The Sun Magazine seems like my kind of journal.
This is a followup to my earlier effort, about figuring out how to submit my work. And a big part of accomplishing that is figuring out where to submit your work.
Short fiction and poetry dominate most literary journals, so it’s nice to find a magazine with as strong a commitment to personal narrative as The Sun. They seem to favor longer stories. And now they’re offering more money for work that’s accepted for publication.
But they take a long time to respond. I’ve had my story, Saved, out to them since November 3.
Present Tense 
Well hang in there. I hope you have better luck with them than I did. I just got my rejection slip last month; my submission had been there since September. If you provided a SASE they will probably get back to you, otherwise forget it. I love the Sun and am a subscriber. Very, very tough market to crack. I’ll cross my fingers for you, Tim, but won’t hold my breath.
Thanks, Sarah. I appreciate it. They have to say yes to someone, or else they won’t have any stories to print.
As near as I can make out they only say yes to Poe Ballantine, and, frankly, I’m getting pretty tired of his low-life stories. I have begun to dislike him and his treatment of women. Whether his stories are fiction or nonfiction, the thoughts emanate from his head and it is a place I am tired of being. I skipped this month’s story after the first page. But you are right, they have to say “yes” to someone and I hope it will be you.
I don’t like to OD on any one writer either. I just went through this when all of Michael Pollan’s books came in for me from the library at the exact same time.
I am not familiar with Poe Bellantine. He wasn’t in the issue of the Sun I checked out (or I didn’t notice his work). I am going to have to sign out latest from the library.
Thanks for the head’s up! I encourage you to keep submitting to the Sun. You write great personal narrative and that’s exactly the kind of thing they publish.
[…] use my story Saved. When they say they may take six months, they really mean it. I sent it out to them early last November. I sent it so long ago, they had to affix a little extra postage to get my SASE […]
[…] use my story Saved. When they say they may take six months, they really mean it. I sent it out to them early last November. I sent it so long ago, they had to affix a little extra postage to get my SASE […]