I received another rejection letter (or rather, email) this morning, but it wasn't too bad:
"We are saying no to this, but I hope you will send more."
Interesting that the person who sent the email said "We are saying no to this, but I hope you will send more." I can envision a conference room filled with editors sitting at a table, each with a copy of my story in their hands. One of them stands up, vehemently arguing that my story deserves, no, demands to be included in the next issue!!
Okay, well, maybe not.
Anyway....
I've sent stories to this market before and have received the usual form email, so this response isn't bad at all.
Lately I've met several other writers, some of whom work at libraries. "I know I should send things out," they usually say, "but it's hard."
What they mean, I think, is that rejection is hard. I tell them that in 99.9% of the cases, the editor/reader doesn't know you, that they are evaluating your story, not you. "But..." No. You are not your story. Yes, you created your story, you and the muse, but you are not your story. You're bigger than that. I'll bet you probably have more than one story, huh? See, you're bigger than that.
So send stuff out. It's not personal. Really. Don't make rejection hard. See it as an opportunity for someone else to experience your writing. Expanding your audience, if you will.
What is hard, at least for me, is finding another market to send the story that's just been rejected. That can take longer than writing the blasted story itself. I usually have a pretty good idea of what type of story I've written and can come up with at least two or three big markets where the story might potentially fit. Then comes the hard part: You've exhausted the "big" markets and are left with those that pay $10 or $5 or only contributor copies. There's nothing wrong with that; it's not about the money, but it is about (at least part of it is) finding a venue that's legit and has some standards.
To say nothing of a market that will actually respond in, say, a six-month period.
So the big markets are done for this story. We now start the second-tier journey.
Hello, Ralan's! What'cha got?
1 comment:
What? You mean there's no vast conspiracy to prevent my deathless prose from reaching the masses? Surely not! You hit on a big problem for me, author of oft-rejected stories: finding one more market, then finding another. That's not the fault of editors or their publications, it's mine. That doesn't make it any easier to overcome. Good luck.
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