No I’m not referring to extraterrestrials. I’m referring to the hurdles we face in getting published, getting accepted, getting read. I recently saw an article in my local paper titled “The Odds of Getting Hired,” by Angela Copeland. It stated that only 2 % of job applicants make it to the interview phase, and that the odds of getting hired are 1.2 % overall. It sounds pretty familiar already when I think of all the statistics I read about how many people are out there trying to write for every market available. The article mentions that according to one source, there are 250 applicants for corporate job opening. While it’s true that job seekers often apply simultaneously to multiple openings, we writers are likely doing something similar. We may not submit simultaneously (usually frowned upon) but we at least keep the same manuscripts circulating to different outlets. The next part of the article touts the advantage of (guess what?) networking!  “Your chances of getting hired go up exponentially when you know someone internally.” Of course this is true for us. It’s why conferences and other ways to make connections to editors, agents and readers is so important. There’s more. “So often we assume that we weren’t hired because we aren’t qualified [in our case,, our work wasn’t good enough]. But it may really come down to a numbers game at times.”

All I’m saying is, it’s tough out there for everyone. The author’s conclusion sounds even more familiar: “Keep moving. Keep applying.” Yes. Keep writing. Keep submitting. And take comfort in knowing we’re not alone.