Not accepted

To my way of thinking, no is still no, and it doesn't matter how they phrase it.

A small word of advice: I would keep track of your submissions, where they've been, who's looked at them and what they've said. An Excel spreadsheet is perfect for this. It really is important to keep track of these things, as tough as it is.

LOL - it's a different perspective, yes.

And what Manxom said - keeping track of submissions is a great way not to look like an idiot when you submit the same thing to someone who's already rejected (sorry not accepted) it.

...and then sometimes they do accept whatever you send them the 2nd time. I mean, hasnt it happened to you, too? Youre hung-over or in trouble because of your teenage sweetie being pregnant...whatever...and NOTHING seems any good. Or you got laid and everything seems wonderful. Editors are like everyone else.

Gosh, then these agents need to get laid more!

Sure. Sometimes they sound better when you read them backwards, too Take whatever you can from it, as long as it moves you to write more, and submit again.

And yeah, I agree with everyone about keeping track. Use any method you feel comfortable with, but definitely keep a record of who, what and when.

Think of the chuckle that'll give you when you get that big Acceptance letter on a piece the others rejected

I have index cards, with a section for submissions, rejections, and acceptances. It's getting pretty confusing (b/c I have so many now, lol), so I'm going to start grouping them by genre and piece. The system works great, though. I write down where and when I submitted, when I'm supposed to hear back by, and what the status of the manuscript is/was.

It's so much fun to write "ACCEPTED!" with a big smiley face.

Is being 'not accepted' less negative than being rejected?

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It might be a little kinder and gentler, but yeah, it's still a no.

I'm going to have to start getting more organized when it comes to submissions. Y'all make some good points. I don't have excel, though...at least, I don't think I do, lol.

crypticquill said:

I'm going to have to start getting more organized when it comes to submissions. Y'all make some good points. I don't have excel, though...at least, I don't think I do, lol.

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Get OpenOffice. It's free, download is simple, and the suite of programs includes a decent basic spreadsheet. It's not as good as Excel for sophisticated things, but will work just fine for straightforward record-keeping. The word-processor is very good, as is the drawing program. I've also used the presentation program a little, and found it okay for my purposes. Grooogle for "OpenOffice" and you'll find a site for download.

caw.

Thanks!

I got a rejection notice today but am not offended. It was nothing personal and the editor took the time and effort to write the note himself. This publishing company has already set its publishing agenda into 2008 and the editors are unable to read any new manuscripts. It makes sense. Anything they read now would be slightly out of date by 2008. They will need fresh material then or maybe before and I will resubmit then if the manuscript is still unpublished.