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Another door slams

edited December 2016 in Writing
My apologies if this is old news for some, but yesterday I had an email from Bauer (Take a Break Fiction Feast etc.) saying that in future they would only look at submissions from a list of writers they had published several times before. Drat! Having recently had a story published in TaB Fiction Feast, I was hoping I had at last got a toe in the door.
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Comments

  • You were not alone, Kayess. It was the main topic of conversation in the womag Facebook groups yesterday.
  • Thanks Carol, I'll have a look at the conversations if my server ever lets me look at Facebook again. For some unknown reason, I haven't been able to get on it for two days.
  • Not that I had any accepted by them, but surely their readers will become bored with the same old, same old?
  • That's a blow, Kayess. I wonder what has prompted Take a Break to do that? Too many poor quality submissions that they haven't the time or resources to trawl through, d'you think? Maybe they'll change their mind in due course when they need fresh blood again!
  • Think you're on the money, Claudia. Such formats must be overwhelmed with submissions from new/novice writers. With the surge in 'I'm going to be a writer' ambitions, I guess it was not to be unexpected. When I think back to my first pieces, I can now fully understand why they were trashed. Back then, well, I hadn't a clue.
  • edited December 2016
    They have said they got 10 times the number of subs they needed and could no longer justify trawling through them. I didn't get an email yesterday and was quite upset as I've sold them lots of stories before, though none this year. However, I queried it and I am on the list so that is a relief for me.
    I still think it is a shame for new writers though, who have one fewer place to try now, and for those like Kayess who had just broken into that market. It is very disheartening. They do say that it is possible they may expand the list in the future so if this doesn't work out the way they want it to there is possibly still hope. Fingers crossed for you and the others Kayess.
  • The person responsible has replied to my blog post on the subject - http://womagwriter.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/big-changes-at-tab.html
  • To be perfectly honest

    There is plenty more fish in the sea ie places to get published and if your writing is up to standard or better then you WILL get published somewhere so this isn't really much of a problem, is it?
  • There aren't many places that pay as well as TaB.
  • Fishing stocks are dwindling. There used to be many more magazines taking fiction than there are now if you go back 20 years or so, and many magazines are still only paying what they paid then, if at all. However, all is not lost. It's far easier to submit to overseas magazines now.

    On a slightly different tack, does anyone know if TAB will consider features etc.?
  • They're always advertising for the 'true life' stories about people's operations which went spectaucularly wrong, disastrous relationships, awful abuse etc.
  • And look how much they go up to as payment... :(
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