The Daily NO – Rejection #740

Okay, I’m gonna start a new series. I’m gonna to show you one of my rejections (almost) every day for as long as either of us can stand it. I’ve got hundreds, so we should have material for YEARS. Anyway, I’ll give you all the stats on the story and submission, show you the rejection, and then talk about what we can learn from it. As always, these posts will be for educational purposes, to see what we can learn from rejections. They will absolutely NOT be some kind of childish callout for editors and publishers because they dared reject me or something equally as silly. Cool? Then let’s take a look at the first rejection.

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Rejection #740

• Story: “Love Is Like That Sometimes”
• Length: Flash Fiction (973 words)
• Genre: Horror
• Submitted: 8/1/25
• Rejected: 8/19/25
• Type: Personal Rejection (second-round)
• Publisher: Orion’s Belt
• Publisher Tier: Pro

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Dear Aeryn,

We appreciate the opportunity to read “Love Is Like That Sometimes,” and thank you for submitting it to us. Unfortunately, we’ve not accepted this story for publication. 

You made it to the second round of submissions, which is no small feat! We publish one story a month, and we receive hundreds of excellent submissions. As a result, we turn away many stories we enjoy and admire.

I really enjoyed the creeping sense of dread that works its way into your story— it kept me riveted all the way to the end. What a brilliant ending as well, I was so conflicted over my emotions for your main character; I went from sympathy to curiosity to wondering if she did the right thing by keeping her mother and Jasper “alive” in the states they were in. Grief can be a powerful and crazed thing, for sure. Very well done.

I wish you success in publishing your piece elsewhere and hope you’ll consider submitting more work to us in the future.

Best regards,

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If anyone writes nicer more thoughtful rejections than Orion’s Belt, I don’t know who it is. The editors are overwhelmingly positive and supportive, and, yeah, they’re a tough market to crack, but I’m gonna keep trying just because even their no’s make me feel pretty good about my work. Anyway, let’s break down this rejection.

One thing I really like about this rejection is how it’s formatted. It starts with the boilerplate stuff, the information every writer who receives a rejection needs to know, which just state the basics. They’re not going to publish the story. Then it goes on to tell me how far I made it into their submission process, which is such useful information, and I always appreciate it when publishers do that. Just that right there tells me the story has legs, and that I should submit it elsewhere right away (I did). Then the editor goes on to write what feels like a sincere description of the things they liked about the piece. Now, honestly, I’d have been happy with the rejection after the first two paragraphs, but getting some earnest praise for you work from an editor is always, always welcome.

The rejection ends with a boilerplate closing line that also, somehow, feels sincere, which is tough to do.

I give this rejection a solid A. No notes. 🙂

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Thoughts on this rejection? Tell me about it in the comments.