Necrography : Weblog

I don't like the word "rejected." I think it's rather ugly and has bad connotations - especially in relation to writing, art and photography submissions. Necrography receives so many submissions everyday and I like to think we don't "reject" any works at all.

I'm always impressed by the quality and workmanship of the writing we receive. If I were to quantify it, I'd say that less than five percent of our submissions are returned because of problems with quality. This seems to be a statistical norm and one that certainly holds true for writing submissions.

In general, when we choose not to publish a piece of writing (or art, or a photograph), we make this choice specifically because we feel the subject matter isn't precisely inline with the Necrography theme. Necrography is very narrowly focused on a specific theme and this doesn't leave much room for deviation. The same stories we return to authors will very easily find homes in one of many other paying markets.

It is with this understanding that I say we don't "reject" any work at all. In fact we only return work because it could be better utilized and highlighted in a market other than Necrography; and this is not a comment on quality whatsoever.

If your work isn't published by Necrography or any other market for that matter, don't think of it as being rejected. This is not rejection, but merely a small part of the business of writing; and one that should be taken with a grain of salt.

When we get submissions from amateur horror writers, artists, and photographers we do multiple reads and viewings before we make a determination on whether we want to buy rights to the work or not. Horror and deathly subjects, such as what Necrography will publish, can often be subtle in the way they play with the mind. I find that this subtlety is sometimes missed on a cursory read.

We feel it's incumbent on us as publishers to give your work our full attention, multiple times (and let it soak in) before making a determination on whether or not we want to publish it in Necrography. Because of this attention, we end up being a little backlogged depending on how many submissions we're getting.

Since we've had so many great pieces sent to us lately, we're in a backlog situation now. Our response time is out to about a month now. So, if you've recently submitted, don't worry, we'll get to you. Just be patient with us for a little while and rest assured we're giving the time and attention to your work that it deserves.

If you haven't submitted anything but are planning to, don't hesitate to do so. Just be aware that it will take us a few weeks, or more, to get back to you.

We're feverishly reading all this macabre horror fiction and poetry we've been receiving. There are some really great amateur horror writers out there. We've found a couple gems we took a liking to and we've already paid those writers for rights to publish their work. Our first issue is forming up quite well and we're excited about the coming December 2008 release.

We've come across a few nice photos and art pieces too but we're still wanting for more. We've also had a couple nonfiction works submitted and we'd love to have more of those as well. If you have any nonfiction work dealing with death and dying (in a horror way), we'd love to see it. Just make your submission at the website.

Not much time to write now; I gotta get back to reading!

We've got tons of submissions rolling in now and we're feverishly trying to keep up with them! We've read some really good pieces of work and we're really looking forward to reading some more. Everyone is still welcome to submit, their horror fiction, poetry, nonfiction, art and photography. Please just bear with us as it may be one to two months before we get back to you; we like to devote our entire attention to the horror writing we're reading.

We're not getting as many photographs or art (and digital art) pieces as we'd like. If you (or someone you know) have horror art or photos, don't hesitate to submit them to Necrography!

Keep those submissions coming!

Necrography Magazine is now listed at Ralan's Webstravaganza and Duotrope's Digest. We've been getting some good submission activity from these two writer's market sources. We've also submitted to Gila Queen's Guide to Markets.

We can't wait to hear from new and established horror fiction writers. We're looking forward to reading some exceptional macabre, deathly fiction!