Lame Rejections

[dave macpherson]

This is not the worst rejection email I got, just the most wishy-washy. If the answer is no, just say that.

here tis

We received your submission to ------- but cannot accept it at this time.
This may be due to a need for editing, a theme that does not fit within the scope of the site, or the fact that we have recently accepted a story similar to yours. We invite you to go over the submission guidelines, edit your story, and submit it or another piece at a later time. Thank you for your interest

[Jordan Lapp]

Wow, that's the wussiest rejection ever. We give personal rejections every time, and sure you get SOME crazies, but on the whole, writers appreciate them.

I think every magazine should ditch the politically correct rejection letters!

[M.Sherlock]

Yeah i did love one rejection i got which in a nutshell was basically "This story sucks...bugger off"  and it truely made me laugh out loud. Even if its bad, nothing beats a personal rejection.

[dave macpherson]

Oh yeah I forgot another great part of that rejection email was that in their email address, it read do-not-reply@magazine.com. THe magazine.com was not real but the the do-not-reply was.

First it went right into my spam filter, second, my god, how passive aggressive can you get. "Thank you for your story, now, don't touch me!"

[Sean Wilt]

It's not great but it is better than silence, which I have seen some publishers practice. 

[Em]

Yer the rejection I got from this site was ok, the only thing that had me confused was when I read the stories that got accepted I couldn't find anything particulaly similar about them....hence I'm still non the wiser to why mine were rejected other than they were nads, can't help feeling it would have been clearer if this site just said "that story sucks" hahahaha.
In my case it may have been down to the fact I'd written them in a way that would have been understandable to most people in the UK but hadn't concidered they wouldn't make any sense to everyone else.... oops, no matter.

[Jordan Lapp]

Em,

One of the things we value most is originality. I don't know if I could stand another "cuckolded/abused housewife gets revenge" plot. After that, it's a coherent plot and the quality of the writing. And that's pretty much it. And Davina, one of our slush readers until recently, is a Brit and probably read your story.

[Em]

 Gay and Camille

I submitted something else now, will see how that does though personaly I think the new piece is even more tosh than the other two I submitted gotta laugh

[Jessica Brown]

It's not great but it is better than silence, which I have seen some publishers practice. 

I won't submit to a publication that has "We only reply to acceptances" as their policy. It's lazy, it's rude and if they don't want to put forth the effort to even email me a form response, I'm not going to give them something I've worked hard on. I submitted a story once without realizing this was one of those kinds of publishers (it wasn't in their guidelines), and after waiting over a year I had to email them to withdraw my story, just to be sure.

[erazmus]

Em,

One of the things we value most is originality. I don't know if I could stand another "cuckolded/abused housewife gets revenge" plot.

Gee Jordan, I wasn't hanging around much, but was that a positive statement of fact? Just information, right? Not a challenge or anything?
Just joshing around, I already sent in my aftermath of an abusive relationship story.
Mike

[Christopher Floyd]

True story.  Back when I was uh, less likely to remain physically permanent, I wrote the CIA a letter comparing one of their operations in Iraq to valley girls in combat boots.  Then I wrote that Iranian wookie guy to tell him he was an idiot.  I didn't receive a response from either.  Talk about rejection. 
Then I got better. 
My wife mentioned not thinking she needed to ask what kind of letters I'd written before marrying me.  Poor girl.

Seriously, most of my rejection letters have been very impersonal.  Feedback being an impractical thing does not make it less valuable.

[Christopher Floyd]

Ouch.  Just got a rejection email from a magazine's weekly guest editor.  This is what I get for thinking feedback could be valuable.  Here's what I got:

"To start the story so descriptively is disconcerting for me and unfortunately this is one of those stories that simply isn't very good."

Harsh.  How can a writer be disconcerted by a story that starts "so descriptively?"  I disagree with whomever this person is.  I thought the story was good.  I have decided that said guest editor was wrong.

At least I got a quick turn around.  Now I can submit it somewhere else.  Although, I am tempted to see what their guest editor says six weeks from now. 

[Mostly Unsure]

Sorry all, bad mood today.

i've had one of those non commital 'it could be any one of these things or somthign entirly different, hoenstly i have any idea why i'm not publishing this, perhaps i don't like you face' type rejections and they are the worst.

I'd rather be told 'this sucks' and move on. It's a bit like gettign rejected by an autpen.

Christohper: What magazine is that? Sounds like it sucks.

[Christopher Floyd]

Ouch Most.  We don't quit, though.
It was an online flash magazine which I still respect.  The thing is, they have a different guest editor every week, and I submitted at the wrong time.  I checked out this guest editor's own magazine and was very much unimpressed.  The mag had a really fast turn around, so I just submitted the story somewhere else.

On a totally different, completely unrelated note, google Smokelong and Flashquake.

[Mostly Unsure]

Will do. good luck with the re-submit.