Aeryn Rudel's Blog

900 Submissions: An Analysis

Mon, 12 May 2025 10:32:30 -0700

I recently hit another big story submission milestone. I sent my 900th submission since I started tracking them on Duotrope back in 2012. Like I usually do with this big round numbers, I’ll break down my overall stats, but this time, since 800 subs was almost exactly one year ago, we’ll do a little side-by-side comparison, too.��

First, the basic numbers.

��800 Subs900 Subs*Rejections642718Acceptances104112Withdrawals2629Lost/Never Responded2222Pending621

So, I’ve definitely been more active i...

posted by Aeryn Rudel on May, 13

Submission Statement: April 2025

Mon, 05 May 2025 10:11:19 -0700

April was a slightly better month than March, but though I made decent headway on a number of writing goals, it was still largely a disappointing month.

April 2025 Short Story StatsSubmissions Sent: 12Rejections: 11No Response: 0Acceptances: 1Further Consideration/Shortlist: 0Withdrawals: 0Pending: 20New Stories: 2

I sent twelve submissions in April, which gave me a total of fifty-two for the year. That works out to an average of thirteen submissions a mon...

posted by Aeryn Rudel on May, 06

Submission Statement: March 2025

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 11:42:42 -0700

To put it bluntly, March was a brutal month, but I did make some positive yardage. All of my trials, tribulations, and so, so many rejections below.

March 2025 Short Story StatsSubmissions Sent: 14Rejections: 11No Response: 0Acceptances: 0Further Consideration/Shortlist: 0Withdrawals: 0Pending: 19New Stories: 4

I sent fourteen submissions last month, which gives me a total of forty for the year. I sent out another two this morning, so I’m technically up t...

posted by Aeryn Rudel on April, 05

Path to Publication: The Downer

Fri, 21 Mar 2025 10:49:21 -0700

Time for another path to publication, wherein I recount the long and painful journey of a story from creation to that vaunted state of publication. This time, we’ll be looking at “The Downer��, a spec-fic piece that I thought was an absolute slam dunk when I finished it and turned out to be a two-year, sixteen-submission death march that had me questioning my talent, my submissions targeting skills, and even my sanity by the end. Before we get into all the rejections and whatnot, let me tell you ...

posted by Aeryn Rudel on March, 22

Surviving 700 Rejections

Tue, 18 Mar 2025 11:02:00 -0700

Last week, I hit another significant submission milestone. I received my 700th rejection since I started tracking them on Duotrope back in 2012. If you’ve been following my blog for any length of time, you know that when I hit a big round number like this, I like to take a deep dive into the stats and see what they can tell me. So, let’s do that.

First and Last

First up, let’s establish exactly how long I’ve been tracking all these no’s, not for us’s, and we’re gonna pass’s.

The first rejection...

posted by Aeryn Rudel on March, 19

Submission Statement: February 2025

Mon, 03 Mar 2025 10:08:39 -0800

February has come and gone, and it was a pretty solid month for submissions. I’m still on pace to hit all my goals for the year, from the number of submissions sent to the number of new stories written. Let’s dive in and take a closer look at the numbers.

February 2025 Short Story StatsSubmissions Sent: 11Rejections: 8No Response: 0Acceptances: 0Further Consideration/Shortlist: 1Withdrawals: 0Pending: 20New Stories: 7

I sent eleven submissions last month,...

posted by Aeryn Rudel on March, 04

Submission Statement: January 2025

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 12:06:54 -0800

The first month of 2025 is in the books, and here’s my first submission statement for the new year. These updates will be a little different this year because my goals for 2025 are fairly ambitious. I’m also tracking them in a fun new way (more on that at the end of the post). For this first post, let me go ahead and quickly list my goals for 2025.

Write one new story per week.
Send 150 submissions.
Receive 24 acceptances.
Make 12 pro sales.
Receive 100 rejections.

With the goals out o...

posted by Aeryn Rudel on February, 04

Pro or Not Pro, That Is the Question

Thu, 30 Jan 2025 10:44:29 -0800

Recently, I outlined my writing goals for 2025, which you can see . One of those goals is to make at least 12 pro sales, but that leads me to the following question. What exactly IS a pro sale? It’s not as cut and dry as you might think, so, in this post, I’m going to go over some of the ways folks determine if a sale is pro or not. I’m also going to cover some of the gray areas, and then give you my thoughts on how I’m personally going to determine pro or not pro for my own story sales.

Fir...

posted by Aeryn Rudel on January, 31

2025 Writing Goals Bingo

Fri, 24 Jan 2025 10:40:29 -0800

This post is a little late in the month, but I thought I’d share my writing goals for the coming year, which are admittedly ambitious, and then show you a fun way to track writing goals in general. The main thrust of those goals is putting a greater emphasis on both writing and submitting short stories. This doesn’t mean I’ll stop working on or querying long-form fiction, but in the last couple of years, that’s been almost my entire focus (along with a lot of freelance work), and I want to get b...

posted by Aeryn Rudel on January, 25

Submission Statement: November 2024

Mon, 02 Dec 2024 12:00:58 -0800

And that’s a wrap on November. Let’s see how I fared in the story submission trenches.

November 2024 Short Story Submissions

Submissions Sent: 7

Rejections: 3

No Response: 0

Acceptances: 1

Further Consideration/Shortlist: 0

Withdrawals: 0

Pending: 8

I sent seven submission in November, three off my goal of ten, but I’m not unhappy with that total. It gives me 62 for the year, which, again, is a bit off my usual goal, but with everything I’ve had g...

posted by Aeryn Rudel on December, 03