What Happens to Rejected Stories?

Recently, it came to my attention that when I say something like “I have almost 800 rejections”, some folks might think YOU’VE HAD 800 STORIES REJECTED?! That’s understandable without context, especially if you’re not in the biz. It did get me thinking, though. Just how many distinct stories have I had rejected? And, further, what happened to those stories? Let’s find out!

So, to date, I have 773 rejections since I started tracking them back in 2012. I ran a quick report on Dutrope, and those 773 rejections equate to 166 distinct pieces. Most of those pieces are flash fiction and short stories, but there’s a novella and a couple of novels mixed in there, too.

Looking deeper, here’s what happened to those 166 rejected stories.

• Accepted: 87 (418)
• Pending/Potential: 27 (182)
• Trunked: 52 (173)

As you can see above, I’ve broken the rejected stories into three broad categories with the number of stories and the total number of rejections each category is responsible for. Let’s drill down further, and I’ll explain what each category means.

Accepted

Pretty straight forward. The stories in this category, despite racking up a ton of rejections, were eventually accepted and published somewhere. They constitute a full 54% of my rejections, which, honestly, makes me feel pretty good and definitely says something about sticking with stories you feel confident about even thought they’re getting rejected. In fact, thirty of these stories received five or more rejections and fourteen of them suffered through double digits. Persistence for the win, huh?

Pending/Potential

The 27 stories in this category are either currently pending with a publisher or they’re stories I think are good enough to keep sending out. Most are fairly recent pieces, but there’s a couple of veterans in here with over 20 rejections that I keep doggedly submitting. It’s possible and even likely that some of these stories will eventually be relegated to the next category.

Trunked

If you’re unfamiliar with this term, trunked simply means when an author has given up on publishing a story, generally because they’ve decided it’s just not good enough. Most of the 52 stories in this category are pretty old, originating in the early 2010s when I first started submitting seriously. There’s not very many recent stories in here, mostly because I’ve gotten better at identifying pieces that are just not gonna sell before I start submitting them. That said, I have on occasion resurrected a trunk story, spruced it up, and sold it. Often times, that’s because the story has a good premise, but I might not have had the chops to make the most out of it ten years ago. Now, with more experience, I can take some of these flawed pieces and polish them into something sellable.

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There you have it. The fates of all my rejected stories. I’ll admit, I’m somewhat surprised at how it all shook out. The fact that the bulk of my rejections come from stories I eventually sell is, to be honest, pretty encouraging, and, once again, further proof that selling a story is about putting the right piece in front of the right editor at the right time.

Thoughts on all my no’s and not for us’s? Tell me about it in the comments.