Screenshot of a notice on my Submittable page
I’m not sure if you can read the image above (click on it to make it bigger), but it came as quite a surprise to me.
I just sent in yet another piece of fiction to a periodical using the Submittable website. Some publishers use this app for receiving stories, while others allow potential authors to send in their tales as email attachment.
I decided to look at my list of other submissions. One was rejected, as I’ve written about before, two are pending, and then there’s this one. In the weeks after I sent in my 404 word story to them, I scoured their Facebook page, but didn’t see any sign that they had published my wee missive. After a while, I gave up.
In fact, I’d forgotten all about Submittable until I had to use it again to send in my now twice rejected short story. At that point, it didn’t occur to me to check past submissions, so I uploaded my file and called it good.
Today, I got curious. When I saw the “Accepted”message next to the title, I was shocked. But when I went looking for 404 Words, they seem to have folded. I found them on Facebook and twitter, but their website is dead, and so is my published story. Everything came to a stop in the Spring of 2017.
Oh well.
That’s too bad about the publication closing. I’ve been there. But at least you know you have a good story you can send somewhere else. Keep it up!
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Actually, at 404 words, I’m not sure who else would want it, and I don’t consider it one of my better tales, at least compared to my current output.
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I’ve come across quite a few flash sites that want 500 words or less. I typically don’t submit to them, because my stories are always longer. My sweet spot seems to be 800-1200ish. Do a search for flash fiction publishers. Don’t assume rejection. I could look through my saved publishers and see if one would be appropriate, if you’d like. I’d need to have an idea about genre/concept though.
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Actually, at this point, I don’t have any investment in resubmitting that particular story. It would be nice to list the 404 Words publication, but it’s also not a huge loss, either. Upward and onward.
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I was all ready to say congratulations…until I got to the part about the website having folded. Close but no cigar, as they say.
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True dat. At least I was acceptable once. 😉
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As you said in an earlier reply, even though the website folded, at least you know that they did indeed accept your content!
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Yes. Actually, three of my stories have been accepted for publication on websites, two on “Theme of Absence” and one on “404 Words”. There was yet another tale that was going to be published on something called “Scaffolding Magazine,” but it folded before it saw the light of day, and it would have been the only one to have paid (royalties only).
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