Standard Rejection/Short Story Submissions

CalRazor

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 30, 2017
Messages
379
Reaction score
19
Recently received what seems like a pretty clear standard rejection letter for one of my short stories. I'm just curious, have you had any success with submitting short stories to places that have initially reacted to your work with a pretty standard apathy?
 

lizmonster

Possibly A Mermaid Queen
Absolute Sage
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 5, 2012
Messages
14,542
Reaction score
24,137
Location
Massachusetts
Website
elizabethbonesteel.com
Recently received what seems like a pretty clear standard rejection letter for one of my short stories. I'm just curious, have you had any success with submitting short stories to places that have initially reacted to your work with a pretty standard apathy?

I can't answer your question. But I've listened to enough editors at cons to say you can't really read anything into a standard rejection. A lot of editors have said they only ever send form rejections, because they've had too many misunderstandings around personalized ones.

YMMV, of course, but I think the only real answer is that a form R doesn't tell you anything about what they thought of your work except that they chose not to buy it. They may have decided on the third sentence; they may have agonized for quite some time.

Pretty sure you're safe subbing again.
 

Elle.

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 10, 2018
Messages
1,272
Reaction score
734
Location
United Kingdom
There is nothing to read in a standard rejection. I don't believe it's a show of apathy, they just didn't think that particular story is for them, doesn't mean a future story won't be right for them.
 

Richard White

Stealthy Plot Bunny Peddler
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 27, 2005
Messages
2,993
Reaction score
600
Location
Central Maryland
Website
www.richardcwhite.com
I agree with Liz. Basically, unless you get a letter saying "Please, never submit to us again", then a rejection simply means "we decided not to buy this story".

They might not have liked the story . . . they might have bought a story very similar to yours ten minutes before your submission arrived . . . they may have had editorial tell them "we can only have eight stories this month instead of twelve and yours was the odd one out". Unless you know the editor and he volunteers the answer, you'll never know. It's just not worth the effort to beat your head against the rejection.

Just write a new story and submit it later - and keep trying to find new places to submit the old story. What didn't work for one editor might work for another.
 

Shoeless

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 18, 2009
Messages
2,308
Reaction score
295
To be fair, I think the majority of writers receive multiple standard rejections from the same publisher--or even agent--before getting somewhere, so I'd say this is normal, and not something that's a criticism of your worth as a writer.
 

babbage

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 4, 2019
Messages
112
Reaction score
12
Good responses here, but I would add one caveat: look at what was initially rejected. Did your piece match what the publisher normally publishes? Is it the sort of thing they are likely to publish? Make sure that you didn't get a form rejection because your material didn't meet their needs in an obvious way. If it did--then feel free to keep submitting new stuff to them.
 

CalRazor

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 30, 2017
Messages
379
Reaction score
19
I can't answer your question. But I've listened to enough editors at cons to say you can't really read anything into a standard rejection. A lot of editors have said they only ever send form rejections, because they've had too many misunderstandings around personalized ones.

YMMV, of course, but I think the only real answer is that a form R doesn't tell you anything about what they thought of your work except that they chose not to buy it. They may have decided on the third sentence; they may have agonized for quite some time.

Pretty sure you're safe subbing again.

Yep, it definitely doesn't hurt to submit again. I probably won't lose an arm. :)

The thing that makes me wonder is browsing rejectionwiki and seeing the higher-tier rejections. But you're right, even a standard rejection doesn't tell you much about why they don't accept your work.

To be fair, I think the majority of writers receive multiple standard rejections from the same publisher--or even agent--before getting somewhere, so I'd say this is normal, and not something that's a criticism of your worth as a writer.

That's probably true.

One thing I'm wondering about is whether or not a non-standard personal rejection can be interpreted as permission to revise and resubmit? I received a personal rejection letter from an agent a few months ago who seemed to be genuinely considering my book (before ultimately deciding to reject). There wasn't any explicit offer to R&R though, so I didn't push it.

Good responses here, but I would add one caveat: look at what was initially rejected. Did your piece match what the publisher normally publishes? Is it the sort of thing they are likely to publish? Make sure that you didn't get a form rejection because your material didn't meet their needs in an obvious way. If it did--then feel free to keep submitting new stuff to them.

I thought it fit with their usual stuff pretty well. Although this was one of my older "rough around the edges" stories, so that might've had something to do with it...
 
Last edited:

Richard White

Stealthy Plot Bunny Peddler
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 27, 2005
Messages
2,993
Reaction score
600
Location
Central Maryland
Website
www.richardcwhite.com
Unless you get a specific revise and resubmit request, then always assume a rejection simply means "Not for me."

Trying to divine more than that from the rejection letter leads to madness.