I just wanted to share an anecdote about a market I submitted to. I won’t name names because I think (and hope) that they’re trying to address their problems now. But I submitted a story to this market back in June of 2009. Months went by without hearing back from them, and I queried them three times, using whatever emails I could find (since the main email address wasn’t producing a response). Eventually I withdrew the story after more than a year had passed. I know, I know – that’s too long. But I didn’t have many other markets that I was going to send it to and I thought it was a good fit.
Last week I heard, finally, from the editor saying that I should have received a response last year.
The actual rejection arrived this morning. As if it had just been written. Final elapsed time was 585 days.
I understand that editors are busy and that sometimes things are a little crazy these days, but it boggles my mind a bit.