Guest Blogger: Thinking about Rejection

Rejections aren’t scary… When I was thirteen, I sent my first “book” length manuscript to a publishing company that shall remain unnamed. Six weeks later (impressive, considering what I now know about the publishing world), I received my very first rejection letter. I still have it.

Since then, I have received numerous rejection letters. If I am meeting my writing and submitting goals (remember, I write short stories), I receive at least 3-5 rejections every few weeks. I still keep all of them. Now, I also receive acceptance letters, but it’s the rejections that encourage me to keep growing as a writer, learning about different literary journals, and writing the best stories possible.

Many of the rejections I receive are humorous:

Thanks for sending your story along. The fiction department was torn on it. One of our editors is a big fan of mustard in fiction, but personally, I can't stand dark chocolate and mint Milky Ways. It was a close call, but we're going to pass on this one. Thanks for your patience, and please think of us again in the future.

Often, I am encouraged to send more writing:

I've read your story a half-dozen times now, and while there's a lot to like here, it didn't end up fitting with the issue I'm putting together. That said, I enjoy your sense of humor and your writing, and I hope you'll send me something else to read soon.

And a lot of my writing receives more than one glance:

Although I will not be accepting this submission, it received repeated attention well beyond a first reading.  I encourage you to submit again.

Finally, often my writing receives even a first glance because of the writing communities in which I am involved. Although I am rejected, because of my submissions, blog posts, and comments on writing networking sites, my name is becoming known enough for people to read my work, whether or not they accept it.

I’ve read and enjoyed your pieces in other journals so did give your story a quick read anyway.

And, honestly, in the publishing world—whether literary or otherwise—getting someone to look at your writing can be considered, to utilize a lunar reference, one giant leap for mankind!

But, it is still important to know your market… Now, I would never even consider submitting to a journal without first reading several of their past published stories and authors. I do my homework before submitting.

Also, I familiarize myself with the journal’s submission requirements. Some journals prefer attachments via email, some prefer a direct cut and paste into the email, and still others only accept printed copies with a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope (SASE).

Finally, even if an editor sends me a humorous response to a short story, I always initiate via a formal query letter. Mine looks something like this:

Hello,

My name is Sarah Joy Freese, and I am a graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with an MA in creative writing and an MLIS in library science. Please accept my short story, “[Insert Name Here]”, for submission into your literary journal, [Insert Name Here].

I have been previously published in places like elimae, Monkeybicycle, Prick of the Spindle, The 2^nd Hand, and The Salt River Review. I have a story forth coming in The Santa Fe Writer’s Journal.

Thank you for your time, and I appreciate your reading.

Sarah Joy Freese

Taking the time to familiarize yourself with the market in which you are interested, writing awesome stories, and researching, researching, researching, will allow you to feel confident with the material that you submit. When you do send your work out and receive your first rejection (because you will), now you can realize that they aren’t quite as scary as you initially perceived, and you can keep submitting your work.

But, again, please do your homework. You will keep getting rejections if you are only antagonistic toward the responses that you receive.

Our guest blogger today is Sarah Freese, a young writer and editor who I thought had something interesting to say. Sarah, like me, is a short story lover and an editor. She is going to do a short series of blogs, touching on some topics I think will be of interest.

Comments

[Courtney Walsh]

I loved this guest post. My husband is notorious for finding the good points in things like rejections... it always sort of annoys me when he does it, but reading your examples I see such GOOD things to take away from the letters you're getting. (i.e. your work stands out, your name is becoming known, you are funny...) :)

Good stuff for a Thursday morning! :)

[Brandt Dodson]

Rejections are a fact of literary life, aren't they?
You haven't lived until you receive one that says;
"Please leave us alone."

[Tina]

Nice post, Sarah. I look forward to seeing you around here.

[AimeeLS]

I'm laughing at myself because I read this whole thing thinking Chip had written it...

I mean, 'cmon, mustard?!

In any case, thanks for the uplifting look at rejections. An excellent perspective!

[Laura Droege]

Sarah, great post. I liked the humorous rejection letters you've received!

I had a question on researching journals. I typically start with Novel&Short Story Market, then look at the journals' websites. However, I usually can't find hardcopies of the actual contents (to see if my story fits in tone, etc.) unless I order one online. I've checked my local chain bookstores and they don't seem to carry many literary journals. (I've found about six journals, plus a few in genres that I don't write.) Ordering online becomes expensive and I usually end up with a journal that I dislike and would never, ever submit to.

All of this is making it difficult for me to feel confident about submitting my stories anywhere. Do you have any advice on the most time efficient and cost effective way of researching short story markets?

[Iheartya.wordpress.com]

Funny story: So I am reading this post, and I think, "Wow! That sounds really familiar... Oh! I wrote that!"

Time for more coffee.

[Iheartya.wordpress.com]

Laura asked an excellent question. I responded on her blog, also, but here are my answers:

1. Chill out at various bookstores (usually independent bookstores have more literary journals available). Read the journals they have, and also find the anthologies. As you are reading through the anthologies (i.e. Best American, Dzanc's Best of the Web), take note of which stories you like. Then, figure out which journal in which it was published, and look at other journals in which that particular author has been published. You know the drill.

2. Review. If you start reviewing copies of journals and you email the journals to let them know that you would like to review their journal on your blog, SOMETIMES they will send you free copies. Along with that, check out http://newpages.com/. You can review for them, and they will send you free books and lit journals (note that you don't get paid for this).

3. Check out http://www.emergingwriters.typepad.com/. Scroll down a ways on the right hand side and you can see SEVERAL literary journals both online and on the web that are available. Again, these are not all free, but it might give you a stronger idea of what journals are available. It is more comprehensive than Writer's Market.

[patriciazell]

When I first started writing back in the early 1990's, the conventional wisdom was that one was not a "good" writer until he or she wrote a million words and collected a kazillion rejection letters. If I haven't already reached that status, I've gotten pretty close. And, like you, I have saved all the rejections. Those rejection letters--they're like badges of honor. They mean we are putting forth effort and sooner or later, that effort will pay off.

[DragondreamzPub]

Not all rejections are because your story isn't good enough, or because your writing is sub-par. More often than not, it is because your manuscript isn't what the publisher is looking for.

I'm saying this not only as a writer, but also as a publisher. For my new magazine, I've recieved a lot of great, well written stories that I just cannot use. Either because they don't fit in with the theme/genre or they are just too long.

I'm fairly good at spotting a "blind submission" when I see one. (And, I confess to doing a lot of blind submitting myself in my early days as a writer). It really pays to read guidelines thuroughly, and if you can take a good look at what else the publisher is printing.

Small presses go out of business occasionally; big publishing houses change with the trends...
So keep up to date. Do not rely to heavily on the writer's market books (I was so guilty of this back in the day).

I cannot tell you how many manuscripts were returned to me because I was following outdated information, or the publication was going out of print...

[Lynn Rush]

Great post!