[Black hole in NGC4261]
Your donations keep the web site itself from falling into a black hole; please donate if you've found the site useful:

$

[Thanks to these donors!]


HOME

REPORT A RESPONSE.

ADD A MARKET.

RAW DATA.

WHEN TO QUERY?.

DEAD MARKETS?.

NICE EDITORS.

FOLLOW ON TWITTER

ABURT'S BLOG

BH STORE

CONTACT


If you're looking for a workshop/critique group so you can translate your rejections into paychecks, check out Critters.

Cool Books from ReAnimus Press!

Woohoo! Critters now offers workshops for everything!

All writing genres & non-writing: Music, photography, film, etc. — come join!

Free Ad for a member of the Critters Writers' Workshop:
Submitting to the Black Hole

Submitting to the Black Hole

While many Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror magazine and book publishers respond to submissions in a timely manner, many don't; and sometimes their response times are at odds with those stated in their guidelines. Which is to say, when writers submit a manuscript to an editor, they often feel like they've launched it toward a black hole.

These pages are an attempt to locate verifiable response time data as well as "horror stories" for markets that have kept (or are keeping) manuscripts far longer than one might consider reasonable. (Credit the idea to Sharon Lee, former President of SFWA.)

Authors are encouraged to drop by to get a handle on how long to expect a manuscript will be at a given market (and, perhaps, get a sense of when to query). There is also some hope that this public knowledge will encourage editors to speed up their responsiveness, or at least alter their guidelines to match their reality.

Authors are also asked -- nay, begged -- to report their own response times. This helps everyone. (Note that only paying markets are tracked.)

Remember, you may have to reload this page if you've already looked at it. (Last update: Thu May 18 22:57:01 MDT 2023. Data range from 6/1/2007 to present.)

Click name of market for raw data and New! discussion forums specific to each market.

Please report problems to Andrew Burt (former VP of SFWA).

Publisher links now include market information-- [Click for details]          [Donate to the Black Holes]

Survey - What's Your Favorite Book?
Short story? Author?
Vote for your favorites in the best-ever-written poll
critters.org/bestpoll

