#[1]Optimistic Sci-fi Short Stories by Amit

#[1]Optimistic Sci-fi Short Stories by Amit

[2][https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.ama
zonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff7e70374-ff46-42a9-a18c-9645efcb60e6_128
0x1280.png]

[3]Optimistic Sci-fi Short Stories by Amit

(BUTTON) Subscribe (BUTTON) Sign in

(BUTTON)
Share this post
Short stories: How much do you make? How do you sell one? How long does
it take to write?
superamit.substack.com
(BUTTON)
Copy link
(BUTTON)
Twitter
(BUTTON)
Facebook
(BUTTON)
Email

Short stories: How much do you make? How do you sell one? How long does it
take to write?

An anecdotal account of my experience writing and selling "India World" to
Tor.com

[4][https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.ama
zonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff698c2ec-f098-4f02-8cb5-0de1437100fd_179
7x1931.jpeg]
[5]Amit Gupta
Jul 9
5
1
(BUTTON)
Share this post
Short stories: How much do you make? How do you sell one? How long does
it take to write?
superamit.substack.com
(BUTTON)
Copy link
(BUTTON)
Twitter
(BUTTON)
Facebook
(BUTTON)
Email

Tor.com recently published my short story "[6]India World", and I went
through my notes, to-do lists, revision history, and email to figure
out what exactly went into writing and selling that story.

Finding details and real numbers on how this all works is difficult,
and I hope this post is helpful to people writing short fiction and
interesting to folks who are just curious!

tl;dr

* I spent 22 hours, 18 minutes, and 47 seconds writing and editing
"India World" across 42 sessions in Google Docs. (Not including
hours more spent editing on paper, revising the story at workshops,
or reading critiques.)
* 30+ people provided feedback after reading drafts, some more than
once.
* 10 publications rejected the story before it found a publisher.
* It took 908 days from first word to publication, or about 2 1/2
years.
* I earned $1422.80 for publication rights in print, digital, and
audio.

Read on for all the gory details including actual emails!

Note: This isn't meant to be an authoritative report on the state of
short fiction or publishing. It's an anecdotal account of what it
took to write and publish one short story. My experience is unique
for many reasons, including...
1. I'm early in my career as a writer and still learning the craft. I
likely spent longer writing and editing than a more accomplished
writer would.
2. My publisher Tor.com pays triple the rate of most other "pro"
speculative fiction (sci-fi, fantasy, horror) publishers. I sold my
first short story, "[7]How Did it Feel to be Eaten", eight months
prior for $297, or $0.08/word. That's a good rate. And that story
was half the length and took 34+ hours to write and edit. In other
words, this is a labor of love. For each story that sold, I've got
a drawer-full that didn't.

With that out of the way, let's dig in.

How it started

Here's a behind-the-scenes look at this story from start to finish.

In November of 2019, I was brainstorming ideas for a sci-fi story set
in a future India. Among other things, I thought about what the future
of arranged marriage and the caste system might look like. I also
explored a future where whole cultures were wiped out and kept alive
within computer simulations or theme parks. This latter idea, plus my
life-long love of everything Michael Crichton has ever written,
especially Jurassic Park, eventually became India World.

