{"id":948,"date":"2012-02-17T00:16:21","date_gmt":"2012-02-17T05:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mattdebenham.com\/blog\/?p=948"},"modified":"2012-02-17T00:17:16","modified_gmt":"2012-02-17T05:17:16","slug":"whats-happened-whats-next-some-announcements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mattdebenham.com\/blog\/whats-happened-whats-next-some-announcements\/","title":{"rendered":"What&#8217;s Happened, What&#8217;s Next: SOME ANNOUNCEMENTS"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"tweetbutton948\" class=\"tw_button\" style=\"\"><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mattdebenham.com%2Fblog%2Fwhats-happened-whats-next-some-announcements%2F&amp;text=What%26%238217%3Bs%20Happened%2C%20What%26%238217%3Bs%20Next%3A%20SOME%20ANNOUNCEMENTS&amp;related=&amp;lang=en&amp;count=horizontal&amp;counturl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mattdebenham.com%2Fblog%2Fwhats-happened-whats-next-some-announcements%2F\" class=\"twitter-share-button\"  style=\"width:55px;height:22px;background:transparent url('https:\/\/www.mattdebenham.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-tweet-button\/tweetn.png') no-repeat  0 0;text-align:left;text-indent:-9999px;display:block;\">Tweet<\/a><\/div><div id=\"fb_share_1\" style=\"float: right; margin-left: 10px;\"><a name=\"fb_share\" type=\"box_count\" share_url=\"https:\/\/www.mattdebenham.com\/blog\/whats-happened-whats-next-some-announcements\/\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php\">Share<\/a><\/div><div><script src=\"http:\/\/static.ak.fbcdn.net\/connect.php\/js\/FB.Share\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/div><p><strong>What\u2019s Happened<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Great news! <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/debadvocate\" target=\"_blank\">THE ADVOCATE<\/a> was rejected by the <em>New Yorker<\/em> this week! I\u2019d sent it to them six months ago. Anyway, this is what a rejection note from the foremost short story outlet in the United States looks like:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mattdebenham.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/nyer-reject.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-949\" title=\"nyer-reject\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mattdebenham.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/nyer-reject-300x77.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"77\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mattdebenham.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/nyer-reject-300x77.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mattdebenham.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/nyer-reject.jpg 846w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Fancy, right? I\u2019m assuming \u201cevident merit\u201d refers to the fact that I\u2019d successfully attached my story as a document? Or that the sentences all ended in punctuation marks versus just trailing off?<\/p>\n<p>I received my first rejection from the <em>New Yorker<\/em> in 1995, when I was 25. I\u2019ve now been writing on purpose for 17 years. First of all, wow, that\u2019s a depressing amount of time, especially considering that the work has been passable-to-good for maybe six of those years. (Um, the most <em>recent<\/em> six, of course.) But second of all, this one 17 years later, it\u2019s the <strong>same rejection<\/strong>! I\u2019m pretty sure my work has improved between the first thing I ever sent them and now, when I\u2019ve been published in numerous other magazines and had an award-winning book, but according to the <em>New Yorker<\/em> rejection-bot I remain the same exact level of rejectability. Literary robot, you cut me to the quick, sir!<\/p>\n<p>Look, I didn\u2019t really expect to get into the <em>New Yorker<\/em>. It would\u2019ve been nice, but I\u2019m not a stupid. So why did I submit in the first place to a magazine I knew would reject me? Because it\u2019s The Way It\u2019s Done.<\/p>\n<p>The Way It\u2019s Done, if you&#8217;re a short story writer, is this:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You write a story;<\/li>\n<li>You send it out to a bunch of literary magazines;<\/li>\n<li>You wait for months. You may wait for a year*;<\/li>\n<li>Eventually, you hear back: Maybe some don&#8217;t want your story, maybe one does;<\/li>\n<li>The ones who don&#8217;t send you something called a &#8220;rejection note&#8221;;<\/li>\n<li>The closest most of the general population will get to receiving such a communication is by not paying a bill;<\/li>\n<li>In the creative arts, people seek this out as much as possible, because that is The Way It\u2019s Done.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5>*Which reminds me: fuck you, <em>Zoetrope All-Story<\/em>. Why are not-for-profit magazines with all-volunteer staffs quicker than you? Aren\u2019t there like a thousand Coppolas you can put on the job?