I
remember like it was yesterday—the first confident submission of
this campaign to get my foot in the door of the short story market. I
sent a Roman era ghost story to a magazine called Liminal. I
was full of hope, but of course inexperienced—green, if you
like—and had no real idea what to expect. I’d made a few
experimental submissions in the previous months but wasn’t counting
those. Well, Liminal didn’t take the story, nor did they
ever take anything from me, and ceased publication a couple of years
ago. But that ghost story placed four days ago with Black Beacon
Books, in a freshly-polished form, so my original confidence was
vindicated at last!
At
the eight year mark I’d have to say I’ve raised my game. I’ve
tuned what I’m doing to better match the market, certainly I’m
focusing on those parts that are most welcoming: perhaps a third of
my expected placements in the coming year will be period mystery, or
speculative fiction in a certain group of markets where I’ve
encountered my best success. That still leaves two thirds on the
submit-and-see principal, so nothing has changed in that respect.
However,
I am beginning to move into novels and single-author anthologies, and
this is the main step-up, or direction change, in my modus
operandi.
This
is my eighth annual review of progress/state of play post, and 2023
has laid the foundations for ambitious steps to come.
Here's the raw data:
In the last eight
years, I’ve made 3119 submissions (270 in the last year, a lot
less than the previous year). I have 244 placements (12.78:1
submission/acceptance ratio, up from 14.53:1 last year, which was up
from 15.11:1 the year before that, which bettered 16.008:1 in the
previous year). It’s gratifying to see this consistent positive
decrease over the last four years, as my rate of placement is
improving across the board despite all influences of market,
economics, style or whatever).
However, my total
number of submissions in play has eroded considerably, as my
attention has been focused less on short story writing and more on
long-form work. Submission Grinder shows some 32 submissions in play
at this time, of which a few early ones are likely dead or in limbo,
and this figure is less than half my tally for this time last year.
These figures also indicate 2843 rejections, giving an overall
rejection/acceptance ratio since 2016 of 11.65:1—again, an
improvement for the fourth year running (2022: 13.178:1; 2021:
13.52:1; 2020: 14.27:1). The statistician in me sees these numbers
and despite any negative feedback on individual works from individual
markets—I certainly get it—I know I must be doing something
right.
In the 365 days of
2023, I made 275 submissions (well down on the 368 of last year), of
which 38 gained acceptances (my second-best year ever after 2021 with
41). This is a submission/rejection ratio for
the year of just 7.23:1, a dramatic increase over last year’s
11.5:1, which improved from 2021's 12.375:1, and, most importantly,
also edges out 2020's 7.67:1. While it may not have felt like it on a
day to day basis, I seem to be doing better than at any previous
time.
Average time between
acceptances in Year Eight was comfortably down from 2022’s 11.4
days to just 9.60 days—not quite as good as 2021’s 9.125 days:
it seems hard times are still with the reading and publishing world.
The long dead patches still occur, and with fewer submissions in play
I’ve noticed that the previous pattern of long and short period
rejections don’t cluster as they used to—I simply go more periods
with neither acceptances nor rejections, just...nothing.
One or two
semi-professional, placements have come along—with NewMyths,
for instance, always a pleasure.
Rather shockingly, I
find my new fiction productivity has been at its lowest ebb since the
process began, just 16 new stories completed in 2023, half of which
are Sherlock Holmes tales. They total 131, 793 words, down from last
year’s 175, 871. This is balanced perhaps by my reworking of older
pieces to find homes.
I have 300 stories
registered at Submission Grinder, a modest increase over last year’s
total, though excluding different versions of the same story which in
a few cases are listed there for my own reference.
Once again, Sherlock
Holmes is my hottest area of endeavour. I have an estimated eight
stories to produce in 2024, all of which have target marketplaces and
excellent chances of acceptance. I now have eleven placements with
Belanger Books anthologies, and have found a home also with MX Books’
ongoing Anthology of New Sherlock Holmes Stories series. I
have placed a third story with Strand Magazine, and an
confident of others in future.
My novel Sherlock
Holmes: A Tradition of Evil, was released by Belanger Books in
August, 2023, and marks the beginning of a new chapter in this
endeavour. It has been well received so far, with predominantly five
star reactions at both Amazon and Goodreads, and I should be writing
my second novel during 2024. My Sherlock Holmes short story output
for 2023 was 78, 083 words, slightly up on last year, and excluding a
single story as yet unfinished.
I also have three
single-author anthologies in development: a collection of my vampire
tales forthcoming from Hiraeth Books in the US, which is now at an
advanced stage of readiness, plus Holmesian and Lovecraftian volumes
also on the table for this year. Also, a chapbook is due out soon
from Black Hare here in Australia, a psychological thriller titled If
Thine Eye Offend Thee. This will be in format with my previous
release with them, The Salamandrion.
My total accepted word
count stands at 1, 248, 985 words—this
including all reprints and solicitations, as well as podcasts—there
have been a few (links on my author site).
The Inspector
Trevelyan Mysteries has scored an extra placement, a tale
appearing shortly in Black Cat Weekly. A George Trevelyan
novel is now very much on the cards, probably for 2025, which on the
back of an expanding small press track record may be a flag-carrier
for the next level of this enterprise.
That's the view from
this particular keyboard as Year Eight melds into Nine. Short fiction
is beginning to give way to long form work, and my small press
credits are expanding (both novels and collections based in large
part on preexisting work, though always with some new material for
freshness). I hope a year from now I have more big steps to report!
Cheers,
Mike Adamson
Royalty-free
image from Unsplash.