How I wrote it

* 11/10/2019 - Brainstormed the initial idea.
* 11/23 - 12/8/2019 - Outlined the story, and wrote a rough first
draft.
* 12/8 - 12/15/2019 - Revised draft, submitted [8]to my critique
group for feedback from [9]James, [10]Thea, [11]Sahil, and [12]Dan.
* 12/15/2019 - 2/2/2020 - Edits.
* 12/16/2019 - Submitted draft to OnlineWritingWorkshop.com, a peer
review site where writers exchange critiques.
* 1/2/2020 - "India World" was selected as an "Editor's Choice" on
OnlineWritingWorkshop, where an eloquently written editorial review
argued that it had problematic themes. For instance, that Rohit's
triumphant choice to return home sounded lot like white American
"immigrants go home". I proceeded to freaked out and spent the
following weeks fixing.
* 2/2/2020 - Sent a draft to my critique group at the Futurescapes
workshop.
* 2/3/2020 - Sent a draft to [13]Critters, another peer review group
for spec fiction. I got helpful feedback from a dozen folks,
including detailed notes from [14]Lauren Banka and Dwayne Minton.
* 2/13/2020 - Got feedback from my friend [15]Nick Baum, who's helped
with nearly all of my stories so far.
* 2/17/2020 - Got feedback from [16]Kat Howard. In particular, that
Rohit's motives for his actions in the ending weren't believable.
* 2/17/2020 - Got feedback from my Futurescapes critique group
([17]Ashlea, [18]Katrina, Olive, [19]Tali, and [20]Tyra). They
offered suggestions for tightening the story, improving imagery,
and fixing the ending (came too quickly, needed foreshadowing.) At
this point I had Rohit returning to the USA to start "America
World" in response to his time at India World. This had given some
earlier readers Make America Great Again vibes, so I still wasn't
happy with the ending.
* 2/18/2020 - Got feedback from [21]Mary Robinette Kowal © (Hugo and
Nebula winner, head of the SFWA) at Futurescapes. She suggested
several improvements including a new ending that I loved.
* 2/21/2020 - Rewrote the ending to its current version.
* 2/24/2020 - Sent "India World" as my writing sample for my
applications to Clarion UCSD and Clarion West. (These are
competitive six-week workshops for spec fiction writers; their
alumni list reads like a Who's Who of Sci-Fi. This was my second
year applying and I didn't expect to get in.)
* 2/25/2020 - On a lark, submitted a draft to [22]an open call by
Hugh Howey ©. (He wrote the best-selling Silo series and is one of
the most popular self-published authors ever.) I didn't expect
anything to come of this.
* 2/26/2020 - One day later, Hugh wrote to say he loved the story and
attached a marked-up manuscript with many suggestions I used. He
also offered to publish it in a future anthology if I didn't
publish it elsewhere. (!) This made me pretty excited about this
story finding a good home.
* 3/8/2020 - Got feedback from my bud Sameem Siddiqui. ([23]Check out
his wonderful South Asian sci-fi.)
* 3/8/2020 - Got the call: I WAS ACCEPTED TO CLARION WEST!

How I submitted it for publication

Submitting short fiction is a whole thing. Here's why:
* The number of publications seems to shrinks each year, but the
number of submissions has increased.
* Acceptance rates at the best pubs are very, very low.
* Many publications don't allow simultaneous submissions. That means
if you send a story to magazine A, you can't submit it elsewhere
until you get a rejection from magazine A. That could take days,
but more likely weeks or months. Some of the best pubs take the
longest.

My strategy is to apply to the long-long-long-shot pubs that accept
simultaneous subs first. Then I start submitting to pubs that disallow
simultaneous submissions, starting with the most prestigious,
fastest-rejecting ones. The faster you're rejected, the faster you can
send it elsewhere.

Submitting is a numbers game. In 2020, I set a goal of getting 100
rejections.
* 3/10/2020 - Submitted story to The Sun ( rejected 28 days later),
The Missouri Review ( rejected with personal note in 38 days), New
England Review ( rejected, 50 days), AGNI ( rejected, 73 days), The
New Yorker (haha yeah right, rejected, 79 days).
* 3/16/2020 - Got a rejection email from Clarion UCSD. BUT...
[24]Cory Doctorow © (amazing sci-fi author and activist) was on the
admissions board and emailed to say he really enjoyed "India
World", my submission story. AND that he'd told Devi Pillai (Tor's
Co-Publisher and VP) about it and she wanted to read it!
* 3/17/2020 - I emailed Devi the story, who cautioned she was
interested to read the story only for personal enjoyment. Tor
wasn't on my radar for publishing this story -- they don't have
open submissions, and my understanding was that you basically had
to be asked to publish there and they only asked hotshots. I am not
a hotshot. Still, I decided to ask if it could be considered for
publication by Tor.com. (Couldn't hurt!) She CCed in editor
[25]Ruoxi Chen!
* 4/8/2020 - I emailed Ruoxi to see if she'd had a chance to read the
story. At this point, the pandemic was raging and everything was in
chaos. After a month of not hearing anything back, I figured she
didn't like it and moved on.
* 4/21/2020 - Submitted to Asimov's Science Fiction ( rejected same
day! yay)
* 4/22/2020 - Submitted to Clarkesworld Magazine ( rejected, 10 days)
* 5/4/2020 - Submitted to Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (
rejected, 12 days)
* 6/1/2020 - Submitted to Strange Horizons ( rejected, 43 days)
* 6/7/2020 - Ruoxi from Tor.com emailed! She apologized for the delay
and said she'd try to have an answer for me in a week!
* 6/18/2020 - Followed up with Tor. Didn't hear back. At this point
everyone either had Covid or knew someone with Covid. After six
more weeks passed with no word, I assumed Tor was a dead end and
decided to continue submitting elsewhere.
* 7/22/2020 - Submitted to Apex Magazine ( rejected, 12 days)
* 8/14/2020 - I started to worry that my opening was too slow and
sent the story to my bud [26]Josh Riedel. He generously returned
feedback just a few days later.
* 8/15/2020 - Submitted to Uncanny Magazine

