We've changed our submissions guidelines, our payment format, and our editorial process for the foreseeable future. We've been discussing it for a while, but this crazy quarter cause quite a stir, and we needed to rethink some things.
So before you send us any submissions for the upcoming July issue, please make sure you reread our submission guidelines page, including the payment information at: http://www.wingedhalo.com/guidelines.html
The basics are this: Everyone gets paid the same except the Feature Story winner. Everyone gets a subscription and cash. Win-win. We thought that was better. And simpler.
The changes do NOT affect authors who submitted prior to April 1, 2009.
As for the new editorial process, you can read about it here: http://www.wingedhalo.com/process.html
We now require six YES votes instead of five to accept a story outright. We can only publish 6-8 stories per quarter, so we don't want to fill the issue too quickly. Stories with less that six YES votes will still be considered for the issue (and Feature Story) but they will be held until the end of the quarter and compared to the other held stories before they are formally accepted.
We would love to hear your feedback on these changes...
In other news, we'd like to announce that Kurt Kirchmeier has been promoted to Associate Editor and has graciously allowed me to interview him for the upcoming PDF issue of FMM! Our subscription will have that and more, including a book review of Ilona Andrews' newest book, Magic Strikes. Subscribe today at http://www.wingedhalo.com/subscribe.html for only $8!
More news:
We will be publishing another all-fantasy issue this October.
Our last all-fantasy issue was an astounding success so we’d like to do it again. Submissions will be accepted between April 30th and August 31st. Stories received outside of these reading dates will be rejected outright.
There are special guidelines for this issue and a separate email account set up for these submissions, so please read our fantasy issue guidelines at http://www.wingedhalo.com/fig.html
Submissions sent to our regular submissions email address will not be considered for the special fantasy issue. Any submissions received that do not follow these specific guidelines may be rejected outright.
That's enough for now...
JDawson
Editor-in-Chief
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
All caught up!
What can I say except that my staff is amazing?
They have been slaving away for the last 48 hours, trudging through the slush pile to meet my unreasonable request that we clear out the inbox before midnight. But they did it and they did it far quicker than I expected.
We still have 29 submissions before the editors, and we're still open for new submissions until midnight EST, but for now the inbox is empty and that's the first time in a long time. Actually, I went back through all the blog entries, and this is the first time the inbox has been empty all quarter. Impressive.
Enough bragging; here are the stats:
We have received 362 submissions so far this quarter.
We have rejected 309 stories, sent 15 back for rewrites, held 3 for voting, and accepted 6 already.
We have 29 submissions before the editorial board right now, and 0 left in our inbox.
Now, we have done something unprecedented this quarter in regards to held submissions. With six accepted stories, we knew we only had two slots left to fill, which didn't give those 12 "held for voting" stories much hope. So we sent those that didn't have three or more "Yes" votes a revised rewrite letter, giving them the option to make revisions to their stories and resubmit them next quarter. Or not. The choice is theirs, but we felt that was the better option given the odds of making it into this April issue.
So we now only have three stories held for voting, and about ten hours.
I have to tell you, this issue may have given me ulcers... it's been one interesting quarter.
JDawson
Editor-in-Chief
They have been slaving away for the last 48 hours, trudging through the slush pile to meet my unreasonable request that we clear out the inbox before midnight. But they did it and they did it far quicker than I expected.
We still have 29 submissions before the editors, and we're still open for new submissions until midnight EST, but for now the inbox is empty and that's the first time in a long time. Actually, I went back through all the blog entries, and this is the first time the inbox has been empty all quarter. Impressive.
Enough bragging; here are the stats:
We have received 362 submissions so far this quarter.
We have rejected 309 stories, sent 15 back for rewrites, held 3 for voting, and accepted 6 already.
We have 29 submissions before the editorial board right now, and 0 left in our inbox.
Now, we have done something unprecedented this quarter in regards to held submissions. With six accepted stories, we knew we only had two slots left to fill, which didn't give those 12 "held for voting" stories much hope. So we sent those that didn't have three or more "Yes" votes a revised rewrite letter, giving them the option to make revisions to their stories and resubmit them next quarter. Or not. The choice is theirs, but we felt that was the better option given the odds of making it into this April issue.
So we now only have three stories held for voting, and about ten hours.
I have to tell you, this issue may have given me ulcers... it's been one interesting quarter.
JDawson
Editor-in-Chief
Monday, March 30, 2009
Following Submission Guidelines
Starting April 1, 2009 we will no longer send courtesy emails letting authors know that we cannot accept their submissions as is. If a submission does not follow our submission guidelines, it will be deleted unread and no receipt email will be sent.
