Positive rejection, can/should I resubmit?

Bookislovakia · Oct 30, 2012

I submitted a short horror piece to a podcast, and the rejection was incredibly positive. The editor, or slush reader, really seemed to like the piece. However, he said that the story's "success as an example of a creature story makes the ending a bit predictable, and thus, anticlimatic."

I did not receive an invitation to edit and resubmit, but was strongly encouraged to submit to them in the future.

My question is: now that I've revised the ending, is it worth sending to them again, or is it likely to be rejected? They held onto it for two months, so I don't doubt that the people who read submissions are familiar. (The rejection letter said it was a very near miss, and spent a lot of time in deliberation)

Will I be wasting my/their time, or would it be prudent to send it back now that I've revised the ending, even if they didn't ask me to?

Charles Farley · Oct 30, 2012

Maybe . . . just maybe remember, they liked your writing but not the story . . send them something new . . . I doubt they will want to read the same story again or they would have asked you to change it.

That's just my thoughts though . .

Bookislovakia · Oct 30, 2012

That's what I was kind of thinking. I'm very new to submitting short stories, and was encouraged by the positive tone of the rejection, but since they didn't invite me to revise and resubmit I wasn't sure if that'd be a good idea. Looks like my instincts were correct.

Still, the new ending is pretty good! /sigh

J.W. Alden · Oct 30, 2012

Nah, bad idea. That's sometimes seen as an amateur move. Don't resubmit the same story unless that's what the editor asked you to do.

A lot of markets will actually say as much in their guidelines, but even if they don't, just chock it up as a positive experience and send it to a different market. Keep this one in mind for a future story.

waylander · Oct 31, 2012

If they did not specifically say 'we'll look at this again if you revise it', then don't. Find another market for the new version of this one and write another.

Jamesaritchie · Oct 31, 2012

If an editor wants you to rewrite and resubmit, he'll say so in plain language. No matter how positive a rejection seems, it's still a rejection, not a request for a rewrite.

If you agree with what the rejection said, rewrite and submit it somewhere else.

Bookislovakia · Oct 31, 2012

Definitely looks like everyone agrees on this one. Thanks for the help, gang!

Debbie V · Nov 12, 2012

I almost got a sale out of doing the opposite. I revised based on comments and queried about whether they would be interested. They agreed. They liked the changes and asked for more changes. I made those too. They requested another small tweak that I preferred not to make. I never received a response to my note about why I preferred not to make that change. It was a story based decision on my part. Oh well.

Positive rejection, can/should I resubmit?

Bookislovakia

Charles Farley

Bango Skank

Bookislovakia

J.W. Alden

The King Who Bore the Sword

waylander

Who's going for a beer?

Jamesaritchie

Bookislovakia

Debbie V

Mentoring Myself and Others