Category: Rejection Letters

A New Rejection Record

I’ve written a couple of posts on my various rejections records, lists of dubious achievements in number, speed, and type of rejections. Because I send out so many submissions, it should come as no surprise that a lot of these records don’t stand for… Continue Reading “A New Rejection Record”

Submissions: No Accounting for Taste

The old saying goes one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. That’s applicable to a wide variety of creative endeavors, and writing is no exception. What I mean is that when you send out submissions, whether or not you get published is due to… Continue Reading “Submissions: No Accounting for Taste”

How Many Rejections Add up to an Acceptance?

I was perusing my Twitter feed recently, and I happened upon a tweet asking about the maximum number of rejections authors have received before they sold a story. My personal record is sixteen, and while I think that’s a bit of a fluke, I… Continue Reading “How Many Rejections Add up to an Acceptance?”

100 Submissions – An Analysis

Yesterday I sent my 100th submission for the year. I’m thrilled to have achieved this goal well ahead of schedule, and in this post I’ll give you all the crunchy data that got me there. Before I get into the raw numbers, though, here… Continue Reading “100 Submissions – An Analysis”

Accepting the Unacceptance

I’ve had a good year for acceptances, and I’m up to an even dozen so far. But, as they say, in every life a little rain must fall, and one of those acceptances is, well, not an acceptance anymore. Let me explain. Earlier this… Continue Reading “Accepting the Unacceptance”

The Rejection Reversal with Michael Bracken

The accomplished and prolific Michael Bracken reached out to me recently to share a type of publisher response he’d never received before. If Michael Bracken, award-winning author of over 1,200 short stories and several novels, has never seen it, it’s probably pretty unique, right?… Continue Reading “The Rejection Reversal with Michael Bracken”

6 Reasons for Rejections

I’ve written at length about the myriad reasons a story might get rejected, but let’s look at six of the most common and review them. As with all things on this blog, what follows is my (somewhat informed but hardly expert) opinion based on… Continue Reading “6 Reasons for Rejections”

The Final Round Form Rejection

It’s been a while since I posted about a new type of rejection letter, mostly because I’ve already written about every type of rejection under the sun. Well, as it turns out, not quite. The rejection letter I want to talk about today is… Continue Reading “The Final Round Form Rejection”

200 Rejections: An Analysis

I recently found myself wondering how many rejections I’ve received since I started using Duotrope (religiously) to track my submissions. So, uh, I went and looked . . . I’ve received 218 rejections. Is that a lot? Maybe, but to me it (usually) just feels… Continue Reading “200 Rejections: An Analysis”

Swings & Misses II: The Rejection Streak

If you’ve followed this blog for any length of time, you know rejections don’t generally bother me. I accept them as just part and parcel with the whole writing gig, a necessary aspect of improving at the craft. One writer friend even described my… Continue Reading “Swings & Misses II: The Rejection Streak”