Deciphering Rejections

ZombieHappyMeal · Nov 30, 2011

I recently received the following rejection from one of my favorite online magazines; "Thanks for submitting this story, but I'm going to pass on it. It's nicely written and I enjoyed reading it, but overall it didn't quite win me over, I'm afraid. Best of luck to you placing this one elsewhere, and thanks again for sending it my way. I look forward to seeing your next submission."

In their submission guidelines this magazine says, "Be aware that every month we receive several hundred submissions. As such, we cannot offer personalized feedback on each story. If we say, “send more,” however, it does mean that we hope to see something else from you."

Does this mean that the editor here will actually be looking for my name to show up with future submissions? How good of a sign is it when you get a rejection letter that asks you to send more? Does this sort of rejection up your chances for publication at all? Do editors really flag people's names that they feel have potential?

Would love to hear back from some more experienced rejects! Thanks for the info!

---ZHM

AyJay · Nov 30, 2011

Not sure if I qualify as an "experienced reject," but I've gotten about a dozen from short story publishers.

I think you can take that website blurb at face value: if they say send more, send more. But the rejection does sound really form-y. I wouldn't expect that they will be on the look-out for your next submission. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try again. Absolutely, try again!

Two similar experiences...I got turned down for a short fiction piece, but the editor said he liked the style and wondered if I had something else to submit. I did, and the editor picked it up. That seemed more personalized than your experience above.

Then, I got rejected for a short story to a different journal with a very polite, author-friendly note that said: "We hope you will send us your material again." So I tried again, and a third time, and each time got the exact same rejection note.

FWIW

Red-Green · Nov 30, 2011

I not only have lots of experience being rejected, I have lots of experience rejecting people! (Used to work slush pile for a chi-chi international literary magazine.

)

"Send more" means "send more." It means one particular editor liked your writing style. It doesn't mean more than that. It doesn't mean the editor will remember your name next time. It certainly doesn't up your chances of having the next submission accepted. (Only the next story can increase your chances of being published.) It just means, "Hey, I liked this story. I think I would like to see more of your stories."

A certain very venerable lit mag always sends me the nicest personalized rejections. Apparently, several of their editors love my stories. They just never want to publish them.

So, keep writing. And send more.

Phaeal · Dec 1, 2011

This is a form rejection. Because it obliquely invites you to submit again, it may be a "higher level" rejection (some editors use a tiered system of forms.)

Anything without comment on some specific aspect of the submission is almost certainly a form, which need not be analysed. By specific, I don't mean your name or the story's name but something like, "I was confused when Andy slapped Joe-Joe upside the head for giving him five dollars."

Quickbread · Dec 2, 2011

Since they asked you for more work, I'd mention that with the next submission. Sometimes interns are the ones who sort through the slush pile to determine what gets read, where and by whom, and if they see that the submission has already been invited by an editor, they'll put it into a higher priority pile.

Jamesaritchie · Dec 3, 2011

" I look forward to seeing your next submission" always means "Go sit down, right now, and write something I want to buy."

Submit it as soon as you can, and in the cover letter, thank him for saying he wanted to see your next submission.

blacbird · Dec 4, 2011

Thoroughly deciphered and deconstructed, this rejection means exactly:

No..

Nothing more complicated than that. It's a form statement.

caw

Jamesaritchie · Dec 5, 2011

blacbird said:
Thoroughly deciphered and deconstructed, this rejection means exactly:

No..

Nothing more complicated than that. It's a form statement.

caw

No, it isn't. There are form rejections, and there are form rejections. Some just mean "NO". Others mean sit your butt down and write something else for me right now.

Form or not, editors never, ever say the want to see something else unless they mean it, unless they want to see something else as soon as possible.

And in this case, the guidelines even specify this.

proxima · Dec 17, 2011

That is the highest tier form rejection for that editor, from what I've heard. It's hard to get, and if you keep improving, you may very well see a personal one next time.

Drachen Jager · Dec 17, 2011

I can't remember where, but I read an article by a magazine editor where they discussed queries, rejections etc.

They basically said they look at a magazine issue, they need to fill in x pages of stories. First they look at their stand-bys, authors they know and are pretty likely to find a story they can use. Then they go to pile #2 which is where they put hit and miss authors and authors where they've liked a previous story, but not quite enough to use it. Once all that is exhausted (those are pretty small piles) they go to the slush pile.

So, you've made it from pile #3 to pile #2. That is significant progress, most authors never even make it that far. Write something better and try again.

epublishabook · Dec 18, 2011

The question is, "How to answer a rejection letter?" Here is an answer that might at least make you smile

blacbird · Dec 29, 2011

proxima said:
That is the highest tier form rejection for that editor, from what I've heard. It's hard to get, and if you keep improving, you may very well see a personal one next time.

I don't mean to knock this one, or necessarily to disagree with you. But I have to say that I've received a number of rejections similar to this one, reacted according to the recommendations made by others in this thread, and got exactly nowhere, zippo, by doing so. Perhaps that equates to "I haven't kept improving."

I have recently got a short accepted via its presence here at AW, but never through the submissions "process". So at this point I have a certain degree of skepticism about these things.

caw

Jamesaritchie · Dec 29, 2011

Drachen Jager said:
I can't remember where, but I read an article by a magazine editor where they discussed queries, rejections etc.

They basically said they look at a magazine issue, they need to fill in x pages of stories. First they look at their stand-bys, authors they know and are pretty likely to find a story they can use. Then they go to pile #2 which is where they put hit and miss authors and authors where they've liked a previous story, but not quite enough to use it. Once all that is exhausted (those are pretty small piles) they go to the slush pile.

So, you've made it from pile #3 to pile #2. That is significant progress, most authors never even make it that far. Write something better and try again.

I don't know if it's the same article, but Kristine Kathrine Rusch said almost exactly the same thing from her days as editor at F&SF.

It plays out pretty much this way, with different wording, for every editor.

It's true. Very few writers make it from pile three to pile two, and even fewer every make it to pile one. But just getting out of pile three is a big step. Though I will say you're not really a member of pile two, at least to stay, until after you make a sale.

Deciphering Rejections

ZombieHappyMeal

AyJay

Luv's Conscript

Red-Green

KoalaKoalaKoala!

Phaeal

Whatever I did, I didn't do it.

Quickbread

Jamesaritchie

blacbird

Jamesaritchie

proxima

Drachen Jager

Professor of applied misanthropy

epublishabook

blacbird

Jamesaritchie