If you have made it to this page, you are here because you, me, and million others all have a common bond.
Rejection.
Rejection sucks. Plain and simple. I firmly believe a person becomes a ‘real’ writer, not when they get published, but when they get rejected.
That hopeful feeling every time you submit. That sinking feeling when the rejection letter comes.
Sometimes they are personal, often they are form rejections.
In any event, in any case, they still hurt.
Come on, this is your baby, right? This is formed from your soul, a product of your being. Your feelings. Hey, you laughed at it right? Why wouldn’t some editor?
I, too, have been rejected. Probably more times than anyone else has.
I actually contacted the Guinness Book of World Records about it. They said they don’t have a category for rejection letters. Well, damn it, they should. I’m certain I’d hold the title.
To date, as I pen this, I have written since 1995, 57 novels, nine screenplays, countless poems and short stories, most of which I have submitted. All of those submissions faced rejection. I’ve been fortunate one time, one novel, never received rejection, it was accepted by the first publisher that received it. I still believe to this day, my resume helped.
When I submitted, I opened up the handy dandy Writers Digest. I’d submit to everyone that my novel fit, then submit again.
I was addicted to submitting. Checking the mail, the email. Obsessed? You bet.
But perseverance is the key.
PHASES OF REJECTION
Nobody likes rejection. No one seeks to be rejected. Yet, there are phases you go through when getting rejected.
Hurt. You feel dejected, depressed, and you’ve received a lot, you feel like giving up.
But you don’t. Someone you know says something nice about your work and you are filled with hope.
Dejection. Anger Hope.
You need to just learn to get back on the horse and keep submitting.
HOW TO HANDLE REJECTION
Don’t live by the rule if it is a form letter, they didn’t read it. Not true, often editors have so many submissions, as much as they want to respond personally, they just can’t.
If an editor scribbled ‘no thanks’ on my cover letter, hey, I knew they took time.
Set a goal for yourself. Tell yourself that you will let a piece get rejected only so many times. After that, set it aside for two months. After that, reread, tweak, and try again. Even the same markets.
Save your rejection letters. I have an entire bin. Save them. The letters are not your failures; they are the steps you have taken to success.
Keep in mind, if an editor takes time to give advice in a rejection, your story has something. Editors are busy and to take time to do that, says something for your work.
WHY DO I GET REJECTED?
As an editor who rejects 90% of what I read, here is a list of why a submission gets rejected.
Inundation – This is probably the number one reason. The magazine is inundated with submissions that they must reject. Often times many good stories are rejected because there are too many to choose from.
Poorly written cover letter or no cover letter.
Check that spelling on your cover letter, and make sure you include one.
No SASE.
Although if I see an email address I don’t reject, but if there’s no email and no SASE, out it goes.
Story takes to long to get interesting.
I don’t mind a cover letter stating ‘Dear editor’, it doesn’t bother me. But fellow editors at other magazines, reject, especially if their name is on the website.
Too long. If I get a short story that is 30 pages long, it’s far too much. My readers won’t want to read it either.
Sloppy submissions.
Yes, you probably gasped. Writers send sloppy submissions? You would never? Good. But many authors send used copies with stains. Crinkled paper. Notebook paper.
Watch your typos. While I don’t reject for too many typos, others do. I have two modes. The reader mode and editor mode. I judge a story in reader mode, so I don’t see those errors unless they are blearing.
The number one reason I reject is a bad ending. Don’t rush your endings; make them good, original and not so cliché.
HOW NOT AVOID REJECTION
Even though rejection is a given at some point in a writers life, here are some tips on avoiding rejection.
Always include a SASE or an email address.
Keep your cover letters short and sweet. Don’t bog me down with details of your life, but pertinent information should be there. Are you a teacher? A professional writer. Expertise in the field in which you are writing. Also, a one or two sentence log line about the story helps.
Submit in the winter. Surprisingly, most writers do an abundance of writing in the winter, and flood us with submissions from April to August. Try to submit in the cold months when submissions are low.