Magazine/Book Publisher Response time data (#days)# data points
AverageMinimumMaximum
Book: Ace 149 46 218 3
Book: Avari Press 49 49 49 1
Book: Baen 382 35 864 7
Book: Bantam Spectra 78 78 78 1
Book: Belfire Press 119 119 119 1
Book: Clockwork Phoenix 25 8 46 21
Book: Dagan Books 39 39 39 1
Book: Dark Distortions 101 101 101 1
Book: DAW 232 24 1281 7
Book: Drollerie Press 101 6 150 4
Book: Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy 71 71 71 1
Book: Gryphonwood 82 82 82 2
Book: Horror Library 75 15 156 3
Book: Interfictions 106 72 133 6
Book: Lace & Blade 3 1 8 3
Book: Leucrota Press 11 11 11 1
Book: Mundania Press 108 36 167 3
Book: Outliers of Speculative Fiction 1 1 1 1
Book: Panverse Publishing 39 39 39 1
Book: Permuted Press 43 40 46 2
Book: Polyphony 98 81 150 7
Book: Sam's Dot Publishing 5 1 11 3
Book: Samhain Publishing 22 8 68 5
Book: Snowbooks 23 23 23 1
Book: St. Martin's 18 18 18 1
Book: Sword & Sorceress 6 1 30 17
Book: Sword and Sorceress Anthology 2 1 5 [* 123] 7
Book: Tesseract Books 86 86 86 1
Book: The Way of the Wizard 67 3 309 6
Book: Tor 111 12 404 [* 1513] 18
Book: Trytium Publishing, LLC 114 114 114 1
Book: Warrior Wisewoman Anthology 41 10 91 3
Book: Wizards of the Coast 37 37 37 1
Book: Writers of the Future Contest 91 40 210 41
Book: Wrong World: I'm Going To Tell You One More Time 17 17 17 1
Book: Yard Dog Press 49 49 49 2
Magazine: 3-Lobed Burning Eye 56 6 104 6
Magazine: A Fly In Amber 45 21 67 4
Magazine: A Fly in Amber 72 65 78 2
Magazine: Abandoned Towers Magazine 37 24 50 2
Magazine: Aberrant Dreams 146 12 581 29
Magazine: Absent Willow Review 4 2 18 15
Magazine: Absolute Magnitude 5 5 5 [* 126] 1
Magazine: Abyss & Apex 56 1 221 112
Magazine: Aeon Magazine 101 3 449 15
Magazine: Afterburn SF 71 3 384 [* 614] 10
Magazine: Albedo One 63 18 262 [* 301] 13
Magazine: Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine 104 48 186 [* 247] 16
Magazine: Alien Skin 53 8 101 15
Magazine: All Possible Worlds 45 1 106 7
Magazine: Allegory 45 14 84 9
Magazine: Alternative Coordinates 103 81 122 6
Magazine: Analog 58 9 465 121
Magazine: Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine 38 1 207 80
Magazine: AnotherRealm 48 48 48 1
Magazine: AnthologyBuilder.com 5 1 24 6
Magazine: Anthrolations 31 31 31 1
Magazine: Aoife's Kiss 56 3 164 15
Magazine: Apex Science Fiction & Horror Digest 29 2 153 65
Magazine: Aphelion 69 17 121 2
Magazine: Arcane 14 6 21 2
Magazine: Arkham Tales 23 7 33 6
Magazine: Asimov's Science Fiction 46 1 183 202
Magazine: Astropoetica 111 4 266 5
Magazine: Atlantic Monthly 12 10 14 3
Magazine: Atomjack 40 12 71 9
Magazine: Aurealis 103 1 235 7
Magazine: Baen's Universe 42 1 576 51
Magazine: Bards and Sages Quarterly 14 3 24 2
Magazine: Basement Stories 57 18 128 9
Magazine: Beneath Ceaseless Skies 24 6 48 67
Magazine: Bewildering Stories 13 1 62 5
Magazine: Beyond Centauri 136 51 219 4
Magazine: Big Pulp 37 4 60 9
Magazine: Birkensnake 24 11 37 2
Magazine: Black Gate 268 81 582 8
Magazine: Blank Ink Horror - [* 193]
Magazine: Blood, Blade, and Thruster 70 70 70 1
Magazine: Book of Dark Wisdom 340 26 648 3
Magazine: Borderlands 91 30 152 3
Magazine: Boys' Life 50 32 67 2
Magazine: Brain Harvest 22 12 40 5
Magazine: Brew City Magazine 36 36 36 1
Magazine: Brutarian 27 1 223 [* 516] 21
Magazine: Bust - [* 433]
Magazine: Buzzy Mag 30 30 30 1
Magazine: Byzarium 32 27 41 5
Magazine: Cafe Irreal 32 32 32 1
Magazine: Cast Macabre 102 102 102 1
Magazine: Cat Tales 1 1 1 1
Magazine: Cemetery Dance 161 37 565 11
Magazine: Chaos Theory: Tales Askew 181 181 181 1
Magazine: Chiaroscuro 200 18 381 2
Magazine: Chimaera Serials 72 6 138 2
Magazine: ChiZine 50 11 260 25
Magazine: Cicada 228 30 346 3
Magazine: Cincinnati Review 69 69 69 1
Magazine: City Slab: Urban Tales of the Grotesque 153 19 386 3
Magazine: Clarkesworld Magazine 14 1 151 202
Magazine: Conjunctions 17 14 19 2
Magazine: Continuum SF 154 149 158 [* 241] 2
Magazine: Cosmos Magazine 19 1 134 14
Magazine: Coyote Wild 126 22 382 10
Magazine: Cricket 66 59 70 [* 291] 3
