My writing year in focus
One problem with this: my year actually begins on 10 March 2007, when my old submissions database crashed beyond recall, so it’s not a full year – these figures are just all submissions since March, plus any that I’ve been able to remember as being out. NB – buy a hard drive in the sales if you’re reading this and you don’t have one – losing your data is a complete misery.
Otherwise, here’s how my year worked out for me, bearing in mind that it’s three months short, more or less:
• 81 submissions still out (the ‘most senior’ of which went out in 2005, and is still being peer-reviewed in a journal about working women!)
• 110 rejections
• 32 sales (which break down into 2 sales to non-paying markets – one because I love the concept (Liars League) and one because I love the stories they publish (East of the Web), 7 anthologies, one short story for podcast (The Late Late Show), one for national radio broadcast (Radio 4) and the remaining 21 to paying magazines and zines).
What does this mean? Well it’s an improvement on last year, which is what I’d hoped. The only downside for me is that I still haven’t found an agent yet, although the progress on that is at least steady. The next novel is around two months from being ready to send out, so if I have to retire the first one, I’ve got my follow up in hand. I’ve worked exactly three days as a non-writer this year, every other working day has been words, words, words, words. And it means I still love what I do enough to wake up grinning every working day and that I wander around at weekends feeling a bit lost if my family won’t let me write.
Anybody else care to share their stats?
2 Comments
Martin C
28th December 200781 subs still pending
201 rejections
0 acceptances.
I’ve had 2 stories published in 2007, but both of these were accepted in 2006 so I’m not counting them.
2007 wasn’t as good a year for me as 2006, even though I made 62 more submissions.
— Martin
TitaniaWrites
30th December 2007155 submissions – 31 still pending
30 “hits” – everything from longlistings to publication – 13 stories published & a book deal for my short story collection
94 rejections
2007 was a much better year than 2006!
Didn’t make much money but am ten pounds in the black this year….Would like to do better next year.
Tania