On This Day in Submission Land: June 12th

It’s time for another installment of On This Day in Submission Land. Today, we cast our gaze back to the dim, misty past, to the ancient before times of 2015 and 2020, and a pair of rejections for two of my most-rejected stories. Let’s have a look.

June 10th, 2016 – Rejection

We have read your submission and will have to pass, as it unfortunately does not meet our needs at this time.

This was a form rejection from The Dark for my story “Paper Cut.” As per usual with The Dark, the rejection was speedy and succinct. I submitted the story at 12:32 p.m., and it was rejected at 1:21 p.m., a span of 49 minutes. That’s fast, even for The Dark, but not fast enough to be an outlier. Tales abound of authors who’ve been rejected quicker, some as fast as ten minutes or less. Personally, I love that The Dark is so quick. They’re usually the first market I submit to if I have an appropriate story. I know I’ll hear back quickly, and, hey, there’s always a chance I’ll break through and get to add this fantastic market to my publishing credits.

As I alluded to in my opening, this story, “Paper Cut,” was rejected a lot before I finally sold it to Red Sun Magazine in May of 2016. It accrued 15 rejections before the sale, and it has since picked up another three as a reprint sub. Just another example of why you have to keep trying and keep submitting when you believe in a story. The right publisher is out there; it can just take a while to find them.

June 10th, 2020 – Rejection

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to read your story.  We regret that we are not able to make a personal reply or give criticism on returned manuscripts. The large number of submissions we receive makes it impossible to do so.  We can assure you, however, that your work has been given careful consideration. Unfortunately, it does not meet our present needs.

 

We wish you the best of luck in placing your work with another magazine.

This form rejection is from Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine for my story “The Scars You Keep.” I’ll admit, this was a bit of a long shot. The story is nominally a crime story, but the supernatural element is overt and drives the narrative. This is not to say that Ellery Queen won’t publish the odd speculative piece, but, from what I’ve seen, it’s not their usual fare. That said, after 16 rejections, I was running out of places to send the story, so I took a chance. I eventually sold “The Scars You Keep” to Wyldblood Magazine in September of 2021 on it’s 19th submission. This is one of those weird stories that racks up short-lists and close-but-no-cigar rejections but just never quite breaks through. I’m glad it finally found a home, but, damn, it was a SIX-YEAR odyssey getting there.

One last thing about this rejection that I think is interesting is how different it is to the rejection from The Dark, while being essentially the exact same thing–a common, boilerplate form letter. Personally, I’m fine with either style of form letter, and view this kind of thing as simply an expression of editorial style.

And that’s my submission track record for June 12th. Care to share one of your own “on this day” rejections? I’d love to see it in the comments.