<\/h5>\n<p>This short story business seems crazy, right? And also not like much of a business? As for the <em>New Yorker<\/em>, I\u2019m a little stumped as to why they even bother taking unsolicited or unagented submissions. It\u2019s kind of like <em>American Idol<\/em>. I know they show stadiums full of people at the auditions for <em>AI<\/em>, but how many of those people get to go in and meet Randy Jackson and J.Lo? I\u2019m pretty sure the people you see going into the room on TV are ALL the people who ever go in.<\/p>\n<p>In summation: Submitting your short fiction to the <em>New Yorker<\/em> and elsewhere, if you\u2019re me and you write the kind of stuff I do, is dumb. I write a kind of story that is very specific and not necessarily what lit mags are looking for. And yet, I have a perverse desire to have my work read by people. So there HAS to be a different way other than The Way It\u2019s Done. Which brings me to&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s Next<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Beginning in late March, I will be publishing short prose in the Kindle format, just like I did THE ADVOCATE. I will do this ONCE A MONTH. Most of the Kindle pieces will be new short stories. Occasionally, I\u2019ll put up an occasional piece from <em>The Book of Right and Wrong<\/em>, so that readers may sample that work. Month to month, I may throw in the occasional essay or a chapter from the novel-in-progress. Some publications will be 99 cents (free for Amazon Prime members), some will be free to everyone. ALL will continue to be sharable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho are you trying to be,\u201d you say, \u201csome kind of, uh, Charles Dickens-type guy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Yes. Yes, I am. Because not only did Dickens publish his work for the enjoyment of readers on a regular basis \u2013 sometimes weekly, sometimes monthly \u2013 who do you suppose published Charles Dickens\u2019 serialized work? Why, Charles Dickens did. Certainly, publishing has changed a lot since then, but need it have?<\/p>\n<p>We live in desperate times for fiction, and downright dire ones for the short story, a format I happen to love. With the publication of THE ADVOCATE, I was stunned by how many people were willing to read a short story in 2012. This tells me there\u2019s a future for this kind of fiction. So who\u2019s up for more future? Will you come with me on this wild journey? Will you start a Kickstarter to get my fiction taught in every middle school in America and its territories?<\/p>\n<p>You are my reader pal and you are the best. And in return, I promise to deliver a stunning series of literary offerings at competitive prices. Watch this space. You\u2019re gonna get boners about short fiction in 2012.<\/p>\n<p>Love,<\/p>\n<p>Matt Debenham<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div id=\"tweetbutton948\" class=\"tw_button\" style=\"\"><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mattdebenham.com%2Fblog%2Fwhats-happened-whats-next-some-announcements%2F&amp;text=What%26%238217%3Bs%20Happened%2C%20What%26%238217%3Bs%20Next%3A%20SOME%20ANNOUNCEMENTS&amp;related=&amp;lang=en&amp;count=horizontal&amp;counturl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mattdebenham.com%2Fblog%2Fwhats-happened-whats-next-some-announcements%2F\" class=\"twitter-share-button\"  style=\"width:55px;height:22px;background:transparent url('https:\/\/www.mattdebenham.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-tweet-button\/tweetn.png') no-repeat  0 0;text-align:left;text-indent:-9999px;display:block;\">Tweet<\/a><\/div><p>Want to see an actual rejection note from the New Yorker? Want to learn the future of fiction?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,3],"tags":[46,59,54,60,61],"class_list":["post-948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-updates","category-writing","tag-advocate","tag-book","tag-debenham","tag-new-yorker","tag-publishing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mattdebenham.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mattdebenham.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mattdebenham.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mattdebenham.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mattdebenham.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=948"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.mattdebenham.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":952,"href":"https:\/\/www.mattdebenham.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948\/revisions\/952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mattdebenham.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mattdebenham.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mattdebenham.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}