The other day, I was poking around my old web site in The Internet Archive looking for some information, and I happened to notice my “Response Times” link. This was a report that could be spit out by my old Manuscript Tracking database and which I used to upload from time to time just as a point of interest to show how long it was taking to get responses to submissions. Obviously this information is now completely out of date and utterly useless, but I thought it would be interesting to post its state as of the last time I updated it, over ten years ago. And so, here it is, in all its retro Web 1.0 glory:
Publisher/Agent Response Times
Note: The information
below comes straight out of my MS Tracking database. Obviously, one or
two submissions do not add up to a reliable average, but I included them
anyway. These are my experiences only. Your mileage may vary.
Markets listed as “CLOSED” are not necessarily out of publication,
but to the best of my knowledge are not accepting fiction submissions anymore.
They may still accept nonfiction or other types of submissions. In any
case, this list should not be accepted as definitive for the status of any
particular market.
Last Updated: 9/5/99 (I know, I’m a slacker …)
|
Publisher Name |
Submissions |
Last Submission |
Avg. TAT |
Non-Responses |
Closed? |
|
32 Pages |
2 |
12/13/98 |
116 |
1 |
No |
|
69 Flavors of Paranoia |
5 |
6/3/99 |
9 |
0 |
Yes |
|
Abbaddon |
1 |
5/10/99 |
59 |
0 |
No |
|
Aboriginal Science Fiction |
2 |
6/15/98 |
80 |
0 |
No |
|
Absolute Magnitude |
1 |
11/30/98 |
17 |
0 |
No |
|
Adventure Zine |
1 |
3/22/98 |
|
1 |
No |
|
Age of Wonder |
1 |
9/27/97 |
231 |
0 |
Yes |
|
Agony In Black |
2 |
1/19/99 |
101 |
1 |
No |
|
Albedo |
2 |
5/30/99 |
93 |
0 |
No |
|
Alfred Hitchcock |
1 |
10/23/97 |
33 |
0 |
No |
|
AlphaDrive |
1 |
10/4/98 |
111 |
0 |
Yes |
|
Altair |
5 |
5/24/99 |
22 |
0 |
No |
|
Altered Perceptions |
1 |
10/5/98 |
99 |
0 |
Yes |
|
Amazing Stories |
2 |
5/24/99 |
98 |
0 |
No |
|
Amelia |
4 |
5/24/99 |
37 |
0 |
No |
|
Anotherealm |
1 |
8/8/99 |
5 |
0 |
No |
|
Bloodsongs |
3 |
4/12/99 |
28 |
0 |
No |
|
Blue Murder |
2 |
4/25/99 |
86 |
0 |
No |
|
Byline |
4 |
7/12/99 |
32 |
0 |
No |
|
Cabal Asylum |
3 |
1/24/98 |
27 |
0 |
No |
|
Carpe Noctem |
1 |
3/5/98 |
|
1 |
No |
|
Cemetery Dance |
2 |
5/30/98 |
149 |
0 |
Yes |
|
Cemetery Sonata |
1 |
9/28/98 |
49 |
0 |
Yes |
|
Century |
5 |
3/29/99 |
88 |
0 |
No |
|
Challenging Destiny |
4 |
3/29/99 |
15 |
0 |
No |
|
Chasm |
4 |
5/3/99 |
99 |
0 |
No |
|
Clocktower Fiction |
6 |
8/9/99 |
42 |
0 |
No |
|
Con*Tour |
1 |
8/31/98 |
|
1 |
No |
|
Crank! |
1 |
7/6/98 |
4 |
0 |
Yes |
|
Crossroads |
2 |
1/19/99 |
44 |
0 |
Yes |
|
Dark Raptor Press |
