I Reject that Rejection!
When daylight savings time comes around and it feels like spring might be in the air—as soon as all the snow melts away—I usually decide it’s time to submit some essays and stories for publishing.
Then as the rejection letters trickles into my inbox and mail box, my confidence slowly gets chipped away and I start doubting whether writing is something I should spend any more time on. Although I know that rejections are part of the submission process and just a stepping stone on the way to getting published, it’s still hard to keep my optimism at its original level.
This year, I’ve decided to prepare before the rejections arrive by taking comfort in that many famous writers were rejected multiple times before they reached multi-book contracts. Book Examiner Michelle Kern lists 30 famous writers who were initially rejected, including some quotes from their actual rejection letters. One of my favorite ones is from Tom Hillerman’s. He was initially told by publishers to “get rid of all that Indian stuff.” When George Orville submitted Animal Farm, it was rejected on the basis that “It is impossible to sell animal stories in the USA.” I guess they never anticipated the success of The Art of Racing in the Rain or Marley & Me.
Another place to laugh at rejection letters is on the Writer’s Digests site. In their “Get Creative” article series, they often challenge readers to write fake rejection letters. Their two latest ones are for Dr. Seuss and J.K. Rowling.
Are their certain times during the year when you submit more work than usual?
What’s your favorite rejection letter?
I once got a 5-minute rejection from n + 1 that apologized for taking so long to get back to me. Obviously, with a 5-minute rejection you can assume two things (three if you didn’t follow submission guidelines, but I did follow them so I wasn’t being rejected because of that). Assumption 1: They read the first few lines and were horrified at how bad the material was, but given that what I sent them has since gone on to be published elsewhere (respectable places at that), I’m not going that route. Assumption 2: they were overwhelmed by the number of submissions they’d been receiving, had closed to submissions, and hadn’t updated their site, and I’m assuming this was the case. Obviously, I didn’t take this all too harshly, but I did find the apology for taking so long funny. What’s your usual response time? 2 Minutes?
Go with reason number 2 Jason, it will keep you sane. :-)
I’ve not had any interesting rejections thus far, but I enjoyed the creative rejections to Dr. Seuss and J.K. Rowling. :)
Have you written any intersting rejections Tanya? You can always borrow from the creative rejections for WS. :-)
I got a re-rejection the other day. I’d rejected a novel about two people in a car. Not on that basis, but on the basis of the awful writing. Mangled sentences, missing words, excess punctuation; it was nigh unreadable. I didn’t even get far enough into it to see if the plot was salvageable (though I’m betting from the synopsis that it wasn’t).
He sent me an angry email just a few minutes after, saying that he pitied me for not being able to see the promise of the story, and that a real editor would have been totally engrossed in it.
I typed out a lengthy “fuck-you” response, then deleted it. Therapy.
“I typed out a lengthy “fuck-you” response, then deleted it. Therapy.”
Awesome Marcus!
There’s the restraining order rejection:
“We respectfully ask that you wait at least one month before sending more work for consideration.”
Yes! I never understood those. Unless the author is sending in work weekly, why do we have to wait. Do they think we’re like wine? Our writing mature with a longer shelf life?