Is it polite to respond to a rejection, or an annoyance?

Do not respond. At all. They've rejected your manuscript and unless they'd replied with an R&R, the matter's closed.

They get so much email as it is. Adding to it doesn't help matters. Receiving a detailed personal rejection that directly invites you to query again with your next project might merit thanks, but a form one--nope.

Agree with above. The only times I've responded are in situations where there has been some correspondence previously concerning a full and I want to thank them for their feedback.

If they asked for a full, and then gave me some helpful feedback on it, I've thanked them.
But that was probably after a solid 24 hours of hand wringing about whether it would be polite or just an extra hassle for them. So I feel your pain!

A response is so rare, I always thank them.

Hey, so, I've stopped responding to agent rejections long ago, but I recently had an editor rejection (from TOR). Is that the same deal?

I mean it doesn't matter since it's too late now, but it was a recommendation read (via acquaintence) rather than an open window. At the time I thought I don't want to clutter his inboxx but now I'm paranoid I've been super rude.

It's generally not a good idea to respond to rejections as it does clutter up the inbox and can seem stalkery.

Exceptions might be for a project that had a fair amount of correspondence back and forth (an R&R for example) or where there was a detailed rejection with an invitation to send more work at a later time.

I'm not agent hunting at the moment, but any time I contact an editor I always include "Thank you for your time and consideration." in my cover/query letter right before my signature. (If it's something that's a referral or recommendation, I may also add a line something like "I appreciate you taking a look at this," but that depends on the situation so YMMV.) That gives me the mental satisfaction of feeling like I've acknowledged their work without having to send a response to a (potential) rejection.

I applaud your intent, but it's wasted effort. They won't remember your note if you submit something else in the future, and anyway, thanking someone for rejecting you is a step too far. I actually think it's healthier to curse their incredible stupidity and vow to make them regret it---talking to yourself, of course, not to them. That they would remember. And then go and write something better.

Nope. I was just at a conference and this was addressed during the agent panel. The consensus was 100% to NOT send a thank you.

I've sent one thank you to a rejection, and that was only because the agent had taken time to give me detailed feedback. Even then, my email was a simple one line, "thank you so much for taking the time to give me such <specific helpful feedback> blah blah blah." It wouldn't have been necessary, but since he'd put a lot of effort into the rejection, I felt like a thank you was in order.

On one Shipping & Handling podcast, the two agent hosts answered this question, and basically said they never even look at replies to rejections because it's almost always an angry writer ranting and cursing them. They don't wade into that, even to look for the nice replies.

I definitely don't see any benefit to responding to a form rejection. I do always respond with a quick thank-you when I get a personalized rejection on a partial or a full. I don't know if agents even glance at those, but it feels like basic politeness to me (it took them time to read my MS!), and so long as it's super brief and doesn't ask for anything further from them, I don't see the harm.

Plus, I hope enough nice "thank you for your time" emails will balance out a bit of the nastiness they get.

I've read slush, sent form rejections, and the LAST thing I wanted was any reply from the writer.

What I did want was a publishable story. I promise, I won't remember your rejected work. When 50-75 submissions come in every day editors and agents do not want a time-wasting reply in our IN box that you understand our reaction. We assume you understand and will try-try again.

I was told by the senior editor to NOT include any comments to the writers, even if it might help them, because the writers always want to open a dialog and get more information about their baby. While some editors might have time for it, I did not. You take the piece to a workshop for feedback and make the next submission even better.

In one case I was on the receiving end of a rejection and it wasn't the standard form. The editor, who had bought other things from me, told me the premise was flat out stupid. I wasn't used to that kind of harsh, and it pissed me off. I'd have preferred a from rejection. Keep it impersonal!

I burned up my keyboard with several pages telling her how wrong she was, where to go and what to do when she got there, questioned her intelligence, taste, inability to see true genius, and concluded with the suggestion that she go suck a tailpipe on the nearest bus.

Then I printed it out and made sure I did NOT send it.

(Olden times, no email back then.)

I knew that sometime in the future I might be working with her again. No pooping in the pool!

Certainly you would never send a negative message to an editor/agent, but a positive message can have the same effect.

Write out your frustrations, never send them, then figure out why it got rejected, and try-try again.

Sat Nam! (Literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

The only time I've ever sent a thank you was once when I didn't receive a reply on a partial and nudged. The guy replied that he'd sent me a reply but it had bounced. Then he gave me the gist of what he'd said. I felt that extra effort deserved a reply to let him know I'd gotten it that time.

But otherwise you're just wasting their time...and yours.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

This is good information! Thanks for all the input - I would have erred on the side of being overly polite

I responded to detailed rejections with feedback, because the agent spent time trying to help me even though she didn't want to rep me and would never get a penny out of her help. A thank you seemed polite.

I didn't respond to forms or one liners, because I figured that would be an annoyance in an overflowing inbox.