Comments on: Responding to rejections: a comparison

By: Stab Me In the Heart … And I’ll Take It Like A Girl « 2009: Another Year of the Books

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:17:37 +0000

[...] at the Crossed Genres blog today, the editor posted two author responses to rejections that I found were spot-on to my own experiences. They made me laugh a little, but they also made me [...]

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:20:09 +0000

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By: birdyb

birdyb — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:03:14 +0000

I’ve gotten a lot of rejections, lately, and the only one I’ve ever replied to was a rejection from an editor who took the time to tell me where my story fell short — I was surprised that they’d taken the time and grateful for the information.

For me, my reaction to a rejection has more to do with how good I think the story is. I recently got a rejection for a story that (in retrospect) is insipid, juvenile, silly, and downright bad. That it was rejected should not have come as a surprise; the pain of that rejection was mitigated by realizing that I didn’t write the best story I could have. Heck, the rejection letter was downright sweet, in its impersonality; the editor could have rightly shredded every sentence of that story and they wouldn’t have been wrong.

On the other hand, I’ve gotten rejections for a couple of stories that I really loved, that I had worked hard on and that I thought were as good as they could possibly be. It hurt, yes, but it never occurred to me to be snotty toward the person who rejected them. (I did think about asking why?, but editors are busy and I didn’t want them to think I was whiny instead of curious.)

I hate getting rejection letters, but I try to keep in mind the fact that every single author in existence has at least one rejection letter. Mark Twain was rejected; Herman Melville and Ernest Hemingway, too. Stephen King and J. K. Rowling, Neil Gaiman and Jay Lake. All of them have been rejected, declined, have not met the needs of publishers and editors.

Also, the other thing that I try to keep in mind is that someone said yes to Stephanie Meyers and Dan Brown, so there’s that.

By: gaaneden

gaaneden — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:49:28 +0000

The first one would have me banning them from your magazine… the two magazines I read slush for and every single anthology I edit for years to come. And to pass their name/email address around as someone not to work with. Also, I would post (yet another) blog entry on now not to impress an editor.

The second one would have me sending them a short note saying I will get back to them when I have a moment to breath. Then, I would go back, look at the two submitted stories, and give a specific answer to why I would not accept the stories (Already bought similar stories, didn’t feel right, etc.) and the top 2-3 points I would change to make the story better.

~Jennifer Brozek