The two biggest complaints are failure to put the story title in the subject line and incorrect attachments. If we can't open it, what's the point of sending it? If we can't find your submission amid the 300+ in our inbox, it wastes our time and yours.
All markets have specific guidelines they wish authors to follow, and ours are not incredibly difficult. So if you didn't read our guidelines prior to submission and you didn't get a receipt email within two days, assume you did something incorrectly, read the guidelines to figure it out, and resubmit it properly.
This may seem harsh, but we've had the same submission guidelines for more than a year and we still receive dozens of incorrect submissions. What's worse are the rude replies I've received to our courtesy emails letting the authors know why we can't accept their submissions as is. So enough is enough. Our submission guidelines specifically state that "Emails received without the proper subject will be deleted as junk mail." It's time we followed through.
JDawson
Editor-in-Chief
The two biggest complaints are failure to put the story title in the subject line and incorrect attachments. If we can't open it, what's the point of sending it? If we can't find your submission amid the 300+ in our inbox, it wastes our time and yours.
All markets have specific guidelines they wish authors to follow, and ours are not incredibly difficult. So if you didn't read our guidelines prior to submission and you didn't get a receipt email within two days, assume you did something incorrectly, read the guidelines to figure it out, and resubmit it properly.
This may seem harsh, but we've had the same submission guidelines for more than a year and we still receive dozens of incorrect submissions. What's worse are the rude replies I've received to our courtesy emails letting the authors know why we can't accept their submissions as is. So enough is enough. Our submission guidelines specifically state that "Emails received without the proper subject will be deleted as junk mail." It's time we followed through.
JDawson
Editor-in-Chief
Another update
Here are the current stats:
We have received 356 submissions so far this quarter.
We have rejected 294 stories, sent 6 back for rewrites, held 12 for voting, and accepted 6 already (though we haven't notified the newest accepted author yet).
We have 19 submissions before the editorial board right now, and 19 left in our inbox.
FMM Staff
We have received 356 submissions so far this quarter.
We have rejected 294 stories, sent 6 back for rewrites, held 12 for voting, and accepted 6 already (though we haven't notified the newest accepted author yet).
We have 19 submissions before the editorial board right now, and 19 left in our inbox.
FMM Staff
Current Stats
Here are the current stats:
We have received 354 submissions so far this quarter.
We have rejected 256 stories, sent 5 back for rewrites, held 12 for voting, and accepted 6 already (though we haven't notified the newest accepted author yet).
We have 43 submissions before the editorial board right now, and 32 left in our inbox.
Due to the number of accepted stories this quarter, we will NOT be holding any other stories for voting this quarter. We will still be reviewing submissions up until midnight EST tomorrow night, but unless a story receives five YES votes by our editors, it will not be considered for the issue.
At this point, it might be best to hold off sending us new submissions until next quarter, which begins April 1st. We will of course continue to receive submissions.
This is an unusual quarter for us, though, and the issue is almost full.
JDawson
Editor-in-Chief
We have received 354 submissions so far this quarter.
We have rejected 256 stories, sent 5 back for rewrites, held 12 for voting, and accepted 6 already (though we haven't notified the newest accepted author yet).
We have 43 submissions before the editorial board right now, and 32 left in our inbox.
Due to the number of accepted stories this quarter, we will NOT be holding any other stories for voting this quarter. We will still be reviewing submissions up until midnight EST tomorrow night, but unless a story receives five YES votes by our editors, it will not be considered for the issue.
At this point, it might be best to hold off sending us new submissions until next quarter, which begins April 1st. We will of course continue to receive submissions.
This is an unusual quarter for us, though, and the issue is almost full.
JDawson
Editor-in-Chief
Saturday, March 28, 2009
More updates
Here are the current stats:
We have received 337 submissions so far this quarter.
We have rejected 248 stories, sent 5 back for rewrites, held 12 for voting, and accepted 5 already (though we haven't notified the newest accepted author yet).
We have 34 submissions before the editorial board right now, and 33 left in our inbox. The stories before the editors right now were received between March 1st and March 20th. We have not started reviewing any submissions received after March 20th yet.
If you submitted a story before March 1, 2009 and you have not heard from us, please query!
FMM Staff
We have received 337 submissions so far this quarter.
We have rejected 248 stories, sent 5 back for rewrites, held 12 for voting, and accepted 5 already (though we haven't notified the newest accepted author yet).
We have 34 submissions before the editorial board right now, and 33 left in our inbox. The stories before the editors right now were received between March 1st and March 20th. We have not started reviewing any submissions received after March 20th yet.
