4 Reasons Your Really Great Story was Rejected

Four Reasons Your Really Great Story was Rejected

It takes a lot of courage to send a story to a publication, and it takes a lot of faith in yourself to deal with hearing no. Obviously, you want to submit stories that are well-written and carefully edited, but there are many reasons a story can get rejected, and sometimes, it’s not about how “good” the story is. Let’s take the case of a magazine editor trying to decide between 20 great stories for only 10 spots.

Two things you can’t change

Your story doesn’t fit with the others chosen for the publication. Let’s say this month the editor received a couple of great cozy mysteries. Editors often want to publish magazine issues with cohesive content, and unfortunately, your awesome tale of Mothman’s wild weekend in New York is not going to fit. Some editors will ask to hang onto your story for a future issue (especially if they’ve got other great cryptid tales), and some will reject it.

Your story fits too well with the others chosen for the publication. On the other hand, if the editor gets a couple of great cozy mysteries that are too alike to publish side-by-side, she’s got to pick one. And which one she chooses is probably going to be down to her subjective personal preference.

Sometimes story rejections are just luck: you need to have the right story in front of the right editor at the right time. Which is frustrating, but don’t let it shake your faith in a story you think has potential.

Two things you can change

Your story is not what the readers are looking for. The editor might honestly love your sword-and-sandals epic with zebras on Jupiter. And maybe most of her readership would even like it. But that’s not what they expect to find in a magazine of haunted house horror.

Note this is only advice for stories that blatantly don’t fit. If you’ve got a story about a haunted bus, for example, you probably do want to send that to the haunted house magazine. If you’re familiar with the publication and honestly think your story might fit, don’t self-reject. Send it.

You didn’t follow the submission guidelines. You know those stupid rules about font, and attaching a story to an email rather than pasting it in, and having a story between 2000-5000 words? Yeah. You actually want to follow those.

Submission guidelines are not arbitrary. The magazine’s readers do not want 500-word flash, and the editor who asked for an attachment does not want to have to paste your story into a document and/or change the font to something legible.

In speaking with editors, I’ve learned a surprising amount of people actually don’t follow submission guidelines. And their stories were usually rejected, not least because an editor doesn’t really want to work with someone who starts off by ignoring the rules.

Here’s how to understand and follow submission guidelines

The most important thing about rejection letters is what happens after you get one. It’s normal to be sad and it’s good to take time to grieve. But then send your story back out. That’s the only way to eventually get that yes.

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