little boost over the other submissions. Even if they reject the next story, you're more likely to get a nice letter with a name on it. Rinse, repeat.
Congratulations, by the way!
Hey congratulations!
in transit btw TX and AR, so I'll write more later
but
before you pull it from any other mag maybe sign the contract(?), given the caveat.
Thanks for these responses. I'm still thinking about what I'm going to do. I'm inclined to just buy time and wait - they just told me to resubmit when I've fixed the identity politics (?), and that they were looking forward to hearing from me soon.
I told them I'd look into rewriting. In other words, I think I've got some time. In the meantime, two rejections for the story have made it to my mailbox. I'm still on the fence, but your feedback helped me sort through some stuff.
I think I would throw in two extra things to think about: Do you like their rewrite suggestions ¿Im in guatamala so I cançt find any of the punctuation keys
I think it is important to trust both the editors and the magazine when you are parting ways with a story you really feel good about. Thatçs one of those calls that you make with your gut, I think. No one can really make it for you. Içll be interested to hear what happens... and regardless of what you decide==to read it in a mag.
Jonathan Franzen smonathan quanzen==you are not allowed to belittle yourself when you got an acceptance.
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