1 |
5/10/98 |
|
1 |
Yes |
|
Dark Regions/Horror |
3 |
6/7/99 |
44 |
0 |
No |
|
Dark Tome |
2 |
11/15/98 |
|
2 |
Yes |
|
Dark Xzibit |
1 |
9/1/97 |
|
1 |
No |
|
DarkEcho |
1 |
6/27/97 |
41 |
0 |
Yes |
|
Darker Side Anthology |
1 |
7/22/99 |
16 |
0 |
Yes |
|
Darker Woods |
2 |
8/12/97 |
48 |
0 |
Yes |
|
Deadbolt |
1 |
10/13/98 |
38 |
0 |
No |
|
Deadtime Stories |
1 |
7/23/97 |
|
1 |
No |
|
Design Image Group |
4 |
3/28/98 |
37 |
0 |
No |
|
Design Image Group – |
1 |
3/4/98 |
30 |
0 |
Yes |
|
Dragon Magazine |
2 |
3/29/99 |
16 |
0 |
No |
|
Dread |
1 |
7/18/99 |
30 |
0 |
No |
|
Dreams of Decadence |
2 |
10/26/98 |
38 |
0 |
No |
|
Epitaph |
4 |
11/26/97 |
18 |
0 |
Yes |
|
E-Scape |
8 |
8/9/99 |
32 |
0 |
No |
|
Eternity Online |
8 |
3/15/99 |
26 |
0 |
No |
|
Evernight |
1 |
11/17/97 |
107 |
0 |
No |
|
Flesh & Blood |
7 |
8/15/99 |
4 |
0 |
No |
|
Galactic Citizen |
1 |
10/7/97 |
546 |
0 |
Yes |
|
genrEZONE |
1 |
6/5/99 |
2 |
0 |
No |
|
Glimmer Train Press |
4 |
4/12/99 |
37 |
0 |
No |
|
Gothic.Net |
4 |
6/6/99 |
58 |
1 |
No |
|
Grimoire |
2 |
7/24/99 |
15 |
0 |
No |
|
Hardshell Word Factory |
1 |
4/12/99 |
102 |
0 |
No |
|
Implosion |
1 |
1/25/99 |
108 |
0 |
No |
|
Infinite Edge |
1 |
6/10/97 |
|
1 |
Yes |
|
Irene Kraas Agency |
1 |
1/20/98 |
13 |
0 |
No |
|
Jackhammer |
1 |
10/11/98 |
4 |
0 |
No |
|
Leading Edge |
1 |
8/3/98 |
61 |
0 |
No |
|
Leisure Books |
2 |
2/8/99 |
19 |
0 |
No |
|
Lore |
3 |
5/3/99 |
70 |
0 |
No |
|
Maelstrom |
5 |
7/19/99 |
11 |
0 |
No |
|
Magazine of Fantasy and |
6 |
8/16/99 |
6 |
0 |
No |
|
Marion Zimmer Bradley |
3 |
6/3/99 |
51 |
0 |
No |
|
Medusa’s Hairdo |
2 |
11/22/98 |
37 |
0 |
No |
|
Meisha Merlin |
1 |
5/11/98 |
|
1 |
No |
|
Midnight Gallery |
1 |
11/20/97 |
96 |
0 |
No |
|
MindMares |
2 |
9/21/98 |
38 |
0 |
No |
|
Mind’s Eye Fiction |
2 |
11/7/97 |
128 |
1 |
No |
|
Neverworlds |
3 |
4/25/99 |
62 |
0 |
No |
|
Night Terrors |
1 |
7/20/98 |
7 |
0 |
No |
|
Nonstop |
1 |
9/21/98 |
|
1 |
No |
|
Northern Frights |
1 |
11/10/97 |
23 |
0 |
No |
|
Northern Fusion |
3 |
8/8/99 |
9 |
0 |
No |
|
Not One Of Us |
11 |
6/7/99 |
15 |
0 |
No |
|
Odyssey |
1 |
10/25/97 |
265 |
0 |
Yes |
|
Palace Corbie |
1 |
11/17/97 |
8 |
0 |
No |
|
Pirate Writings |
1 |
1/20/98 |
22 |
0 |
No |
|
Playboy |
2 |
1/4/99 |
39 |
0 |
No |
|
Pulp Fiction |
1 |
11/21/97 |
182 |
0 |
No |
|
Rage Machine |
3 |
1/10/99 |
2 |
0 |
No |
|
Richard Henshaw Group |
1 |
10/25/97 |
|
1 |
No |
|
Satire |
1 |
7/5/98 |
17 |
0 |
No |
|
Science Fiction Age |
3 |
8/9/99 |
10 |
0 |
No |
|
Shadowfall |
1 |
8/9/98 |
1 |
0 |
Yes |
|
Shiver |
4 |
3/4/99 |
70 |
0 |
Yes |
|
Silver Web |
2 |
6/18/98 |
8 |
0 |
No |
|
SpaceWays Weekly |
3 |
1/24/99 |
13 |
0 |
No |
|
