Just One More Rejection
October 11, 2019

 I mentioned in a previous post[1] that I recently broke my own rules 
and submitted an essay to a literary market which charges a submission fee. I 
also mentioned that paying had set up the expectation in me that I'd receive 
something slightly better than a form rejection. No such luck. I got the usual
"Thank you for your submission. Unfortunately it's not right for us at this 
time. Please submit again." email.

I feel I've now proven to myself that paying money to have what usually happens
to me for free isn't really cost effective. The easy answer at this point would
be to say that from now on I'll stick only to markets that don't charge. But
having crossed the pay-to-submit Rubicon, I'm not so sure I won't ever send
anything out to that kind of market again. I can say, though, that if in the
future I submit to a market that asks for a fee, it will be the exception and
happen only after thorough consideration.

So (with the right to occasionally violate my own rules) I'm back to sending
pieces out to markets that don't require me to pay them. If this means I won't
ever appear in [insert the name of your favorite famous literary journal that
charges a submission fee here], so be it. If this also means I end up with
publications in a few less established, sometimes ephemeral, literary magazines
or websites, so be it, as well.

[1] https://www.andrewgudgel.com/blog/cost-benefit-analysis.txt

(c) 2019 by Andrew Gudgel 
email: contact [at] andrewgudgel.com