The Regularly Rejected Story: Give Up or Keep Submitting?

Although most of my recent submission efforts have been focused on querying my novel, I have sent out the occasional short story submission. Admittedly, I haven’t written much new material over 1,000 words in a while, so I’ve been grinding away at the stories I haven’t managed to sell yet. In today’s post, I want to discuss three of those stories, which have, by far, accumulated the most submissions and rejections. Is it time to give up on these three? Let’s discuss.

First, let me give you the submission numbers on these pieces. I won’t be mentioning the titles since two of the stories are currently out on submission. I’ll just call them A, B, and C.

Okay, now it’s time for some high-level rejectomancy to see if I can figure out why I’m struggling to sell these stories. What follows is pure speculation on my part, so don’t take it too seriously. 🙂

*puts on High Rejectomancer hat*

Story A: If I had to pick the best of the bunch, I’d say it’s this one. It’s straight-up sci-fi, which tends to have a slightly broader appeal (there are certainly more markets for it), and, if I may be so bold, I think it’s one of the better examples of my writing. It’s been shortlisted by three high-profile pro markets, and the feedback has been very positive. This is where you ask, if it’s so good, why haven’t you sold it? Good question, and I can only speculate. First, it’s about time travel, and though I think I have a unique spin, it’s still an overused trope that you often see in do-not-send lists. Two, it’s an epistolary, which is a format not to everyone’s taste. If I had to guess, it’s more the time travel bit that’s hurting me than the format. I’m not ready to give up on this one, though I am running out of places to send it. That said, I feel like I’ve got a decent shot with the two markets it’s currently on submission with, one of which has published a couple of my hard-to-place stories before.

Story B: Like Story A, this one has gotten close to publication at some very good pro markets, but hasn’t crossed the finish line. Unlike Story A, which received a fair amount of feedback, some of which I actually used, Story B has collected a whole bunch of generic not the right fits and we’re going to passes, even on its shortlist rejections. So what’s the problem with this one? Again, I can only speculate, but this story is similar to a number of my hard-to-place stories in that it doesn’t fit neatly into one genre. It has elements of sci-fi and horror, but it would be a stretch to call it either or to call it a true hybrid. It’s simply speculative. I tend to write those stories a lot, and I tend to have a hell of a time selling them. I almost always do sell them, but it’s often to a market that is specifically looking for, well, unspecific speculative stories. Anyway, I think I will sell this one. It has a unique premise and the fact that it has gotten so close to publication before tells me the piece has some merit. It, too, is currently subbed to two markets, so fingers crossed.

Story C: As you can tell, I’ve had ZERO luck with this story. It’s received nothing but form rejections and well, I think that says a lot after thirteen submission. So, what’s the problem here? Speculation time, but I think this story faces a number of challenges. First, it’s set during the height of the Covid pandemic, and while it’s not putting forth any kind of agenda on that topic, it does feel like publishers are somewhat leery of the subject. Second, it contains one of the big three. Those three being the monsters most often seen on do not send lists: vampires, zombies, and werewolves. In this case it’s vampires, and, well, if you want to submit a story on hard mode, just stick a vampire in it. Lastly, the story is kind of a bummer, and while stories that end on a very dark note aren’t unsellable, I do think when you layer touch sell after tough sell on a story, you’re definitely facing an uphill battle. If I want to have a better chance with this one, I think a heavy revision is in order that removes one or maybe two of the tough sell elements. So, for the moment, this one is a trunk story.

Of course, I have engaged in ridiculous amounts of rejectomancy in this post, and while I have enough experience to make some educated guesses about why I’m struggling to sell these pieces, my speculation could be completely off base. This is one of the reasons I keep submitting a story even after double-digit rejections. An acceptance still comes down to putting the right story in front of the right editor at the right time, and I’ve sold plenty of stories with the tough-sell elements I mentioned above. This is not to say that if you are truly getting nowhere with a piece, you shouldn’t reassess (like I’ve done with Story C), but make sure you’re giving the story a fair shake before you do.

Thoughts on the rampant rejectomancy in this post? Tell me about it in the comments.