Last Updated on November 10, 2019 by Nathaniel Tower
In the past six years, I have been rejected almost 700 times. That’s an average of about 1 rejection every three days. At this point, you’d think I’d be completely immune. I should at least be an expert on rejection. Why then do I keep getting rejected?
Literary magazines can be pretty fickle. They are certainly picky, and it’s not always easy to figure out what works and what doesn’t. And since there are limited spots, rejection is inevitable no matter how good of a writer one is. Even the best writers still get rejected on a regular basis.
So what does rejection mean and what exactly should you do about it? Not all rejection is equal. Here are the 10 levels of rejection (with actual rejection letter samples) and what you should do about them.
Disclaimer: Most editors are good people and are just trying to do a service to the writing community. Be nice to your editors no matter what type of rejection you receive.
Level 1: The No Response Rejection (aka The Implied Rejection)
In the first level, you are never even told you are rejected. There’s no email that says the story didn’t work. You are just supposed to know.
Sometimes we get mad about these. We accuse the journals of being lazy or unprofessional. Couldn’t they at least tell us so we can sleep at night?
What to do: There are two options for how to react to the no response rejection. First is to do nothing. Just accept that you’ve been rejected without actually being rejected. You can even tell yourself that it wasn’t real rejection, that they just lost your story. The other option is to query. Send a kind note explaining when you submitted and that you are hoping to hear back from them soon. Maybe even throw in a “I know you’re busy.” However, don’t do this if the submission guidelines specifically say things like “Don’t query” or “If you haven’t heard back within 3 months, assume we aren’t going to publish your story.”
Level 2: The Completely Impersonal
The second level of rejection is actually less personal than the first. It is usually a single sentence, and it contains no greeting and maybe even no closing. It may make you wonder what you submitted and if maybe you forgot to include your name.
Example 1:
I am very sorry, but we are declining your story.
Regards,
XXXXX
Example 2:
Going to have to pass.
What to do: Nothing. Don’t respond. Don’t submit again. They don’t want to hear from you.
Level 3: The “Personalized” Form Rejection
This time, the editor does include your name. Maybe even your first and last name. Maybe even a “Dear” or “Hello” in front of it. The rejection note might even include the name of your story. But nothing else about this letter suggests it is being produced by anything other than a robot. This letter may not make you feel anything at all (unless of course you were waiting for six months and expected something more).
Example:
Dear Nathaniel,
Thank you for your submission of “Like a Son’s Funeral” to XXXXX. We gave the story careful consideration, and though we are not accepting it for publication, we hope you find a better fit for it elsewhere.
Thanks again for trusting us with your work.
Best,
Editors
What to do: Probably nothing. Maybe send a very brief thank you, but this isn’t really necessary. Lit mags have a big enough inbox without seeing a form thank you for every form rejection they send out. You might be able to submit again, but you should wait at least a few months.
Level 4: The Less Friendly Form Rejection (aka It Makes Us Feel Good to Reject You)
This can also be classified as the arrogant form. In this version of the rejection, it seems the editor takes great pride in rejecting you. Phrases like “we receive millions of submissions every second” and “we can only accept the tiniest fraction of a percentage” will be littered throughout. This letter will make you feel inadequate, and you will have little desire to submit there again.
Example:
Dear Nate Tower,
We appreciate your interest in XXXX and would like to assure you
that someone did read your submission. Unfortunately, we receive many more
manuscripts than we are able to publish, and reject most of what we receive,
even very promising works.
Best Regards,
XXXXXX
What to do: Shake it off. They probably do get a lot of submissions. They probably don’t really feel happy to reject you. If you are going to submit again, wait a long time, and make sure you are sending your absolute best.
Level 5: The Friendly Form Rejection (aka It Makes Us Feel Bad to Reject You)
At first glance, this won’t look much different than Level 4. It’s the tone that matters here. You will feel the editor’s pain at having to reject you. Phrases like “We appreciate the chance to read your work” and “Please do try us again” will likely appear. They may not actually want you to try again, but they will at least encourage it. Note: You can usually tell if they didn’t mean that “try us again” when you notice it starts to disappear from their responses after the tenth rejection.
