Latest Rejection

[texashorror]

Hello, everyone! I am a new member here at Literotica. I was preparing a story to send in today, when I took a break to get the mail. I came running back inside with my response from Cemetery Dance. It had been roughly four months since I sent them my short story. When I finally got the courage to open it, I knew right away it was the standard rejection form letter (the second I have recieved from CD). I know I can't take it personal, but it sure sets me back for awhile before I can move on. I was wondering how you all cope with rejection letters. Do you get right back to work? Does it take some time to mourn?

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Rejection letters? Who, us? What's rejection?

But seriously, TH, we all get 'em and each takes its toll. I just got one from a print anthology that had accepted a story of mine the year before. Odds are several others here at the AH have gotten rejections in the last few days. It comes with the territory and has happened to the best.

Others here may have profound, even helpful, advice to offer. The best I can dish out is the one beloved of sadistic drill sargeants and football coaches, "Take two salt tablets and keep on pushing."

And welcome to the AH.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

TEXASHORROR

You need to understand PUBLISHING 101.

No one has a strangle-hold of truth. Editors and publishers accept more losers than they accept winners. A lot of crap gets published, and a lot of great writing gets ignored because editors and publishers are clueless about quality. They know popular names, like KING and CLANCY, they know current events, and they know subjects that are always popular with readers. Beyond that theyre lost at sea.

The other thing is: Some topics have a limited appeal. A friend of mine self published a book that sold 1000 copies. Its a great book, but doesnt appeal to a wide audience. Publishers cant make any money on arcane subjects.

 

[rgraham666]

Yep, happens to all of us.

It just means that when you are accepted it feels even better.

 

[emap]

What they said, also something to keep in mind, Stephen King got roughly 20 rejections on his first book before a company finally published him.

Publication companies probably see 50000 book submissions a year, magazines see at least that many short stories. The only way to get a second look is to either get lucky or catch the interest of the reviewer. As I understand it, there are a ton of reviewers who read the first page or paragraph depending on how long said submission is. If the first paragragh or page stand out, the submission is kicked up to their supervisor who reads more, if he really likes what he sees, it goes up again. If the third one really likes it, it is handed off to an editor and you get an acceptance letter.

Sometimes they send it back to you with a fix the story letter.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Well, take a look at it. Why did they reject it? Is it a bad piece of work? If it is, you've got to make it better. If you honestly don't know if it's good or not, then you're kind of screwed, because you can't tell good from bad.

I'm serious. The ability to tell good stuff from bad or mediocre is the first ability you've got to have as a writer. If you don't have that, then you're wasting your time.

If it is a decent piece of work, then you have to realize, a rejection doesn't mean they think you suck (although it might). It means they just don't want that particular piece. Some editors will include a note with the rejection if they like you telling you to try again, but not all of them.

We put out a product. Sometimes we put out chocolate when they're looking for strawberry. Sometimes we put out stuff that has caffeine in it when they want decaf. Sometimes their editors happen to like a lot of dialog when we don't use much dialog. Or we set our stories in a swamp when swamp stories make them itch. Little things like that will get you rejected. They're getting 10 to 100 submissions a day, maybe. They pick and choose. Getting accepted is something of a miracle. Remember, the people rejecting your stories have a drawer full of rejection slips themselves.

They say that you don't become a writer because you want to, but because you have to. Writing is easy, it's the publishing part that's hard. The collection of rejection slips is part of every writer's experience. In fact, a good way to look at it is to think that you won't get your first book published until you collect at least 25 to 30 rejection slips, so the sooner and quicker you build up your collection, the better off you'll be.

You've got one so far. You've got a long way to go.

 

[TxRad]

I have two walls in my office. The one on the left has 21 rejections all framed up nice and neat. The right wall has two acceptance letters, framed the same way.

Guess which wall will continue to grow the fastest and then guess which wall makes me smile.

It's the old kissing frogs story all over again.

 

[Daniellekitten]

Rejection is a fact of life. We all get those letters but the only way to get published is to keep pushing. I find it hilarious that what gets rejected from one publishing company, another told me was a lovely story and they wanted it for after Christmas. You just need to keep going, keep getting your name out and keep writing.

 

[The_Trouvere]

In creative writing many are called, but few are chosen. The vast majority of unsolicited manuscripts are rejected. A nice thing about Literotica is that is far easier to get something posted. Then one can get comments that may help one develop as a writer. Of course, what works on Literotica may not work in the publishing world. I doubt that Harper’s Magazine would consider a short story about an eighteen year old boy with a ten inch penis who enjoys threesomes with his mother and sister.

 

[epiphany65]

Keep submitting. "Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" was rejected 200 times (it's a world's record recognized by Guinnes) before it found a publisher -- then became a huge success. Try not to get discouraged. "The Postman Always Rings Twice" got it's title because James Cain had the manuscript returned to him so many times by publishers. Good luck!