I’m trying to think if I’ve ever had a true ‘open reading’ period for an anthology before. Obviously Eidolon magazine was always looking for new work, and Jeremy Byrne and I did have a reasonably long open period for the Eidolon anthology. Books like The Starry Rift, Eclipse One and Godlike Machines, though, were all invitation only. Assembling any kind of anthology has different challenges, but when I posted the information about an open reading period for Eclipse Two and Three, I’m not sure I’d really thought it through.
I certainly had clear reasons for having an open reading period, but I don’t know that I ever actually worked out what it would mean. As those who are interested know, the reading period runs for the month of February (1-29), which seemed reasonable last Thursday. Since it began I’ve received just over 100 submissions, and could well be on target to get 400 or so submissions. That’s potentially four million words of stories (don’t laugh Charles). I’m more than a little overwhelmed.
At the moment I’m also reading through Ellen Datlow’s The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy, which so far is my favorite of her recent anthologies (Inferno is great, but I’m not a true horror fan and this one is better than Salon Fantastique, which was good). Traveling through the stories while occasionally reading submissions seems to be giving me some kind of barometer as I go. I find myself comparing, checking in, and so on.
I am, for what it’s worth, trying to respond quickly too, even though the reading period doesn’t officially start till 1 March. I figure it’s best, rather than letting things build up. This means, usually, that the longer it takes to hear from me, the better things are. Also, if you hear from me very quickly, this doesn’t mean I didn’t fully consider your story. For example, I was at work yesterday, having my lunch break. I had nothing to read with me, but five new submissions had come in that morning and were sitting in my web-mail account, so I read and responded to them all. Hopefully, if I can, I’ll keep things going at that pace.
As to whether I’d hold another open reading period in future – I don’t know. This is almost certainly the only one for Eclipse for the next few years. We’ll see about other things as time goes on. Oh, and a special note to Eclipse invitees. I still want your stories, desperately. Please don’t think ‘he has 400 stories and doesn’t need mine’. I do.
Dear Jonathan,
You rock :)
The end.
For the Interzone email reading periods I get about 400 to 500 submissions a month. Your estimate of 400 actually sounds on the low side.
So now you know why I do only two to three of such email submission windows per year….;-)
Sorry the submissions were overwhelming. I think it partly has to do with the fact that there aren’t many professional venues that aspirants can send their SF short stories.
Anyway, I appreciate that you had an open reading period (and thanks for the quick response, as well!) I look forward to seeing the completed anthology, :-)
I shouldn’t whine. There are worse things in the world than people wanting to be IN your book. I appreciate your sending your story, and will endeavour to deal with all of the subs as quickly as I can. I’m also not going to close subs early, or anything. As long as they come in by Feb 29, we’re good.
And yeah, Jetse, I do :)
If no news is good news (at this stage), is there any chance that no news is terrible news, because your submission didn’t make it through the wires? In other words, are you sending acknowledgements upon receipt, Jonathan, or is it just a case of wait and see. Which I’d imagine it is, because sending out 400 acknowledgements would severely disrupt reading time…
I’m not actually sending acknowledgements on receipt. If I’d had more time to get ready, I might have set up a dedicated email address, with an autoreply, but I made the decision on a kind of last minute basis. I’ve topped the 200 submission mark, and will send the next batch of responses on 1 March. And, yeah, I got your story :)
Did you like my roundabout way of asking, though? :)
I think the earlier poster nailed it: I think it partly has to do with the fact that there aren’t many professional venues that aspirants can send their SF short stories.
***
Aside from all of the “4theluv” and token-payment markets out there, it’s really tough finding paying markets who are actually open to submissions (or finding them while their reading periods are open, as with Eclipse Two).
But then, maybe it’s just where we’re looking for the markets?
Here’s hoping my entry has a shot against those other 400 entries…
:-)