Example:
Dear Nate,
Thank you for your submission. We appreciated the chance to publish your work, but we’re going to pass on your submission/s for XXXXXX. We’re so thankful for your support and interest. Picking the prose and poems and matching them with the submitted art is a tricky thing, and we frequently hurt from the editorial decisions we have to make. Sometimes a piece narrowly missed because of a mismatch between the available art and available text submissions. Other times we had to pass on brilliant pieces because they didn’t fit with the rest of the content of this issue–creating a cohesive experience is a true challenge! And of course, our magazine can only fit so many pieces to begin with. Trust us, we know we are rejecting a lot of wonderful work because of space issues alone.
We’re writers and artists too and believe us, we get rejections weekly, so we know how it feels like a downer to get one of these emails, but just because your submission isn’t a fit with us this time doesn’t mean it won’t find a spot much cooler than XXXXX (screw XXXXX anyway!). Keep on fighting the good fight and please try us again when submissions open up for the 4th anthology in 2014 (wow that sounds far away). For now enjoy the summer and all the hamburgers and hot dogs and/or veggie patties it has to offer. There’s a whole ocean out there to swim in (a couple of them actually). See you on the beach!
With care,
the Editors
What to do: Try them again. Wait a little bit though. Don’t be that submitter who responds to that email the same day with another submission. In your next submission, mention that they asked you to try them again, and maybe even thank them for the opportunity.
Level 6: The Insulting Personal Rejection (aka You Suck at Writing)
Now things start to get personal, and not in a good way. This is where the editor will start making actual comments about your story. However, these comments won’t make you feel good. In fact, they will leave you wishing for a form rejection. They may even make you want to trash the story or stop writing for good. They may attack your writing style or your ideas. They may even refer to you as a “new writer” even when you’ve had over 100 publications.
Example:
Dear Nate,
Abstract vagueness is a problem that all new writers face when they are still learning how to express themselves in fiction, so don’t think this is a personal problem that only affects you. All great writers faced this problem at some point, just like all experienced drivers first had to learn to use the gas and brake pedals. Step by step. That’s the process. My advice is to write something else as an exercise, trying to be as clear as humanly possible, and then come back to this story. Identifying clearly what you want to say, and finding a way to clearly communicate it, should be your writing goal for now.
XXXXXX
What to do: Keep writing, but don’t submit to them again. They obviously aren’t a good fit for your writing. You don’t need to thank them, and you definitely shouldn’t respond defensively or with a list of your publications. Just leave it be and focus on your craft. Who knows. Maybe there is even something worthwhile they said that can help your writing.
Level 7: The Vague Personal Rejection (aka Did They Really Read This?)
This has all the signs of a personal rejection, including some commentary about your story. But the commentary is so vague that you wonder if the editors read your story at all. You will see things like “this doesn’t fit in with our aesthetic” and “this wasn’t tight enough for our tastes.” Maybe these things are true, and maybe they can help you improve your story. But they don’t feel like much at the time. (This shouldn’t be confused with the rejection that was actually meant to be sent to a different writer about a different story.)
Example:
Dear Nathaniel Tower,
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to read “Pregnancy and the Wildebeest.” We regret that we do not have room for it in this anthology.
This was a very near miss. We were intrigued by the content and style, and we hope you will continue to experiment with your writing — and take even greater risks. We would be glad to see more work from you in the future. (You can keep an eye out for new calls for submissions by going to our website and subscribing to our blog or following us on Twitter or Facebook.)
We wish you the best with your writing and look forward to staying in touch.
Sincerely,
XXXXX
What to do: If you must, thank the editor for his or her time. Try to see if you can make improvements on your story based on this commentary. Submit again down the road, but wait a few weeks at least and make sure you get a better understanding of their aesthetic.
