On the average, I can purchase 12 stories from the Clarkesworld slush pile in a year. I’ve just passed the halfway mark with the acceptance of The Giving Heart by Corie Ralston, which we’ll probably publish in the April or May issue.
Just because I’m such a stats junkie… Of the six, we have an even split of stories by men and women. Next month’s story is a first sale. I believe one of last month’s was the author’s first published story, but second sale. Two stories came from outside the US. Oh and apparently the odds of a slush pile story being accepted are about 1 in 250.
1 in 250? Sweet! That means I only have to submit another 245 stories and I’m guaranteed publication! 😉 Well. Maybe not. But aren’t statistics fun 😉 I may write a story about it.
I guess I have to start placing disclaimers on all my posts about stats. 🙂
Out of curiosity, where do you get the rest of your content? Do you approach specific writers and request stories?
We have a list of authors that we extend invitations to. The other twelve stories come from their submissions.