To the best of my knowledge they started sending responses on 8 January, 2013. (As per their website: (ETA: We’ve started sending responses, both status reports for those manuscripts still under consideration and beginning to respond to those that do not work for our list (sorry).)
No one knows whether or not they're working in order from date of submission, but people who submitted much later than I did have already heard back. (I've only heard of rejections so far.) I still haven't heard anything, and I'm assuming the reason for this is, in descending order of likelihood, with the most likely being #1:
1. They've lost my manuscript or never received it. It fell into an inter-dimensional portal or was carried off by goblins, or maybe was deleted with the spam mail, or fell between the desk and the water cooler.
2. They rejected it, but the response got lost in my spam filter.
3. They're waiting for me to post this on my blog before rejecting me, thereby making me look foolish. (More foolish?)
4. Somewhere there's a Steve Perry in Schenectady wondering why the hell Harper Voyager is emailing them
5. The whole "Harper Collins soliciting unagented manuscripts" thing is just a big elaborate practical joke perpetrated by my friends who obviously have too much time on their hands and don't care if they hurt my grubby little feelings.
6. They haven't read it yet.
7. It's passed the first round and is under consideration for publication.
Comments
STOP THINKING ABOUT IT.
There's fuck-all you can do about it right now. Either they will reject it or they will do something else (make offer, ask for rewrite and resubmission, whatever). But at this point the only thing you can do is wait.
Inigo Montoya: "I hate waiting."
Unfortunately, there is no Man in Black you can offer to help climb the Cliffs of Insanity a little faster so you can get to the dueling.
Find something to do other than think about this.
Schrodinger's box is sealed. You can not open it. All possibilities within are both true and untrue.