Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Apologies

I have read every submission. Over 1,000,000 words, equating to 267 stories have passed under my gaze over the last couple of months.

I have sent my decision on nearly all of them to the publisher...yeah, nearly all of them. There are a select few of you who have given me reason to pause - and then pause some more before making a final decision. And this is only on putting together a short list. God help us when it comes to putting together the ToC!

So to those 20 or so authors who are still waiting on a decision from me at this time, I apologise for the delay. You have all written wonderful stories and I'm loathed to let them go, but some will have to be released back into the wild with nothing but my best wishes and deepest condolences. They will, like many of those I've already said no to, find a home in the not-too-distant-future - they are too good not to.

Honestly, the quality of what I've had to say no to is mind boggling.

Nearly at phase two - patience, grasshopper.

7 comments:

  1. A million words? Holy cow. That is epic. :o

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  2. That is a whole lot of story reading. You deserve a beer and a pair of new reading glasses, I'm pretty sure you just wore a pair out.

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  3. I admire your pluck. I think I could be the first line of defense when dealing with slush, but those final decisions, I don't envy that position.

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  4. My eyes would be bleeding at this point. :)

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  5. Far out, that's a lot of reading. I'm jealous that you can get through it so efficiently.

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  6. Epic - actually I think it's the equivalent of a dozen epic fantasy sagas. What comes after epic?

    To date, I don't wear glasses for reading (or anything else except for keeping the sun out of my eyes), but I can see a day in the not too distant future...

    Bec - I'll keep that in mind if I do another one of these.

    Laura - I didn't say mine weren't, but I have been lucky with the quality of subs keeping me going.

    D - yep, me too.

    Ben - all you have to do is put everything else, including your life, on hold for a couple of months. I'm seriously looking forward to the next thing I read just for the fun of it - that would be after I review a few books I've had to put on hold, and begun my own revisions, and...

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