This Week’s Editoral Advice: Do Not Reply to Rejection Letters
Filed Under: SF Business, SF Podcasting, Writing Advice
This is still happening from time to time with my work for Escape Pod. I had kind of thought by now that arguing with an editor over their comments in a rejection letter was commonly considered a bad idea to be avoided at all costs, but I’m still getting these at Escape Pod. Let me put it to you all straight.
Nothing makes me more disinclined to purchase your work than you arguing with me about me not buying a story.
There are a lot of minor mistakes you can make as a slush writer. I overlook most of them. For instance, we get sent things as attachments when our guidelines call for them to be in the body of an email. I might mention it briefly to the submitter, but I don’t hold it against them much. There are so many differing e-submissions systems that I can understand why this happens. No big deal.
But when you decide to quibble with an editor over the points of his or her rejection letter, you’re crossing a professional line. You are entitled to your opinion. It’s a good thing if you have enough faith in your story that you will continue to send it out, because one editor’s opinion doesn’t amount to much, which is why I say my editorial comments are not intended as writing advice.
The main thing it will lead to is an editor not providing you any detailed feedback at all. We will simply write form rejections for your work from then on out. Because nothing is more annoying to me, at least, than someone deciding to bicker over a rejection. It’s not going to change our minds. It’s only going to make you look worse. So we’ll stop giving you points to quibble with. This is not good for you. We don’t want to do this.
It is a no-win situation for the writer.
So just don’t do it. Stick to creating your editor voodoo dolls and slagging us off to your cats. Take out your frustrations another way, even if the editor is dead wrong. It doesn’t matter.
And another thing– I would rather not see replies, even short thank yous, at all. It clutters up my inbox, which I work very hard to keep organized, and your continuing submissions with us is thanks enough. Tack what you want to say on to the cover letter of your next submission. I would prefer that.
Also, Machine Gun Submissions
Oh, and finally, one last thing– it does you no good to send me story after story after story when I’m reading them quickly, when you get rejected every time. You should cool it and wait a bit between submissions. Probably want to wait and let me forget about how I rejected 3 stories in an hour. Because I do notice, and I know other editors do too, especially with e-submissions at ‘zines with relatively fast turnaround times. Nick Mamatas even had a submissions limit. I’m considering implementing one if this keeps up. At the very least, you’ll stop getting such rapid replies.
Comments
07-08-2009
If you haven’t already, you should condense this to a couple of lines and add it to Escape Pod’s submission guidelines. I’ve seen other magazines cover post-rejection information in their guidelines. More people who submit are reading Escape Pod’s guidelines than reading this blog.
07-08-2009
Eh, this advice as aimed at submitters everywhere, not just Escape Pod.
And you might be surprised at how many people read this. But yeah–I have rewriting some of the EP guidelines on my agenda.
07-08-2009
No, I understand it’s for everyone. And I didn’t mean this blog doesn’t have a lot of readers. What I meant was, if Escape Pod has 100 submitters a week, we can assume that a much higher percentage of those 100 will read the Escape Pod submission guidelines, than will read this blog post, especially as this post sinks further into the quicksand of time and more posts.
07-08-2009
I’m not sure it’s a safe assumption that escape pod submitters are reading the guidelines very often or at all ;) But I see you rpoint.
07-08-2009
Yep, the horrors of slush reading, but I decided to give up slush reading last week. It was time to quit.
07-08-2009
Sorry, but what kind of primordial slooshbag responds argumentatively to a rejection letter? Oh brother. Algis Budrys would be livid!
07-08-2009
I’ve never understood why someone would argue with an editor over a rejection. I’ve been tempted to respond to say thank you for comments, but never to argue over a rejection. It seems ridiculous. I’ve always figured that until you get your foot in the door with a story, you have no reason to talk to the editor outside of the cover letter…
An editor is one editor in a sea of editors. Sometimes your story just isn’t right for that particular person at that moment. Another editor might think differently. And rejection is part of the business. If you can’t handle it, get out.
Oh, and re-read the guidelines when I submit to EscapePod every time. I hope I get them right, but if not, that’s due to my being a moron. But I doubt I’m screwing up on the guidelines…
07-09-2009
Question: What about shooting back a quick Thank You for a rejection? Like, thanks for the timely response, or thanks for the feedback, or whatever? Waste of time, or paints you as a nice, professional writer?
07-09-2009
I personally think it’s a waste of time and you don’t need to do it. Other editors might not mind–I’m not sure there is a consensus on this issue. Thank me in the next submission–otherwise, it clutters up my submissions inbox. Not a huge deal though.
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