I sold the story!

* 8/27/2020 - [27]RUOXI FROM TOR.COM EMAILED TO BUY THE STORY! They
offered $1422.80 for exclusive digital, audio, and ebook rights for
one year, non-exclusive afterward. Likely publication: early 2021.
I said yes!

The email offering to publish "India World"
* Withdrew story from Uncanny Magazine with apologies. (This is a
no-no because Uncanny does not allow simultaneous submissions! When
I submitted, I didn't think I was submitting simultaneously because
I was under the impression I was out of the running at Tor. I
apologized and hope I'm not blacklisted.)

The next year and a half...

* 9/4/2020 - Contract signed!

Six months pass...
* 3/31/2021 - I emailed Tor asking about the publication date and
heard back that it was now slated for 6/2/2021
* 5/5/2021 - Tor sent cover art by [28]Jasjyot Singh Hans.

Cover art by [29]Jasjyot Singh Hans
* 5/6/2021 - Heard from Tor that the legal department might have
issues with the title. (At the time, it was "India World®". We'd
eventually have to drop the ®.)
* June 2021 - Jan 2022 - For eight months, I emailed Tor every couple
months. I worried I was being a nag, but writers I talked to
encouraged me to keep checking in every month. No word back during
this period. I'm guessing they didn't know where it was going to
slot in yet and were swamped.

1 year, 5 months since contract signing...
* 2/7/2022 - Emailed Tor asking for an update on publication date.
The original contract allowed me to take rights back if it wasn't
published within 12 months of the contract signing, Almost a year
and a half in, with no word for nine months, I was starting to
think it wouldn't be published by Tor after all and wanted to make
alternate plans. (No hard feelings, plans and priorities change.
But I still wanted to get the story out there!)
* 3/10/2022 - I screwed up the courage to email Devi (VP at Tor) to
see if she knew the pub date. Devi replied quickly and told me
"India World" was slated for publication on June 1st!
* 4/11/2022 - Got a [30]marked up copy with edits and suggestions
from Ruoxi! I had a month to turn this around and did a final
polish, mostly accepting all the edits and making the suggested
changes.
* 6/1/2022 - 2.5 years after I began writing, "India World" was
published!

[31]Read "India World" here!

In conclusion...

What'd I learn looking back through all this?
* Writing takes forever, even if it's a just a few thousand words.
Way longer than I thought.
* Submitting takes even longer. This tracks with other areas of my
life. Selling is always less fun for me than making things.
* SO MANY people helped! I'm blown away by how many people took time
to read drafts and offer their feedback.

When I started writing optimistic sci-fi, I didn't just need to learn
how to write for the genre and format. I needed to learn how to format
my manuscript, how to find quality critiques, how to submit to
publishers, how to network with other writers, and all the rest.
Countless other writers took the time to answer my emails and take
meetings and read crappy drafts and tell me what was wrong with them.

I'm so grateful for all the ways the writing community has helped me,
and I'm hopeful this post proves helpful to others getting started.

Liked this? Please [32]subscribe to get notified when I write something
good! (Just a few times a year.)

Thanks [33]Vanessa Armstrong, [34]Nancy Hua, [35]Scott Hurff, and
[36]James Yu for feedback on this post.

