Here is a list of my (non-retired) stories, how many submissions they've had, how many acceptances, and how long it took to get from written to published the first time. Labels are abbreviations of the titles (I have some very long titles lol)
| Title | Subs | Accs | Time2Pub |
|---|---|---|---|
| M | 58 | 4 | 516d/1.41y |
| CC | 45 | 1 | 732d/2.01y |
| tAoLaaNTfGD | 67 | 3 | 510d/1.40y |
| ISaDBT | 22 | 1 | 148d/0.41y |
| tFatU | 11 | 2 | 157d/0.43y |
| HtSaDBT | 14 | 3 | 145d/0.40y |
| S | 56 | 1 | 341d/0.93y |
| AotD | 15 | 0 | n/a |
| aAFT | 24 | 0 | n/a |
| SiFoG(aIfhih) | 28 | 0 | n/a |
| GG | 23 | 0 | n/a |
| C:\ | 33 | 0 | n/a |
| tSO | 6 | 0 | n/a |
| tPatM | 1 | 1 | ? |
| MCEoYTaO | 15 | 0 | n/a |
| ORIaDttWCbHWRbFtF | 13 | 0 | n/a |
| WIWtHSBYKMA | 40 | 0 | n/a |
| tFoV | 4 | 0 | n/a |
| aTMoAB | 7 | 0 | n/a |
It can feel like it takes forever for a story to get out there, but that's because time can feel super weird! Sometimes it can take an absolute metric fuckton of chances before it works!
I see some people submit a piece once or twice, or only to a market once or twice, or just once and twice, ever, and then give up when it doesn't work. Remember the acceptance rate to get into Harvard is ~4%, and for a lot of markets, it's <1%! But unlike Harvard, you can try many times and you will constantly grow and improve and you can try lots of times!
[And always remember...] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxGRhd_iWuE)