Storyteller Magazine |
1 |
2/1/99 |
170 |
0 |
No |
|
Stygian Vortex |
2 |
2/6/98 |
36 |
1 |
Yes |
|
Supernova |
1 |
7/19/98 |
|
1 |
No |
|
Talebones |
19 |
6/2/99 |
8 |
0 |
No |
|
Tales from the Internet |
1 |
5/15/98 |
51 |
0 |
No |
|
Tale’s Realm, The |
1 |
10/18/98 |
|
1 |
No |
|
The Cooperative |
2 |
6/15/99 |
1 |
0 |
No |
|
The Edge |
7 |
5/24/99 |
28 |
0 |
No |
|
The Missouri Review |
4 |
6/21/99 |
28 |
0 |
No |
|
The Moraine |
4 |
11/8/98 |
26 |
3 |
No |
|
Tomorrowsf |
1 |
8/31/98 |
8 |
0 |
Yes |
|
Tor Books |
2 |
6/14/99 |
8 |
0 |
No |
|
TransVersions |
5 |
9/25/97 |
85 |
0 |
No |
|
Twisted Magazine |
1 |
10/8/97 |
|
1 |
Yes |
|
Urban Legends Press |
3 |
12/14/98 |
90 |
0 |
Yes |
|
Vampire Dan’s Story |
17 |
2/21/99 |
20 |
1 |
Yes |
|
Weird Tales |
7 |
6/28/99 |
49 |
0 |
No |
|
White Wolf |
1 |
3/30/98 |
7 |
0 |
Yes |
|
Wicked Mystic |
1 |
7/14/97 |
72 |
0 |
Yes |
|
Write Way |
1 |
8/3/98 |
10 |
0 |
No |
|
Zoetrope: All-Story |
1 |
2/22/99 |
60 |
0 |
No |
A few useless statistics from the table above:
| Longest response time | Galactic Citizen, 546 days(!) |
| Shortest response time | The Cooperative/Shadowfall (tie), 1 day |
| Most submissions | Talebones, 19 |
| Most non-responses | The Moraine, 3 |
Wow … I sure was a busy fellow back in the day. I would also say I was very patient, but I’m not sure that would be accurate.
Don’t forget to vote for the November scene of the month!
Viscosity 
Hi! This is really interesting! And for an added perspective, I thought you might want to visit my new blog at http://www.cherilaser.wordpress.com. There are only three posts thus far, so beginning with the Blog Launch Post will catch you up quickly.
Your comments and input would be welcome.
All the best,
Cheri
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Well I am a book publisher, and the problem is that it becomes steadily more depressing and hope extinguishing, wading through the dross that arrives each week…….writers could bring hope back into publishers lives – if only!
See more on this http://fabooks.wordpress.com/
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I don’t have a link to add to my comment. I didn’t know this was going to be “link” party or anything.
The “Galactic Citizen” must have been out of town for a while. hee hee!
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I would guess you were most IMpatient. No patient person would put together such a table tracking response times. 😉
549 days is pretty impressive. I had one journal reject my story once, and then they wrote me back a couple of months later to reject it again (it had not been resubmitted).
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