If you submitted a story before March 1, 2009 and you have not heard from us, please query!
FMM Staff
Thursday, March 26, 2009
BTW (and misc info)
BTW - Posts will become more frequent as quarter-end draws closer. I know all authors are eagerly awaiting news about their stories, whether theirs are still in the slush pile or are being held for voting.
Until the April issue is decided (somewhere between the 5th and 17th of April) and all rejection letters have been sent, I will keep posting progress reports here.
The slush pile is a little topsy-turvy due to two people running the account, so rejections aren't being sent out in exact order. Right now the stories before the editors were received between March 1st and March 9th, with one still there from February 14th.
Remember to get your submissions to us by midnight EST on March 31st for consideration for the April issue...
JDawson
Editor-in-Chief
Until the April issue is decided (somewhere between the 5th and 17th of April) and all rejection letters have been sent, I will keep posting progress reports here.
The slush pile is a little topsy-turvy due to two people running the account, so rejections aren't being sent out in exact order. Right now the stories before the editors were received between March 1st and March 9th, with one still there from February 14th.
Remember to get your submissions to us by midnight EST on March 31st for consideration for the April issue...
JDawson
Editor-in-Chief
More Progress
We are making more progress as the month (and the quarter) comes to a close...
Here are the current stats:
We have received 328 submissions so far this quarter.
We have rejected 218 stories, sent 5 back for rewrites, held 9 for voting, and accepted 5 already (though we haven't notified the newest accepted author yet).
We have 27 submissions before the editorial board right now, and 64 left in our inbox.
FMM Staff
Here are the current stats:
We have received 328 submissions so far this quarter.
We have rejected 218 stories, sent 5 back for rewrites, held 9 for voting, and accepted 5 already (though we haven't notified the newest accepted author yet).
We have 27 submissions before the editorial board right now, and 64 left in our inbox.
FMM Staff
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Working Hard
Here are the current stats:
We have received 318 submissions so far this quarter.
We have rejected 209 stories, sent 5 back for rewrites, held 9 for voting, and accepted 5 already (though we haven't notified the newest accepted author yet).
We have 36 submissions before the editorial board right now, and 54 left in our inbox.
***
Quarter-end is March 31st, so if you want your stories considered for the April issue, we need to receive your submission by midnight EST on the 31st. Stories received after midnight are considered for the July issue.
***
In other news, we have filled ALL of our vacant positions at FMM! We recently hired two editors and a publishing assistant. Look for their bios on our staff page when the next issue debuts.
JDawson
Editor-in-Chief
We have received 318 submissions so far this quarter.
We have rejected 209 stories, sent 5 back for rewrites, held 9 for voting, and accepted 5 already (though we haven't notified the newest accepted author yet).
We have 36 submissions before the editorial board right now, and 54 left in our inbox.
***
Quarter-end is March 31st, so if you want your stories considered for the April issue, we need to receive your submission by midnight EST on the 31st. Stories received after midnight are considered for the July issue.
***
In other news, we have filled ALL of our vacant positions at FMM! We recently hired two editors and a publishing assistant. Look for their bios on our staff page when the next issue debuts.
JDawson
Editor-in-Chief
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Catching Up
We are slowly but surely catching up on submissions:
We have received 309 submissions so far this quarter.
We have rejected 203 stories, sent 5 back for rewrites, held 9 for voting, and accepted 4 already.
We have 43 submissions before the editorial board right now, and 45 left in our inbox.
***
Since my last post, we have received an influx of thanks for our editorial feedback and one very unsatisfied customer, about which I may post more at a later date.
For now, all authors should know that we delete these hateful emails without replying. We do discuss them amongst ourselves, though. We reread our feedback, the stories, and the authors' unhappy replies to see if we might have crossed the line between honest feedback and tactlessness. So far, we haven't, so we delete these emails without replying and trudge on; we don't need the unpleasant discourse.
These emails are far outweighed by all the letters of thanks we receive from authors who appreciate our feedback. We get so many I never have the chance to reply to them all, but we do read them. We are one of the few markets that offers editorial feedback with rejection letters, and we continue to do so because the majority of authors seem to appreciate knowing why we passed on their story. They may not agree, they may not like the answers, but they do appreciate the time it takes us to do this for every rejected story. And it is for those authors that we carry on...
JDawson
Editor-in-Chief
We have received 309 submissions so far this quarter.
We have rejected 203 stories, sent 5 back for rewrites, held 9 for voting, and accepted 4 already.
We have 43 submissions before the editorial board right now, and 45 left in our inbox.
***
Since my last post, we have received an influx of thanks for our editorial feedback and one very unsatisfied customer, about which I may post more at a later date.
