Rejections from the “other side” of the email

I’ve written about rejections quite a bit in the past. How to deal with them, how to learn from them, how they are just part of game of writing. In every post, not just here but at other writing sites as well, a great deal of importance is placed on the emotional element or receiving a rejection.

And, obviously, being emotionally able to receive rejections is highly important. If you can’t handle rejections, then you just might not be cut out for writing.

But what about those of us on the other side of that “it’s not right for us” email?

I know, I know…sometimes it seems easy, right?

“Dear author. Thank you for your submission. I enjoyed reading it, but it is not a good fit for our publication.”

“Not right for us” is the “It’s not you, it’s me” breakup statement of publishing. But as much as I hate to admit it, sometimes it is actually a true statement. There really are times where a good story is not a good fit for a specific publication.

I’ve rejected more than a few really well-written stories at Theme of Absence simply because they “weren’t a great fit.”

The most common reason is that a story will fall outside of what genres I consider for the site. I’ve turned down some really well written erotica (yes, that does exist) because that’s not what we publish, same with poetry, crime, and regular romance. I’ve also rejected stories where the writing was beautiful, but the story showed no concrete plot (beginning, middle, end) that felt more like a scene of a longer piece.

But those are just for the well-written rejections.

Most of the rejections I hand out are for the reasons you’d expect: Weak writing, too many adverbs, plot holes, one-dimensional characters, complete disregard for guidelines, etc.

Anyhow, I brought up the emotional aspect of receiving rejections, but one of the things that is never really talked about is the emotional aspect of handing out rejections.

But first, let’s have a quick walk through history.

It’s kind of interesting, actually. I started Theme of Absence over four years ago and I’ll admit I was a little apprehensive about starting the project because of the whole rejection thing. As a writer, I knew how much getting a rejection can suck, especially if you are certain the story is a great fit.

I even toyed with the idea of just publishing everything that came my way, but after doing some research I saw that that could greatly hurt the legitimacy of the ezine. Early on, when I wasn’t getting very many submissions, I didn’t have the luxury if being picky. Instead I sorted the submissions into piles of “Yes” and “Maybe.” The Maybe’s were essentially a shortlist pending, but in reality, they were stories that I didn’t feel were strong enough to accept, so I held on to them just in case something “better” didn’t come around.

I’d hold on to shortlisted stories for 90 days and then send a personal rejection. And in hindsight, 90 days wasn’t really fair, considering they were stories I wasn’t planning to use anyhow. But you live and learn.

So back to the idea of how to send a rejection letter without guilt…well you really can’t. But there are things I do to ease that a bit.

The only rule I have is to be honest.

I try my hardest to send a person rejection with the reason for the rejection. Sometime this is difficult because there is never an easy way to tell someone their work isn’t…see, I can’t even say it here. But there’s no easy way to say “This story is no good.”

I do try to list a positive point about the story, though, especially if it was really close to an acceptance. There have been plenty of stories I rejected where I thought the plot or idea was great, but the dialogue was just too unrealistic or the writing wasn’t strong enough.

Another thing that is difficult is that I don’t read the submission “blindly”. That is, I see who sent the email, so I know who the writer is. I’ve made numerous writing friends in real life and online in the last decade, so it’s especially difficult sending a rejection when it’s to a writer I’m friendly with, or one who has previously been published at the site.

So that goes back to my rule about being honest. Give an honest reason for the rejection, and also emphasize that the rejection or criticism only applies to that one story.

And that’s about it. I guess the only other thing I should bring up is the blacklist. Yes, I have one at Theme of Absence. All publications do, whether they admit to it or not. Mine is very small, and only includes authors who have insulted me for rejecting their masterpiece, or ones who have disrespected the site. (I’ll let you interpret that yourself 🙂 )

So….I’ll close out by saying it’s good to be back. Check back tomorrow for the return of Five Links Friday, and since this post was mostly about Theme of Absence, here’s my friendly reminder that the Halloween Horror Flash Fiction Contest is open until October 10.

Thanks for reading and see ya soon.

Have any other thoughts or questions about my submission reading process? Leave a comment and let us know!