I think I mentioned that I sent one of my stories off to a market that takes months and months to respond (actually a year or so would be closer to the truth).  I did so because it also pays two and a half times what the other markets pay.  I like the story and I think it’s of publication quality, so why wouldn’t I aim for the highest paying market?  I’m not in a huge rush to get published, so I was fine with the wait.

And then yesterday I was reading a post on Making Light by Abi Sutherland that tied into a post by Elizabeth Bear on Clarkesworld’s site.  And basically what I pulled from both posts is that there’s a current lack of light-hearted science fiction in the market.  (There’s more to the posts, but that’s the part that triggered my dilemma.)

The story I submitted is a humor piece.  Not some slapsticky, clever pun type story, but it definitely has parts that I hope people will laugh at.  So, the question is, would I be better off pulling it from the market that takes forever and submitting it to a few of the markets that could actually accept it now while this whole discussion is occurring?  Is there an actual opportunity here?

Of course, I could just submit the story to the fast response markets and leave in the other market’s queue, but I know they don’t want simultaneous submissions and, even if no one else realized what I had done, I’d know I’d sim subbed it when I shouldn’t have.  And I’m not going to withdraw a story and then resubmit it.  To me that’s just tacky.  So, if I pull, I’m basically self-eliminating this story from that market.  And possibly for nothing.

Realistically, the odds of the story getting accepted by any paying market are low, so in a sense this debate is pointless.  It’s like debating how I’d spend my bonus if I were a first round pick in the NFL draft.  But, I have to believe it is of publication quality and treat it as such.

So, I’m pretty sure I’m going to pull it from the first market, but I’m going to sit on the decision for a day.  Anyone who wants to chime in with thoughts in the interim, please feel free to do so.