Feeling Rejected?
On September 14, 2011 | 0 Comments

Feeling Rejected?

by Julie Failla Earhart

Receiving an e-mail or a letter saying that your work rejected does NOT mean the work is bad.  There area ton of reasons editors reject pieces. While some are valid and objective; some are merely subjective. Some examples of each are:

Objective reasons:

*Not following the guidelines (in regards to word count, genre, or theme).

  • Too many typos
  • Not following other submission rules (snail mail versus e-mail)
  • Submitting a piece before or after dates allowed  (This really ticks editors off.)

Subjective reasons:

  • The editor’s name is incorrect or, worse, misspelled.
  • The title or first sentence didn’t resonant with or pull the editor in.
  • There is only room for 20 pieces and the editor has 400 from which to choose.
  • There is only room for a short piece (say four pages) and your piece is longer.

Remember, if you want to be published, keep sending out your work.  For every rejection you receive, send your work to two other publications.  Eventually, your work will find the perfect home.

Julie Failla Earhart is an internationally published author and the author of a short story collection, Home Sweet Home & Other Dangerous Places, published in 2007. She has been writing for more than 10 years and has been published in many publications around the world, most notably in India and the UK. She is still working on a second collection, Pillar of Fire.