Level 8: The Try Us Again, For Real, Rejection (aka Your Writing Isn’t Bad)
While form letters often tell you to try again, you can usually tell if the editor actually wants you to try again. There will usually be some type of positive comment regarding your story, something that makes you believe the editor wants you to send something else. These letters often have a “but” in them. “We really liked this, but…” They acknowledge the good, but there’s a reason for the rejection.
Example:
Dear Nathaniel Tower:
Thanks for submitting “The Body Dumper” to XXXXXX. While this
story doesn’t suit our needs at this time, I hope that you’ll keep
visiting the site and keep sending stories our way. As we update weekly,
we’re always looking for new fiction.
And while this story didn’t make the cut, a number of our editors
enjoyed the line-by-line writing and the twist. So, it would be nice to
see your name in the inbox again.
All the best,
XXXXX
What to do: Thank the editor for the time and the commentary. Wait a few weeks. Submit something else. Make sure the new piece addresses any criticism the editor made.
Level 9: The Helpful Rejection (aka Constructive Criticism)
These editors take a lot of time and care to reject you. They want you to be a better writer. They want you to get published, maybe even in their magazine. They send you specific information to help you improve your story. They talk about your story, your characters, your word choice. They may even quote your story. These rejections should make you feel good. Essentially, you are getting a free workshop.
Example:
Nate,
Okay, I just finished your manuscript. I don’t think it’s right for me. I don’t know how attached you are to the long-short story (or novella or whatever) as the form for this, but in reading, I kept thinking it was either too long or too short. I could easily see this as a 2000-4000 word story, cutting out a lot of the historic, research-based stuff and really condensing the dialogue-heavy scenes. Then again, I could see this as almost doubling in length, throwing in sub-plots that really develop the characters. Regardless, I read the whole thing with interest.
Novellas are tough. Such an odd length. It’s like a 1300-1700 word story. Not flash fiction, not a full short story. That weird grey area of balance.
Like I said, though, I read the whole thing and think it’s interesting. There’s a lot going on with the intersection of pleasure and happiness, what’s real and what’s the imitation. The Stas Penis is a perfect representation of that, but at times I felt it dominating the story too much in lieu of the characters–which is something you may have been going for in terms of focus as a theme.
This is just my opinion, for whatever that’s worth, and, as the famous rejection line goes, I hope you have luck in placing this elsewhere. Different people like different things.
Thanks again for sending this in and allowing me to read it.
XXXXXXX
What to do: Definitely send a thank you. Make it sound personal. Take the commentary and actually improve your story. Send something else to this magazine down the road (but don’t send the same piece unless they specifically request a rewrite).
Level 10: The Super Encouraging Rejection
Every once in awhile, you get a rejection that is almost better than an acceptance. It praises your writing and goes into great detail about why you are a good writer. It may offer a suggestion or two for improvement, but it is mostly in the spirit of flattery. And it sounds sincere. Given that some acceptance letters sound like the editor is just doing you a favor, these can be the biggest reassurances that you are actually pretty good at this.
Example:
Nathaniel,
Thanks for giving us the chance to read “Baby Steps.” Unfortunately, we are not accepting it for publication at this time. Though we really loved your humorous style, the delightfully strange premise, and your ability to truly engage the reader, ultimately the story just didn’t quite work for us. We wish you the best of luck finding a home for it. Overall though, we’re still really loving your writing style; so we encourage you to send us more stories very soon, if you are so willing.
We ask that you please report your responses to Duotrope.
Editors,
What to do: Send the editor an immediate thank you. When you are done stroking your own ego and feeling good about yourself, submit that story to other venues and then start writing something new. Be sure to send something else to that helpful magazine, but give them a chance to catch their breath.
A final word on rejection
Rejection is inevitable. If you’ve been writing for long, you’ve probably seen every type of rejection letter possible. The most important thing to take away from rejection is that you can always improve your writing. No matter how many times you are rejected, don’t give up. There are plenty of publishing opportunities out there. Just make sure the work you send out is really your best.