Magazine: Crossed Genres 40 18 61 2
Magazine: Crow Toes Quarterly 129 129 129 1
Magazine: Daikaijuzine 31 2 62 4
Magazine: Daily Science Fiction 15 4 39 54
Magazine: Dark Discoveries 468 93 1510 6
Magazine: Dark Matter 34 34 34 1
Magazine: Dark Recesses 80 30 121 10
Magazine: Dark Wisdom 92 26 253 [* 595] 7
Magazine: Darker Matter 48 20 90 4
Magazine: Darwin's Evolutions 16 1 36 [* 127] 8
Magazine: DKA (Dragons, Knights, and Angels) Magazine 20 16 22 3
Magazine: Doorways Magazine - [* 325]
Magazine: Drabblecast 9 1 22 5
Magazine: Dragons, Knights & Angels 19 5 31 7
Magazine: Dragons, Knoghts & Angels Magazine 19 8 29 2
Magazine: Dreams and Nightmares 16 1 81 18
Magazine: Dreams and Visions 30 14 55 5
Magazine: Dreams of Decadence 33 33 33 1
Magazine: Dred 61 51 71 2
Magazine: Electric Spec 33 4 105 22
Magazine: Electric Velocipede 77 4 221 20
Magazine: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine 42 11 110 17
Magazine: Enchanted Conversation 18 12 20 5
Magazine: Escape Pod 116 1 219 21
Magazine: Escape Velocity 87 1 369 6
Magazine: F&SF (Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction) 13 1 94 [* 135] 301
Magazine: FableCroft Publishing 3 3 3 1
Magazine: Fae Publishing 36 24 48 4
Magazine: Fairy Tale Review 122 104 141 3
Magazine: Fantasy Magazine 11 1 85 136
Magazine: Farrago's Wainscot 35 32 37 2
Magazine: Farthing - [* 198]
Magazine: Fear and Trembling 40 3 78 42
Magazine: Fictitious Force 39 12 98 13
Magazine: Flash Fiction Magazine 13 13 13 1
Magazine: Flash Fiction Online 41 2 153 48
Magazine: Flash Me Magazine 19 7 35 7
Magazine: Flashing Swords 44 22 66 [* 170] 2
Magazine: Flashquake 46 5 72 10
Magazine: Flytrap 64 42 87 3
Magazine: Forgotten Worlds 77 25 172 4
Magazine: From The Asylum 139 11 316 6
Magazine: Futures Magazine 13 4 23 4
Magazine: Futurismic 21 5 85 20
Magazine: GigaNotoSaurus 16 7 28 5
Magazine: Glimmer Train 54 25 95 29
Magazine: Goblin Fruit 55 1 195 6
Magazine: Golden Visions 7 1 23 10
Magazine: Grave Tales - [* 347]
Magazine: Greatest Uncommon Denominator (GUD) 26 1 260 75
Magazine: Grimoire - [* 65]
Magazine: Happy 7 7 7 1
Magazine: Harper's Magazine 18 10 26 [* 131] 3
Magazine: Haruah: Breath of Heaven 33 4 78 20
Magazine: Heliotrope 33 4 116 [* 752] 47
Magazine: Heroic Fantasy Quarterly 58 13 119 11
Magazine: Horror Literature Quarterly 159 8 228 4
Magazine: Hub 176 125 241 [* 305] 4
Magazine: Hunger Magazine 507 507 507 1
Magazine: Ideomancer 20 1 98 53
Magazine: Illumen 35 1 115 7
Magazine: Intergalactic Medicine Show 49 25 93 16
Magazine: Intergalactic Medicine Show [NOTE: use 'Orson Scott...'] 89 87 92 3
Magazine: Interzone 55 1 222 [* 1946] 50
Magazine: Kaleidotrope 50 17 88 7
Magazine: Kenyon Review 60 44 76 2
Magazine: Khimairal Ink 4 4 4 1
Magazine: KidVisions 17 17 17 1
Magazine: Labryinth Inhabitant Magazine 16 5 31 3
Magazine: Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wrislet 150 22 291 12
Magazine: Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet 186 98 259 4
Magazine: Leading Edge 168 12 370 15
Magazine: Les Bonnes Fees - [* 346]
Magazine: Lightspeed Magazine 2 1 9 33
Magazine: Lone Star Stories 1 1 1 37
Magazine: Lore 53 27 66 4
Magazine: Lovecraft's Weird Mysteries 290 290 290 1
Magazine: Magazine of Speculative Poetry 14 8 26 10
Magazine: Martian Wave 14 7 21 2
Magazine: Microcosms 27 27 27 1
Magazine: Midnight Echo 65 31 126 3
Magazine: Midnight Times 54 45 63 2
Magazine: MindFlights 23 4 385 96
Magazine: Missouri Review 59 25 104 7
Magazine: Murky Depths 57 2 128 4
Magazine: Mythic Delirium 35 4 75 4
Magazine: Mytholog 23 23 23 1
Magazine: Nameless Magazine 157 115 199 2
Magazine: Nanoism 3 2 6 3
Magazine: Nature 69 69 69 1
Magazine: Necrotic Tissue 12 1 27 9
Magazine: Neo-Opsis 58 1 423 [* 458] 45
Magazine: Neon 10 3 23 8
Magazine: New Genre 555 229 1155 3
Magazine: New York Stories 210 210 210 1
Magazine: New Yorker 99 79 142 7
Magazine: NewMyths.com 34 1 103 17
Magazine: Niteblade 17 7 25 5
Magazine: Noctem Aeternus 54 4 132 7
Magazine: Noctober 4 4 4 1
