- Joined
- Apr 3, 2013
- Messages
- 151
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- 19
Time for the link to Slushkiller?
100% of what a publisher owes you is a response, either "yes" or "no."
Feedback isn't part of it.
There's a reason for standard form rejections:
Dear Author:If you've never seen one of those before, get used to 'em. You (and every other working writer) will see them a lot.
Thank you for your submission. It does not suit our present needs.
-- The Editors
Suppose Mickey Spillane had submitted I, the Jury to Harlequin. Would they have bought it?
No.
Knowing that I, the Jury went on to sell a zillion copies, should they have bought it?
No.
(Note: I know this is a hypothetical; Harlequin wasn't founded until a couple of years after I, the Jury was published.)
I got a rejection from Strange Horizons that contained some great feedback, and while it's still a rejection, they're at the top of my submission list now. Even though they didn't buy the story, an editor took the extra time to give me some helpful info about what they loved, and what kept them from buying the story. "It felt like an excerpt from a novel, but it's a novel we'd like to read..."
It's something they had no obligation to do, and says something about the mindset of that particular market.