Do you submit short stories or poetry to literary journals like me? If so, you must know the effect a rejection letter can have. But rest assured, you are not alone. Everyone receives a rejection letter. It’s just part of the business of being a writer. I’m focusing here on short story or poetry submissions, but the same applies to novels and other work, such as magazine articles or non-fiction journals.

Please do not worry if you receive a rejection letter. Rejections happen to everyone, and they occur frequently. The critical thing to remember when dealing with a rejection letter is not to get disheartened. Instead, think of it as an opportunity to learn and improve. How else can we learn to succeed if we don’t experience failures that teach us how to do better? Also, consider this: if every submission to a literary journal were accepted for publication, then everyone would be a published author. That doesn’t make sense, does it? If everything submitted was accepted, a lot of low-quality material might be published. I’ve looked back at some of my early writing, and boy, do I realize how much I have learned and improved over the past twelve years!

When submitting work for publication to a literary journal and subsequently receiving a rejection letter, it is important to focus on what to do next to move forward. Do not dwell on the fact that you received a rejection letter; instead, focus on how to respond to the rejection. Take the emotion out of the event and consider your next steps.

I’ve submitted a great deal of work through online submission sites such as submittible.com or chillsubs.com, etc.) and received both the standard form letter and several personally written rejection letters from editors. However, they usually say the same thing either way.

Often, a standard rejection letter looks similar to the form letter below.

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I won’t take further action for any submission where I receive a standard rejection letter. My reason is this: If the editor didn’t take the time (or more likely have the time) to write a personalized response, they probably won’t have time to respond to a follow-up email about the rejection. In this case, move on and submit new work later when the opportunity presents itself.

If it’s not a form-letter rejection but some editor’s personal response type of rejection, I write a brief and friendly response to the editor, politely asking them what the primary reason he/she rejected my submission was.

I then explain (briefly) that I am eager to improve, would find their feedback valuable, and would be extremely thankful if they could elaborate just a little.

When I write this kind of rejection response, I also ensure that I use the editor’s name to give my response a personal and friendly touch. My hope (and my goal) is to establish some small connection with the editor, which they may appreciate and, in fact, respond to my request.

I then list a few suggestions to make it easier for the editor. Hopefully, that encourages the editor to respond with valuable tidbits on why I was rejected. I usually list things like the following.

1. Did I accidentally omit or flub a submission requirement? (I read the guidelines carefully.)
2. Was the prose not well-formed? (I did have the work line edited by a third party.)
3. Was the nature of the story simply not what your journal is interested in?
4. If none of the above apply, anything you can share would be helpful.

Lastly, I thank them for their valuable time and let them know I look forward to submitting work to them again soon. I do this to show the editor that their rejection did not rattle me, nor did I take it personally.

Guess what? Often, an editor will respond to you, and this is where you learn and improve. Below is a copy of the first rejection letter I ever received, back when I first started trying to publish short stories over twelve years ago.

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It was an eye-opener for me back then. Was it hard to read and accept? Yes. Did I give up? Nope. Instead, I took the editor’s advice and learned to write creative fiction. Specifically, I learned how to write work for publication. I attended classes, joined a peer critique group, and honed my skills as they suggested. I learned the craft. That rejection letter and follow-up correspondence with the editor were the most valuable actionable advice I have ever received.

I’ve received quite a few form letter rejections and many personally written rejection letters from various editors. Of those personally written rejection letters, I wrote back with personalized feedback responses similar to what I described above. Several of them provided additional valuable feedback and were more than happy to do so.

Rejection letters are a normal part of the submission process for literary journals. They can teach you something about yourself and your writing skills if you know how to react to a rejection letter.

Don’t get discouraged. Instead, use the rejection letter as an opportunity to improve your craft. Then, keep submitting your work!