Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Submissions Are Closed

If you haven't sent me your submission for the brilliant anthology that will be Dark Pages Volume One - then you are too late.

Blade Red Press sent me the last batch of International-based submissions (where the clock still showed it as November 31) late yesterday. The entire world has ticked over into December now so submissions are well and truly closed.

Tomorrow I'm having a day off from the normal job. I intend on getting up at my usual time, dropping the little one off at school, and then spending the vast majority of the next 5 or so hours reading. I have 41 stories who remain unread at this point in time (there will be less than this by tomorrow as I intend to read some over lunch today). I'll spend an hour reading, take 20 minutes time out doing something else, and then return to reading for another hour, rinse and repeat, until I become jaded, get a headache, my brain explodes, or I finish reading all the stories - which ever happens first. My goal is to get at least halfway through whatever remains. Everything will be read by Sunday the 6th, with all remaining notifications going out sometime next week - that's the plan, but we all know what Steinbeck said about plans.

Now that the subs window has closed, you can expect a series of posts, both here and over at Alan Baxter's blog, about the process we've just been through. For those of you that want to know the how, why, and wherefores, it could make for some interesting reading. For many really new to the industry and the whole sub process, it will be essential reading. Watch this space             Okay, don't watch the space, but subscribe to this blog (and Alan's) so you don't miss out.




6 comments:

  1. Ah, I'm well aware of the learning curve. Nice graphic.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good luck with the reading. Hopefully it is all gold and gives you a hard time deciding. I would hate to have you waste your time.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yep - the learning curve is on both sides here - for those who submit and for me - and it's getting steeper...

    Not possible to waste time. I can't wait until everyone else can read what we eventually put together - the quality of submissions, in the majority of cases, has been outstanding. I don't expect the last lot I've got to read will be any different.

    ReplyDelete
  4. That is a nice representation. I'll bet tht you're a fast learner and have the process mastered already.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm lucky to absorb things quickly, but everytime something sinks in, something drops out.

    Unfortunately, it always seems to be a memory at the moment - I can't recall what I did yesterday half the time. Looking forward to retirement or that big book deal so I can start forgetting all this computer crap instead!

    ReplyDelete
  6. The learning curve resembles a competitive ski slope. I keep imagining little men looping around the posts!

    ReplyDelete