For now, all authors should know that we delete these hateful emails without replying. We do discuss them amongst ourselves, though. We reread our feedback, the stories, and the authors' unhappy replies to see if we might have crossed the line between honest feedback and tactlessness. So far, we haven't, so we delete these emails without replying and trudge on; we don't need the unpleasant discourse.
These emails are far outweighed by all the letters of thanks we receive from authors who appreciate our feedback. We get so many I never have the chance to reply to them all, but we do read them. We are one of the few markets that offers editorial feedback with rejection letters, and we continue to do so because the majority of authors seem to appreciate knowing why we passed on their story. They may not agree, they may not like the answers, but they do appreciate the time it takes us to do this for every rejected story. And it is for those authors that we carry on...
JDawson
Editor-in-Chief
Friday, March 20, 2009
Trudging Through
Here are the current stats:
We have received 301 submissions so far this quarter.
We have rejected 165 stories, sent 5 back for rewrites, held 8 for voting, and accepted 4 already.
We have 41 submissions before the editorial board right now, and 78 left in our inbox.
***
We have lost one editor, Janet, and hired a new editor, Jannette.
We are currently looking for at least one more editor and a publishing assistant to join our team. We're looking for people who enjoy reading a wide variety of fiction and who have the time to devote to the magazine. All of our staff works on a volunteer basis and enthusiasm is more important than any experience.
For more information, including job descriptions and how to apply, visit: http://www.wingedhalo.com/positions.html
We are also looking for more books to review. Currently, we only review books by authors we have published, anthologies featuring a story by an author we've published, or collections of flash fiction stories. For more information, visit: http://www.wingedhalo.com/reviews.html
JDawson
Editor-in-Chief
We have received 301 submissions so far this quarter.
We have rejected 165 stories, sent 5 back for rewrites, held 8 for voting, and accepted 4 already.
We have 41 submissions before the editorial board right now, and 78 left in our inbox.
***
We have lost one editor, Janet, and hired a new editor, Jannette.
We are currently looking for at least one more editor and a publishing assistant to join our team. We're looking for people who enjoy reading a wide variety of fiction and who have the time to devote to the magazine. All of our staff works on a volunteer basis and enthusiasm is more important than any experience.
For more information, including job descriptions and how to apply, visit: http://www.wingedhalo.com/positions.html
We are also looking for more books to review. Currently, we only review books by authors we have published, anthologies featuring a story by an author we've published, or collections of flash fiction stories. For more information, visit: http://www.wingedhalo.com/reviews.html
JDawson
Editor-in-Chief
Friday, March 13, 2009
Kicking it into Gear
March 31st is the end of our submission quarter, so we're stepping things up to get through all the back-logged submissions. We finally sent out our acceptance emails, and have our administrative staff settled in. Things look good for the weeks ahead.
Here are the current stats:
We have received 271 submissions so far this quarter.
We have rejected 123 stories, sent 3 back for rewrites, held 6 for voting, and accepted 4 already (which is an outstanding amount! We haven't accepted four stories outright in years!)
We have 9 submissions before the editorial board right now, and 119 left in our inbox. We have not reviewed any submissions received after February 13th. That will change very soon and very quickly as we charge through submissions in the next few weeks.
Rest assured that we will review all submissions received by midnight EST March 31st. You may not hear from us before April 17th, but most likely we will be done reviewing all submissions before April 5th and will vote on all held submissions at that time.
April 17th is the very latest you will hear from us if you submitted a story before April 1st, so if you do not hear from us by then, please query. And remember, we notify each author when we receive their submission. If you do not receive an email within a few days, assume we have not received your submission and resend it.
That's all for now...
JDawson
Editor-in-Chief
Here are the current stats:
We have received 271 submissions so far this quarter.
We have rejected 123 stories, sent 3 back for rewrites, held 6 for voting, and accepted 4 already (which is an outstanding amount! We haven't accepted four stories outright in years!)
We have 9 submissions before the editorial board right now, and 119 left in our inbox. We have not reviewed any submissions received after February 13th. That will change very soon and very quickly as we charge through submissions in the next few weeks.
Rest assured that we will review all submissions received by midnight EST March 31st. You may not hear from us before April 17th, but most likely we will be done reviewing all submissions before April 5th and will vote on all held submissions at that time.
April 17th is the very latest you will hear from us if you submitted a story before April 1st, so if you do not hear from us by then, please query. And remember, we notify each author when we receive their submission. If you do not receive an email within a few days, assume we have not received your submission and resend it.
That's all for now...
JDawson
Editor-in-Chief
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