How do you handle rejection? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Hi Nathaniel, Great post but wondered if you could clarify something for me. I sent my novel to about 12 agents and the responses were fairly evenly divided between level 1s and level 3s. They were nice level 3s but still level 3s. By your reasoning should I assume my ship has sailed forever with those particular agents? I can accept I was a little overenthusiastic with that particular book but if I’ve put myself on the equivalent of a lifetime blacklist with those particular agents, I’ll end up exhausting my options for future projects were quickly. Would you mind clarifying?
Ta.
Thanks for the comment. I think that agents are a different animal altogether. Since they are reading much longer works and can accept even fewer pieces than a lit mag, they really don’t have the opportunity to send personalized feedback. You can try them again down the road with another project, but you also don’t need to rely on just those 12. There are thousands of agents out there, so why focus on ones who’ve rejected you in the past?
Thanks for setting my mind at rest.
Unfortunately, some submitters aren’t receptive to unsolicited criticism, no matter how thoughtfully and respectfully framed. Sensing that, for a while I tried asking certain individual submitters to Orion headless if they would like some pointers that might help with their story or poem. One submitter said, “Sure!” and so I responded, and was met not with appreciation for my efforts, but a defensive missive delineating how I was wrong on every count and had no business commenting on the work. There are only so many hours in the day…
As a submitter, I really don’t mind a level 3 rejection, but I love 9s and 10s!
Sara, you are spot on with this comment. As editor of Bartleby Snopes, I’ve received one too many hateful replies to my feedback. That’s why we created separate categories on Submittable for feedback and no feedback. It’s definitely helped us out a few times when we couldn’t think of anything nice to say to the submitters.
I’d just like to say that I think it’s criminal a manuscript titled The Stas Penis went unpublished, and I’d really sleep better tonight if you could assure me it exists elsewhere.
Rene, thanks for the comment. The story is actually titled “One Time Use” at this point, but maybe I should switch it back. I have only sent it out twice I think. I need to get back on submitting that one!
Feedback is appreciated in my house. I get all of those other ones, too (well, maybe most).This was a particularly irksome one, given it was for four poems and two prose pieces:
Thank you for your time and for the opportunity to read your work, but this submission is not right for XYZ at this time.
We wish you the best in placing your work elsewhere and respectfully ask that you wait at least one month before submitting more work for consideration.
Sincerely,
Reblogged this on Phasers and Spells and commented:
A nice look at the ten ways you can get rejected.
It was really interesting to read these different rejections. But I would be cautious about romanticizing rejection letters and giving them “levels”. Of course it depends on the market, but sometimes a rejection is just what it says – the recipient has decided not to publish the story. It takes time for the editor or first reader to write thoughtful, personal comments about a story. Time they usually don’t have.
Going through my submission stats for the year, I find that I’ve received a few Level 8s and 9s. The form rejections are mostly Levels 3 and 5 – personalized and/or friendly. I’m happy when I get even a line of feedback for my story, because that’s pretty rare these days (understandably so).
Thoroughly enjoyed this, Nate. When I was in graduate school, I was an editorial assistance for The Mississippi Valley Review and Essays in Literature. One of my tasks was to send rejection notices to writers. Instead of the stock rejection note on a sheet of paper that was sent back to the writer with their manuscripts, I wrote out each rejection letter based on the notes from the reviewers and always tried to include feedback.
Thanks again for sharing this with us, Nate.
Reblogged this on Samuel Snoek-Brown and commented:
This fantastic blog post about literary rejections came across my feed last week and I’ve been meaning to share it with you. It reminded me of my own blog post about rejection from a few years back, but writer and Bartleby Snopes editor Nathaniel Tower has some great new takes on the subject, and loads of good, practical advice. Worth a read if you’re a writer.
I am reminded of the three times I submitted to the magazine of The Poetry Society.
On the first occasion they sent a rejection by return of post, by which I mean the work was rejected on the day it was received, and the rejection got into the mail on that day, arriving at my P O Box within 48 hours of my submission. The letter stated that the editor read every submission personally, but the letter was signed per pro by someone else.
