Tor Open Submissions for Novellas - May 2018 and July 2018

Serendipity said:
Ouch that is a long time to wait - what really cheeses me off is that (I suspect) famous authors don't have to wait that long for a response!
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My nonprofit/charity works with many prominent authors and when I mentioned my novella being in a queue for consideration at Tor (and that the queue is advancing at a snail's pace), every single author who has published with Tor basically said that the fits-and-starts pattern and the slowness is very much a Tor thing. Yes, even for well-known authors already publishing with them!

So I'm just over here writing the 2nd installment of my little kitsune's adventures...
 
Hi TBS I just saw this. I would definitely get in touch with a firm and polite request for an update. At this very late stage I would assume it’s a no that didn’t get sent out, but you should ask for your piece of mind. And you never know, it might be a yes.

I also think you’re right to crack on with book 2.
 
Dan Jones said:
Hi TBS I just saw this. I would definitely get in touch with a firm and polite request for an update. At this very late stage I would assume it’s a no that didn’t get sent out, but you should ask for your piece of mind. And you never know, it might be a yes.

I also think you’re right to crack on with book 2.
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The weird thing is that a "withdraw submission" button appeared about 3 weeks back on the Moksha page! (It wasn't there before.) Then there was a rather large jump to #389 in the queue for me (though I have now been stuck at that position for about 2.5 weeks). I'm guessing a number of people took advantage of the button to pull their subs out so they can sub their novellas elsewhere.

I think I shall just leave it be since I was told by half-a-dozen established SFF authors publishing with Tor that this sort of fits-and-starts pattern is perfectly in line with what they themselves experience with Tor. In the meantime, Novella #2 is probably going to be integrated with Novella #1 to make it a complete and utter rip-roaring comedy fantasy action-adventure since I was planning another 40K - 50K words for my little kitsune's road trip to Hell...

I mean - DAW is open for submissions for full-length novels and so is the new publisher Erewhon (run by a Tor alum).

UPDATE: Curioser and curiouser - the line showing the number of days left to wait has disappeared from the Moksha page...
 
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Serendipity said:
I would - this length of time for people like yourselves has totally put me off from ever subbing through one of their open doors ever again.... it must be well over a year by now?
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I'm not a professional like most of you. But, besides bluntly being inconsiderate and a poor way of doing business (the norm regardless), this seems like a great way to keep potentially good stories out of the market to reduce competition for what they do publish (though that's simply a wild unsubstantiated conspiracy theory). It also makes it so they can take their time, having something on file, if-or-when, they suddenly need product.

Just uneducated opinion on my part, yet if 'I' felt I had generated something of value, and it wasn't jumped on at the first reading, 'I' would take it elsewhere, where it-and-I might be treated with a modicum of respect.

But, I'm not in a position to comment past opinion.

K2
 
Serendipity said:
I would - this length of time for people like yourselves has totally put me off from ever subbing through one of their open doors ever again.... it must be well over a year by now?
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One year and 3 months at this point.

A friend of mine who knows one of the Tor editors did some gentle probing (mentioning no names, of course). She told him that everyone who is still in the running is still in the queue.

Honestly? When I finish the second novella (which is crawling along due to too many interruptions from family matters and day job issues), Imma gonna withdraw the novella, stitch both novellas together into a full-length novel, and pitch it elsewhere. Pretty sure what I've written is marketable and that there's a certain segment of the SFF readership who would absolutely devour it.

I am just thankful my long-suffering writing group continues to be supportive no matter how slowly it's going.
 
The Bluestocking said:
One year and 3 months at this point.

A friend of mine who knows one of the Tor editors did some gentle probing (mentioning no names, of course). She told him that everyone who is still in the running is still in the queue.

Honestly? When I finish the second novella (which is crawling along due to too many interruptions from family matters and day job issues), Imma gonna withdraw the novella, stitch both novellas together into a full-length novel, and pitch it elsewhere. Pretty sure what I've written is marketable and that there's a certain segment of the SFF readership who would absolutely devour it.

I am just thankful my long-suffering writing group continues to be supportive no matter how slowly it's going.
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Go for the novel.... and good luck.

As for Tor - if they treat writers like this, then how do they treat other people?
 
@Serendipity @Dan Jones We now have the answer as to how long Tor would take to reject a novella - 645 days.

Yup - I only found out my novella was rejected when I visited my Moksha page yesterday... and not a peep from them via email.

Onwards with expanding the novella into a full-length novel, then pitching elsewhere. Because clearly Tor isn't the market for comic fantasy.
 
I guess I should consider myself lucky that it took them only six months to reject my short story. At least I did get an email...
 
@The Bluestocking ; I'm so sorry your patience wasn't rewarded. With only one submission and a few requests from rag publishers under my belt (which the submission was declined very quickly), I'm not in a position to say much other than such discourteous behavior as I read about here--by publishers--really puts me off on the whole process. It takes so little to send an email (though after all the effort on a writer's part, it should be a paper letter).

Best wishes on your next submission,

K2
 
So sorry to hear it has taken that long Bluestocking. No person should have to wait over 18 months to get a rejection. In my view the publishers doing this without extenuating circumstances are just plain greedy in keeping the a writers creation all to themselves.
 
I'm not too bothered about it beyond remarking on the excessive amount of time Tor had taken to get to my submission. Some of my author friends who are pretty successful told me that 645 days is BEYOND excessive.

Once I've finished expanding my novella into a full-length novel, I'm pitching it elsewhere that has a track record of publishing fantasy with lashings of sharp, observant humour and a protagonist that doesn't fit into any comfortable pigeonhole.
 
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