Complacency and Rejection

In comparison to big names like Stephen King and Dean Koontz, who say they received many rejections before they were accepted, I found a strange thing. 

The authors who are coming up, sending out to "Indie" publishers, are getting accepted fairly quick. Some are harder to get into, but for the most part, if you're persistent you can have stories placed without piling up rejections. 

And that's good. 

It's a confidence booster. It helps those publications build their roster of authors and magazines, and is a great building block to hone your craft (as is said everywhere in literary mags." 

Also, as those magazines grow, and the authors grow, they can say, "I started with so and so way back when." 

But what about those big time authors who said it took them long, many rejections, cork boards plastered with rejection slips galore? 

Well, they were submitting to different places. Harder places to get into. 

I was thinking about this and realized that they were submitting to what may be termed traditional publishers. Magazines that are for sale in candy stories, or your neighborhood Barnes and Noble. 

And I thought, it's great to get acceptances. These up and coming publications definitely needed. But for the writers who are looking to make a solid career out of this, one where you can sustain yourself on the writing alone, we must strive for the bigger places, as well. 

The Horror Writers Associations says to start from the top, in terms of paying publications. 

To become complacent is a career death sentence of sorts. Make room for the new authors. Move up to he next level. 

Some are able to make their careers out of self publishing, and that's awesome. 

It's a bit more work, but if you can do it, excellent! 

But remember, all that time you're advertising, or making a press release, you could be writing. 

Which path is longer? 

It depends on a lot of factors. 

I just realized that I don't want to stand still. I want to grow and do this for a living. 

Is that bad? 

I don't think so. 

WCM













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