Magazine: NonLocal SciFi 12 12 12 1
Magazine: Nossa Morte 20 3 47 8
Magazine: Not One of Us 18 15 21 14
Magazine: Oddlands Magazine 126 126 126 1
Magazine: Odyssey 182 182 182 1
Magazine: OG's Speculative Fiction 38 10 126 24
Magazine: On Spec 170 48 312 23
Magazine: On the Brighter Side 41 15 62 4
Magazine: On the Night Highways 29 29 29 1
Magazine: On The Premises 18 18 18 1
Magazine: One Story 101 51 150 2
Magazine: Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show 95 1 926 144
Magazine: Paradox 72 12 164 11
Magazine: Pedestal 40 7 66 11
Magazine: Penumbra 80 3 156 2
Magazine: Plasma Frequency 21 10 31 2
Magazine: Ploughshares 104 11 182 4
Magazine: PodCastle 4 1 35 25
Magazine: Port Iris Magazine - [* 228]
Magazine: Postcards From Hell 3 1 9 4
Magazine: Postscripts 1 1 2 5
Magazine: Premonitions 94 16 172 2
Magazine: Pseudopod 38 1 104 18
Magazine: Raven Electrick 41 29 61 4
Magazine: Ray Gun Revival 34 1 275 43
Magazine: Realms of Fantasy 65 13 378 93
Magazine: Redstone Science Fiction 41 7 170 10
Magazine: Reflection's Edge 17 1 70 19
Magazine: Revenant 1 1 1 1
Magazine: Rogue Worlds - [* 242]
Magazine: Room Magazine 96 96 96 1
Magazine: Ruthless Peoples Magazine 1 1 1 2
Magazine: Scape 38 11 65 2
Magazine: Schrodinger's Mouse 98 98 98 1
Magazine: SCIFAIKUEST 11 1 25 10
Magazine: Semaphore Magazine 47 41 52 3
Magazine: Serpentarius Magazine 117 3 174 3
Magazine: Shimmer 17 1 105 57
Magazine: Shiny 26 6 54 3
Magazine: Shock Totem 31 3 63 21
Magazine: Short-Story.Me 6 1 18 4
Magazine: Shroud Magazine: The Journal of Dark Fiction and Art 69 49 91 [* 120] 6
Magazine: Silver Blade Magazine 34 34 34 1
Magazine: SnipLits 335 243 449 6
Magazine: Something Wicked 24 24 24 1
Magazine: Sorcerous Signals 42 18 69 5
Magazine: Space & Time 34 1 146 18
Magazine: Space Squid 12 1 20 5
Magazine: Spacesuits and Sixguns 48 5 146 7
Magazine: Spinetinglers 22 22 22 2
Magazine: Staffs & Starships 130 21 320 5
Magazine: Star*Line 8 1 31 6
Magazine: SteamPod 31 31 31 1
Magazine: Stone Telling 30 17 43 2
Magazine: Strange Horizons 43 3 426 224
Magazine: Strange Horizons (poetry) 51 7 99 11
Magazine: Strange, Weird and Wonderful Magazine 12 1 35 5
Magazine: Strong Verse 210 53 367 2
Magazine: Sybil's Garage 28 1 92 20
Magazine: Talebones 70 13 275 21
Magazine: Tales of Moreauvia 18 2 34 [* 202] 2
Magazine: Tales of the Talisman 13 8 34 11
Magazine: Tales of the Unanticipated 147 124 175 3
Magazine: Teen 23 23 23 1
Magazine: Teenage 39 11 98 4
Magazine: Thaneros 4 4 4 1
Magazine: The Courier 5 1 12 6
Magazine: The Edge of Propinquity 10 8 12 2
Magazine: The Fifth Di... 40 6 59 3
Magazine: The Ghazal Page 1 1 1 1
Magazine: The Harrow 37 33 40 2
Magazine: The Harrow: Original Works of Fantasy and Horror 84 67 112 3
Magazine: The King's English 48 48 48 1
Magazine: The Lorelei Signal 35 26 40 3
Magazine: The Nautilus Engine 3 1 4 2
Magazine: The Pedestal 48 40 57 4
Magazine: The Pedestal Magazine 44 4 67 28
Magazine: The Stoneslide Corrective 11 11 11 1
Magazine: The Sword Review 15 6 20 4
Magazine: The Third Order 16 3 34 4
Magazine: The Town Drunk 22 2 102 16
Magazine: The Willows 7 7 7 1
Magazine: Third Flatiron Publishing 45 45 45 1
Magazine: Three-lobed Burning Eye - [* 1380]
Magazine: Tin House 72 46 103 4
Magazine: Tor.com 226 59 587 [* 723] 14
Magazine: Tower of Light Online Magazine 134 134 134 1
Magazine: Trabuco Road - [* 67]
Magazine: Tweet the Meat 5 4 5 2
Magazine: Twilight Times 368 368 368 1
Magazine: Underground Voices 28 8 53 4
Magazine: Urban Fantasy Magazine 8 4 10 3
Magazine: Vestal Review 33 4 72 6
Magazine: Wayfarer's Journal 19 19 19 1
Magazine: Waylines Magazine 21 10 31 2
Magazine: Weird Tales 73 10 298 110
Magazine: withersin magazine 37 1 92 5
Magazine: Worlds of Wonder 23 12 34 2
Magazine: Yellow Mama 2 1 3 2
Magazine: Yog's Notebook 80 61 92 3
Magazine: Zahir 38 30 48 5
Magazine: Zoetrope 140 48 257 10
Magazine: Zyzzyva 37 15 88 5

[* nnn] = Maximum time listed as "still waiting"; waiting times are not used in computing averages.


© Andrew Burt | Privacy Policy