Thanks for reading Optimistic Sci-fi Short Stories by Amit! Subscribe
to get new posts!
____________________ (BUTTON) Subscribe
(BUTTON)
Like this post
1
(BUTTON)
Share this post
Short stories: How much do you make? How do you sell one? How long does
it take to write?
superamit.substack.com
(BUTTON)
Copy link
(BUTTON)
Twitter
(BUTTON)
Facebook
(BUTTON)
Email
1 Comment

____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
(BUTTON)

Create your profile

(BUTTON)
Your name ____________________Your bio
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________ [ ] Subscribe to the newsletter

0 subscriptions will be displayed on your profile (edit)

Skip for now
(BUTTON) Save & Post Comment
(BUTTON)

Only paid subscribers can comment on this post

[37]Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
(BUTTON)

Check your email

For your security, we need to re-authenticate you.

Click the link we sent to , or [38]click here to sign in.
[39]eigenschwarz
[40]3 hr ago

So, did you actually make a living wage from this story? Did you even
make minimum wage?
Expand full comment
[41]Reply[42]Collapse
TopNewCommunity

No posts

Ready for more?

____________________ (BUTTON) Subscribe
© 2022 Amit Gupta
[43]Privacy sb [44]Terms sb [45]Collection notice
Publish on Substack Get the app
[46]Substack is the home for great writing

This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please [47]turn on
JavaScript or unblock scripts

References

Visible links
1. https://superamit.substack.com/feed
2. https://superamit.substack.com/
3. https://superamit.substack.com/
4. https://substack.com/profile/16512398-amit-gupta?utm_source=author-byline-face
5. https://substack.com/profile/16512398-amit-gupta
6. https://www.tor.com/2022/06/01/india-world-amit-gupta/
7. https://escapepod.org/2020/03/12/escape-pod-723-how-did-it-feel-to-be-eaten/
8. https://sudowriters.com/
9. https://www.jamesyu.org/
10. https://twitter.com/tharkibo
11. https://sahillavingia.com/
12. http://danshipper.com/
13. https://critters.org/
14. https://www.laurenbanka.com/
15. https://twitter.com/nickbaum
16. http://www.kathowardbooks.com/
17. https://twitter.com/AshleaNAdams
18. https://www.katrinacarruth.com/
19. https://railwaywriter.com/
20. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15759834.Tyra_Tanner
21. https://maryrobinettekowal.com/
22. https://hughhowey.com/open-for-submissions/
23. https://www.sameemwrites.com/
24. https://craphound.com/
25. https://ruoxichen.com/
26. https://www.joshriedel.com/
27. https://ruoxichen.com/
28. https://www.jasjyotjasjyot.com/
29. https://www.jasjyotjasjyot.com/
30. http://amitgupta.com/images/India%20World%20CE%20and%20edits.docx
31. https://www.tor.com/2022/06/01/india-world-amit-gupta/
32. https://superamit.substack.com/
33. https://www.vfarmstrong.com/
34. https://www.nancyhua.com/
35. https://www.scotthurff.com/
36. https://www.jamesyu.org/
37. https://substack.com/sign-in?redirect=%2Fp%2Fshort-stories-how-much-do-you-make&for_pub=superamit&change_user=false
38. https://substack.com/sign-in?redirect=%2Fp%2Fshort-stories-how-much-do-you-make&for_pub=superamit&with_password=true
39. javascript:void(0)
40. https://superamit.substack.com/p/short-stories-how-much-do-you-make/comment/7699634
41. javascript:void(0)
42. javascript:void(0)
43. https://superamit.substack.com/privacy
44. https://superamit.substack.com/tos
45. https://substack.com/ccpa#personal-data-collected
46. https://substack.com/
47. https://enable-javascript.com/

Hidden links:
49. https://superamit.substack.com/p/short-stories-how-much-do-you-make/comments
50. javascript:void(0)
51. https://www.tor.com/2022/06/01/india-world-amit-gupta/
52. https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3fa0327d-0ce2-431e-b2ef-4fb73c0c9856_1392x1074.png
53. https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5db1c8d4-1558-42f9-a0d3-1c6a0251ade2_2134x2712.png
54. https://www.tor.com/2022/06/01/india-world-amit-gupta/
55. https://superamit.substack.com/p/short-stories-how-much-do-you-make/comments
56. javascript:void(0)
57. https://substack.com/profile/94862944-eigenschwarz
58. javascript:void(0)
59. https://substack.com/signup?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=web&utm_content=footer
60. https://substack.com/app/app-store-redirect?utm_campaign=app-marketing&utm_content=web-footer-button