Is there such a thing as a 'good' rejection letter?

[Sparkie]

I'm asking the title question because I've only received form rejections until recently. The other day I got a notice from an editor who had obviously read my story (he wrote about some details in my work), and who pointed out some specific areas in which I could do better (character development). He also mentioned a couple of positives about my writing and encouraged me to keep submitting before declining my story.

How good is this? I'm glad he took the time to tell me why my work was rejected, as well as the pointers he offered. But is this really a step in the right direction? Or am I reading too much into what is ultimately a failure to get published?

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

From what I've read, if someone takes the time to write a custom letter, that means they liked it enough to give you some feedback, which means you're probably on the right track, or are getting better. Or it could just mean that you got really lucky and the editor happened to like your material, but other editors wouldn't have bothered with a custom letter.

In general, I wouldn't read anything into any rejection letter. Stephen King got hundreds of rejections before he ever sold anything. I suspect if you calculated the mean number of rejections that well-known authors got before they became successful, it would be at least a hundred.

 

[Telcontar]

As Ben said, you were on the right track. Editors read a lot of submissions, and they look for excuses to toss them out. If he read your story until the end it means you gave him none of those excuses and held his interest. That is a GOOD THING. Perhaps you could revise this story well enough to resubmit it, or to have it accepted elsewhere.

Any time you get more than a form rejection letter is a 'good rejection' in my book.

 

[terence.soule]

After a lot of "your work does not meet our current needs" letters I would be very encouraged by someone taking the time to write real comments. In fact, unless the letter clearly says not to, I would probably be encouraged enough to make the suggested changes and send back a revised addition with a very polite letter explaining that you took their advice and would they be willing to consider the new version.

The form letter is my pet peeve with the publishing industry - it seems like a total cop-out. I'm sure they get a lot of totally unreable crap, but it seems like taking thirty seconds to give it a 1 to 10 rating isn't unreasonable. Then if you see a lot of 1-3's you know to stop wasting your time. The counter-argument I've heard is that editors/agents often miss good writers, e.g. Benjamin's example of Stephen King. But either they should give good writers reasonable, and thus encouraging, ratings even without accepting a given piece of writing, or they really don't know what they're doing.

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The Seventh Bridge

 

[mythique890]

For me, any rejection letter isn't too bad, because at least it means I'm finishing and submitting things, which is a lot more than most writers can say. I would be thrilled to get a personal rejection, because like the others said, it means you're on the right track.

Of course, I've only ever submitted one thing, so I only have one rejection to my name so far. It's good to know that about Stephen King though. I won't lose hope!

 

[TWErvin2]

Specific advice from an experienced editor has value. If the suggestions feel right to you, consider making them before submitting the piece elsewhere.

Rejection letters are part of the process of getting acceptance letters. Hang in there and keep writing and submitting!

 

[Steerpike]

Yes, there definitely is. I have a few stock sentences I use for most rejections. It covers any situation where I just didn't like the story, or where the writing was horrible, or where the author clearly didn't read the submission guidelines (in which case I stop reading very quickly).

On the other hand, I've rejected stories that I thought were good but just not right for the publication, in which case I'll say something like "Hey, I liked this a lot. This story isn't right for the publication, but I'd like to see more from you in the future." Or something along those lines. You get the picture. If I take the time to do something other than send off the stock rejection language, it means there was something in the story or the writing I found promising.

 

[writingcontest]

Reject sucks, but I agree - if they read it and gave you feedback on how to improve, they though it was worth their time to read. I'd prefer a letter like this to a cut&paste rejection letter any day.