On the second occasion they sent a rejection by return of post, by which I mean the work was rejected on the day it was received, and the rejection got into the mail on that day, arriving at my P O Box within 48 hours of my submission. The letter stated that the editor read every submission personally, but the letter was signed per pro by someone else.
I know, I know – fool me one, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. How about fool me three times?
On the third occasion they sent a rejection by return of post, by which I mean the work was rejected on the day it was received, and the rejection got into the mail on that day, arriving at my P O Box within 48 hours of my submission. The letter stated that the editor read every submission personally, but the letter was signed per pro by someone else.
By this time I was kicking myself for being such an idiot. Convinced of the utter mendacity of these letters, I resigned on the spot from The Poetry Society.
Rejections are much less significant, by the way, the more stuff you get accepted.
Thanks for sharing your rejection story. It’s definitely true that rejection means less when those acceptance start rolling in.
Great blog. I see it was written awhile ago but I just chanced upon it today. Oh, rejection, how painful and inevitable. I have received all of the above examples and will continue to, I’m sure. But this piece makes me feel better about it. Thanks!
Laura, thank you for reading and commenting. Rejection is never easy, but putting it into perspective makes us realize it’s all just part of the industry. As long as we keep writing and submitting, rejection can never defeat us.
This article is so helpful — especially in dealing with the first rejections of the new year! One question: I’m a newbie to creative writing outside a classroom format. I recently submitted my first story to seven literary journals. Three of them responded with type 3 rejections (although one *might* be a type 5). Is it ever appropriate to request feedback from an editor? Or is that considered totally inappropriate because of their time constraints?
Thank you for reading and commenting. Glad you found this helpful and encouraging. Welcome to the world of writing and submitting!
In my opinion, you should never request feedback if the editor did not offer it in the first place. If the editor didn’t provide feedback, then it is probably because of one of three reasons: 1. The editor doesn’t have time; 2. The venue’s policy is no feedback; 3. The only feedback the editor has is something he/she doesn’t want to share with you.
The best case scenario is that you would get a friendly letter with a sentence or two explaining the rejection. The more likely scenario is you won’t get a response at all and the editor will be slightly annoyed by you. It may even hurt your chances of future submission with the publication.
Hope this helps!
Thank you! I thought that was probably the case… but there was still a nagging feeling at the back of my mind that perhaps I hadn’t done everything I could. Best wishes!
Nate– I published a writing magazine for new writers (Beginnings Publishing, Inc.1999 – 2007) and it was exclusively for new writers. So you can imagine I sure had my share of rejection letters. Your take on rejection seemed pretty spot-on and I had to laugh at a lot of your examples. I hated writing rejection letters which was why most rejection letters were written personally–some more than others because after all, they were ALL new writers and I didn’t want to scare them off entirely! We’ve all been “new” at one time or another and I never appreciated writing workshops or magazines that felt the need to be sarcastic or demeaning when critiquing someone’s work. That sort of behavior was a big part of the reason why I started publishing Beginnings.
Anyway, have you ever heard of a small press called Rejected Quarterly? Your story cannot be submitted to them unless it was rejected at least five times. You are required to send in copies of the rejection slips along with the story for POSSIBLE publication. Haha…can you imagine getting rejected from them? Geez. This magazine was around in the early 2000’s…how do I know? ummm…yea, I submitted to them–got published, at least.
Keep up the great work (oh, and i really mean that it’s great work!)
Jenine, Thank you for sharing your experiences. That’s fantastic that you put so much effort in for those new writers.
I actually submitted to Rejected Quarterly once. I never heard back from them. I hope that means my submission was lost in the mail!
I had a level 10 rejection from the Harvard Review. I answered to them after a long time because I hadn’t seen the rejection. I would definitely like to try to send some more of my work to them. It’s so discouraging though that most of these magazines have submission fees.
Thank you for reading and commenting. Congrats on the level 10 rejection from Harvard Review. That’s no small feat.
