We always see the examples of the now famous authors and their rejection letters. But how do you cope with working your butt off every day – plus take care of family – and then get rejected?
We may receive many simple “Not at this time,” responses. Which bums us out, but it’s not heart-wrenching.
And lots of plain no replies, which in this industry is acceptable.
However, you may find some editors will take the time to respond – learn from them!
Here are a few of mine.
1 – Thanks, not for me. Do please watch your sentences, they are either disjointed or rambling or both.2 – Everything needs attention, including punctuation. Apostrophes are important, use them correctly. Indent your paragraphs by using the TAB key, it looks better and makes the editor’s life easier, too.3 – When submitting work, first impressions count. The layout isn’t as precise as it could be and the work doesn’t feel as if it’s been revised, or that daughters’ would surely have been picked up. Right? You get one chance to impress an editor, don’t blow it by sending out unchecked, unrevised work.5 – thanks but no. Can we go back to two basic things here – First, dangling participles, the words ending in -ing which you use to start paragraphs and a lot of sentences. Write them out. If you even think you want to use one, such as – for example – Running, he… – change it to He ran. You do this a lot and it doesn’t always work as a sentence. I delete them from all work that I accept. Second, go back to the SHOW DON’T TELL lessons – check it out on the internet, loads of sites, loads to read. This story is entirely TELL. We hardly ever see how Christopher feels. Write the story from HIS POV, not the narrator. Every time you write Christopher or he, you are TELLING.4 – I’m afraid your story didn’t make the final cut this time. We hope you’re able to find another home for it, and look forward to seeing more of your work in the future.
Yes, that was only a FEW – and believe it or not mixed in between these rejections have been these!
1 -It’s a yes from me. She’s a good writer, and her interest in ****** is a plus. We don’t have anyone currently covering ****** Happy to see the site continue to grow.2 – You did a great job and are a very talented writer! Can’t wait to see the new one! To take an idea and develop it that quickly and make it interesting is amazing! Thanks for sharing your gift with me.3 – This is the Editor-in-Chief of ******* writing to personally thank you for working with us so professionally and efficiently. I was extremely impressed with the amount of work you put into your final edits.4 – So, with that said, we are very excited to have you as one of the authors participating in our upcoming anthology.5 – Your creativity is impressive! I look forward to reading more.
I can’t take credit for all the acceptances alone – especially the edits! I have to thank all my first draft readers. #JacquelineLeahy, #AimiePagendam, #DavidKummer, #SusanLeighton, my old original team member (hope you’re well) #ZaneDowling.
AND the biggest thanks goes to my newest editing assistant #Toneye, without your services some of these stories would not have made the second cut. I bow to you SIR.
If you need editing, covers, or horror promotions – see here:
Or If you have rejections and acceptances you’d like to share, please add them to the comments and we can all lift each other up.
Happy writing folks, Theresa
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