If you have a strategy, rejection won’t mean defeat. Assume that anything you send out will come back, and be prepared to deal with it when it happens. Very few stories or articles or novels make it on the first try, but if you learn from the experience, you can keep refining your work until it does get accepted.
I organize my list of where to send stories by tiers—sending to the highest ranks first, then down the list. In that way, I know where the story goes next, so that I don’t shove it in a drawer and give up. Of course, if you get comments on what doesn’t work, pay attention to them, but judge the comments against your gut feeling. If you keep getting the same comments, then ignore your gut feeling. Sometimes your gut needs a little training.
What kind of rejection was it?
Most journals and magazines have a hierarchy of rejection slips. The mass produced, “not quite what we’re looking for” rejection may signal that you haven’t read your market correctly. You were out of the running right from the start. Then there’s the short rejection that states, in some way, that this wasn’t right but they’d like to see more. Make sure you make note of it; you’re hitting the right market with the wrong story. After that, a form note with a written (often indecipherable) comment is great. Then comes the personal note. After that comes acceptance. So pay attention to the type of rejection you’re getting and keep your stories going to the ones that thought you came close.
Pay attention to comments.
Sometimes you’ll get a comment that says, for example, the ending didn’t convince them or didn’t make sense. Stop for a moment and think about it. You have a couple of choices: ignore them totally, they’re wrong; rewrite the ending because they’re right; or do nothing for the time being. No matter how much you’ve published, you have to consider whether you’ve gotten it right or not. You can’t write a story that everyone will love (or at least I’ve never seen one), and this may be a reader who zoned out while reading and didn’t get how good the ending was—but you still have to think about it. If you disagree with this assessment, fine; have confidence in yourself and send it out again.
However, if you get a second comment that mirrors the first, then you have to consider that you’re wrong. It’s time to figure out why your story prompted that reaction. You can, if you want, still ignore these two criticisms, but you’re getting really close to diva territory. You can’t be wrong?
Nothing but form rejections?
Sadly, the reason most stories get rejected is because they’re just not good enough. Start your stories fast, just as things are changing. Don’t overload on descriptions (a rookie mistake). Get dialogue going within a page or two. Ask yourself what you think anyone will take away from your story. What will they remember?
And—this is essential—proofread, check grammar, check how it looks. If you don’t care about how the story presents itself—if you don’t value it enough—why should an editor? Present a professional product and it will be treated professionally.
Never send out a story that you’re excited about but still needs more work. That can be devastating. No matter how strong it will be ultimately, you’re sending it out when it’s vulnerable. This not only wastes time (the editor’s time), but it can kill your enthusiasm, your passion. Don’t do it. Wait until you’re truly finished and you’ve gone over it word for word for spelling and typos and grammar. (There are absolutely no “it’s” for the possessive “its.”) Do a few cold reads with no pen in your hand to get a sense of the pacing. Read it out loud to make sure there are no hidden boring paragraphs. Wait until you know it’s perfect.
Find your market.
The biggest reason you got rejected, if your story is any good at all, is that you chose the wrong market. There’s no excuse for this in the age of the Internet. Most magazines have sample stories online, and most book publishers at least list their books. You can get good summaries on Amazon.com. It’s fairly easy to see where you fit in.
As for magazines, it’s a smart move to go to Barnes & Noble or the library and try to read a few issues to see what they publish. And it’s a courtesy to the world of publishing to subscribe to at least one magazine in your field, and make sure you’re reading the books or collections that you see yourself competing with.
Rejected? It happens to the best and to the worst. If you’re not the worst, get over it and get to work!