Within the desk of even the greatest writer, there is likely to be one drawer filled with rejection slips and yet another with acceptances. During the process of becoming a writer, many potentially good writers give up in dismay after the first rejection. Instead of seeing this as a learning device, they perceive it as a negative response to their writing skills, when this may not necessarily be the case. This article is written with the budding writer in mind who wants to get past the rejection slip level and launch a writing career.
*Choosing editions for your writing.
*Keeping records of who work was sent to.
*Editing upon rejections.
*Using the rejections as a tool to further your career.
*Learning to please editorial staff.
*Timing.
*Success
Choosing editions for your writing.
Many writers choose their market haphazardly. They think that their work is perhaps better than work they have seen in publications and in an attempt to start their career, send their work off to magazines or publishers. The problem with this approach is that all companies who accept freelance work will have strict guidelines as to what is acceptable. Sending on speculation is not wise, and often results in frustration to the writer and to the publisher.
If you research your market, you can avoid the rejection slips and target your work to markets who seek the kind of writing you do. To do this, it's a good idea to write an introductory letter and to ask the kind of work this particular publisher is interested in as many will have guidelines.
Keeping records of which work was sent where.
Record keeping is essential. Once you have a rejection, that isn't the end of the story. If you mark down the rejections, this acts as a learning tool. You can always look up your notes of what publishers refused and avoid sending the same kind of work to that particular publisher. If anything a rejection slip helps you to narrow down the markets in an attempt to find out what works with each particular publisher and should never be looked at in a negative way. Just because one publisher does not like the work doesn't mean that another will reject it. Half the battle is finding the right market for particular pieces, and the rejection slips help you to do this.
Editing upon rejection.
Often when that rejection slip hits the letter box, it gives the writer a chance to look over the work submitted and this really is an opportune moment to evaluate what you wrote. The work may have been rejected for any number of reasons. Did you lay it out correctly? Did you leave space for editorial notes? Large margins and double spacing are essential to submitted work. Did you use an old dot matrix printer? Items written with these are impossible for the software in most publishing houses to read. There could be any number of reasons why your work failed, but each offer you an opportunity to reevaluate your work, its presentation and the style of an editor.
Look through the work, and often what you find is that if you had written it today, you may have tackled it differently. The successful writer is a writer who is willing to grow and to learn, and in doing so, often finds faults and flaws in their work which hold it back.
Using the rejection slip as a tool in your career.
The rejection slip tells you all kinds of things. If a publication rejects your work as unsuitable, what made it unsuitable? It is unwise to pester editors, as this alienates them from writing to you, though asking for guidelines is acceptable. Another means you have to evaluate your work is to compare what you wrote with the style of that particular publisher's already printed editions, or in the case of a magazine to read it. This gives you a better idea of the kind of market this magazine aims at, and also an outline of the kind of work they find acceptable.
Learning to please editorial staff.
That editor who writes the acceptance letter is a gem. Look after their needs because it is by fostering relationships with editors that you can further your career. Learn also what displeases them or what kind of thing they don't accept. In this learning process, you get established as a writer and take opportunity to advance your career. If an article is rejected, never think of it as negative. A quick note to the editor to thank them for their consideration could include a question as to what kind of things they are looking for to add to future editions. The editor who is short of material will always let you know what their requirements are.
Timing.
If you write a summer story, inspired by the good weather and then send it into a magazine, one of the main reasons this would not be accepted is that it is current, and they will have already chosen their work during the course of the last three months. Editors usually choose work three months in advance, and your work would no longer be relevant by the end of three months. They are unlikely to take that work and hold onto it until next year, because the publishing houses have so much input from writers that it isn't worth their while.
Success.
Success as a writer is within the grasp of anyone who can write imaginatively and use good grammar. It's not as hard as people believe it to be, though it does require skills other than writing. Targeting your work as a writer is vital, as is timing, though the most important tool a writer has is the rejection slip. Thrown in the bin with a grimace, the writer learns nothing. Kept for future reference, the writer is enabled to approach the work done in a more professional manner, meaning that they can use the rejection slip to further their career.