I’ll explain the question mark in a moment.
I received a rejection letter from Pedestal Magazine today. It was a form rejection, and I will reproduce it below:
Dear Anthony:
Thank you for submitting your work to The Pedestal Magazine. We enjoyed reading it but regret that we cannot use it at this time.
We wish you the best of luck in placing your work elsewhere and sincerely hope that you will submit other writing to us in the future.
Best,
The Editors
The Pedestal Magazine
http://www.thepedestalmagazine.com
Standard form letter. No problem.
Well, actually, one problem.
I sent Pedestal two stories, taking advantage of their multiple submission policy for flash pieces. What you should note above is that they don’t specify the name of my piece.
Is this a rejection for both at once? Is it only rejecting one or the other? I don’t know.
All I can do is wait and see if I receive another rejection (or acceptance). It doesn’t really bother me, I just though it was strange. I would say that they are unaware that I had two submissions, but we are required to make mention of our other subs in the cover letter.
I’ll keep you updated as to the progress.
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In other news, you can look forward to the second installment of The Life and Times of J.D. McNutterhouse later in the week.
Also, I have finished writing the interactive story for my new website, and we have started on the graphics. If things work out, I will also have an exclusive track from a local musician, Povertyman, appearing during the credits of the story.
That is a bit of a head scratcher.
If both submissions were in the same envelope under the same cover letter, I’d be inclined to think they were rejecting both, since they probably read both at the same time.
It irks me a bit that a publisher can’t at least take the time to fill in a template in Word that mentions the piece name. Now you have to just wonder.
I looked at Zoetrope yesterday. They pay quite handsomely for a piece. Twelve hundred? But they also claim movie rights on it for a year. Does that mean that you only make the original amount and don’t get paid anymore? Do you get movie credit?
Sorry about Pedestal’s ambiguity.
Looking forward to the interactive story though! Seems like a big undertaking.
Jason, they were e-mail subs, done seperately. Though, I still have a feeling the rejection was for both.
Scott, Yeah, i know what you mean. But the situaion has a simple fix: I just have to send a query letter.
As for Zoetrope, I’d have to read the contract, but it sounds like you don’t get paid any more money if they make a movie.
So, if they don’t make a movie, that $1,200 is an amazing deal, but if they do make a movie, I’d feel ripped off.
Flood, thanks. Yeah, the graphics and music end will probably take a little while to complete, but I hope not too long.
Sorry to hear about the rejection(s). I just read the plumber over on devils work(I THINK that is where I was). Very nice job on that one. I see you are a fellow Stephen King fan(why does that not surprise me). Have you been watching the new series on TNT? It is called nightmares and dreamscapes from some of his various shortstories. If not you should check it out as it pretty good stuff. Keep your head up and keep writing.
Rob
Thanks, Rob. I’m glad you liked “The Plumber.” They messed up on some of the formating (missing italics), but I still wish the mag hadn’t gone under.
Yeah, King was my first taste of horror, and probably still my favorite. As for Nightmares and Dreamscapes, I haven’t missed an episode yet. I’m looking forward to “Autoposy Room 4.” Curious to see how they handle the static POV.
Devil’s work went under too? Or did the Plumber first appear in another mag? Yes,my first and still favorite is still SK as well. Tommyknockers was the one that got me started and it is that one I credit/blame for my ALWAYS having a book with me now twenty years later. His book ‘on writing’ was the one that gave me the push I needed to bother actually trying this out for myself. And he is a Bosox fan to boot! I have only seen the first 3 episodes so far but the rest are on my tivo waiting for me to catch up.
Later,
Rob
Yeah, Devil’s Work went under only months after first opening. I think they had trouble getting advertisers for the newsletter. Figures that the first mag to pay me for a story would end up failing. HA.
Sorry about your rejection letter. It does seem odd that they didn’t specify whether they were referring to one or both of your submissions.
Keep at it. 🙂