I’m not a fan of submission fees either, but there are still plenty of magazines out there without fees.
Thanks, I remember reading this article a while back and wanted to find it again because I just received a #9? (“It could be good, but needs some work. The ending is a fizzer meant to be a dramatic reveal…”) Below the form rejection there were 4 paragraphs of criticisms. I really want to thank them, but I don’t know if I can do so without defending my work. So I’m just going to take a deep breath and post my feelings here.
I intended to make a main character that wasn’t all good, but said the editor, “I prefer to care about the heroes of stories I read.”
With my ending, I was trying to avoid wrapping things up too neatly, trying to avoid cliche plot tropes that would be insulting to the reader’s intelligence.
I don’t know whether to be encouraged by this response or not. Sometimes I feel like the questions the editor raised were pretty self-explanatory. Sometimes I think they were completely off the mark:
“And would a university academic and his partner be living like rather grubby students? I would imagine a home rather nicer – and cleaner – than the one they share. Maybe it’s different in America. I don’t know.” Ha. Lost in translation I suppose. I made clear this was an assistant professor at a state college.
I also got a #10 with this story. So I think I’m onto something…
I have two posts of editors’ comments in rejection e-mails, and I’m planning a third.
I would like to add a number eleven, Doesn’t Fit. This is what writers who don’t bother to read the ‘Zine get. I started getting those right away, and it took me a long time to realize that I shouldn’t even try to get a Shakespearean sonnet in a prose-poem journal.
Is it different for poets? I seem to only ever get either level 1 rejections, the occasional level 3 rejection or an acceptance. Surely if I was a bad writer I wouldn’t be getting acceptances at all so I don’t know what’s going on…
In my experience, poetry rejections do tend to fall mostly under level 1. I’m not really sure why. Maybe because poetry is a more personal experience and editors don’t want to offend or offer up misinterpretations.
If you are getting acceptances, then clearly you are doing something right. Keep it up!
Hello Nathaniel, thank you so much for this! (I’ve been trying to find something that’s really giving me legitimate information, and voila, here this article sits!) All the replies I have gotten so far are level three rejections, and one agent encouraged me to send my query to other agents at that agency. Was the agent being nice or should I really do it?
Hi Carrie, thank you for reading and sharing your own experience. It seems a bit odd that the agent would tell you to query other agents at the same agency. Seems like he/she could just pass your manuscript along. However, it’s possible that they all work independently and that this agent really thinks your manuscript would be a good fit for another agent. Did he/she give you a specific agent? Or just suggest that you pass it along to others? Either way, it’s worth a shot. I would specifically mention that Agent So-and-So gave the recommendation. Sounds like a possible foot in the door!
This article made me smile and laugh. The worst rejection I ever received – a rating of zero, perhaps – was from the Paris Review, consisting of a quarter-sheet of paper (to save money?) mailed back to me in my SASE, which simply read “We are not interested in your submission,” or words to that affect. No salutation, no names, no signature, no date, no reference to my submission at all. I could just see the editor saying, “That one gets the quarter-sheet rejection.”
Thanks for this. I have slowly progressed to the point where I’m now getting lots of 9 and 10-level rejection letters. But I’ve also been writing so much I feel burned out… think I’ll take a break, then try again. Best wishes.
Hi Nathaniel, Your article is pretty accurate. I have had a a range of different types of rjection letters over the years that fit within your umbrella. However, up until last year, I nearly always got a reply. It was rare that number one happened. Now, I find that most journals are not replying at all. Have you noticed this phenomenon, lately? I, personally appreciate hearing back, even if it’s a rejection, rather than getting nothing at all and wondering all kinds of things.
Hi Gary – Thanks for reading and commenting. Unfortunately, I have not been submitting any work lately, so I can’t speak to this phenomenon. I asked a few more active writers about this, and they are reporting mixed results. The journals I connected with said they are all sending replies still.
How are you submitting? Is it mostly through email or online submission managers like Submittable?