Lets face it, no body likes rejections. In a perfect literary world every single piece you write would be accepted. Thank God this is not so or there would be all kinds of crap you would have to sort through to find a gem. It’s bad enough you have to do so on Amazon. Just because a book is published doesn’t mean it is good. There are many lazy wanna-be writers out there that do not go beyond the first draft little only hire an editor. Everyone who is worth their weight in ink knows that the first draft is crap. Always has been, always will be. But what happens when you put your blood, sweat, and tears into a piece of work only to get it rejected? This is where the wanna-be writers and the true to heart writers are separated. After the first two maybe three rejections, wanna-be writers will feel dejected and want to give up. Don’t fall into this category. Be that true to heart writer that you are. Strive onward. It took a year of solid rejections before I sold my first short story. Stephen King had Carrie rejected 30 times. Where would he be if he let that stop him?
There are many types of rejections with the most common being that they read it, they liked it, but it wasn’t a fit for them. Sometimes you will get a rejection that will give you feedback on why it was rejected. Take this as good news because it is rare. When you get this it doesn’t mean that they won’t take you it means they won’t take you your work as is but if you make the corrections then you have a very good chance of selling it. Now is not the time to be conceded. Be thankful you received a rejection like this. Take their suggestions seriously, revise and resubmit. Due to the amount of submissions they receive, it is rare to receive a personalized rejection like this. This means that they like your work but a few changes would make it better. Doing these changes and resubmitting increases your chances of acceptance greatly.
The most difficult rejection to work with is the basic form rejection. They tell you that they didn’t accept your work but don’t say why. This could be a number of reasons; anywhere from it not being a good fit for them to your piece wasn’t edited enough. This type of rejection is the most depressive of all. My suggestion is this. After five rejections, take another look at your piece and revise it again and then submit again, maybe not to the same places but to others. Another reason why people get rejected is that they do not read the submission guidelines. READ THEM. It will save you a lot of heartache in the end. Play close attention to what magazines and publishers are telling you. These are basic instructions and if you can’t follow instructions why would they want to work with you?
To be a writer, rejections come with the territory. Even big name authors get rejected. You can’t take it personally. They don’t even know you. The average number of rejections per one publication is 100. Louis L’ Amour was rejected 200 times before Bantam picked him up and he is their best seller. If your getting rejected then your doing something right. It means your writing was worth the time for them to read through it. The secret to less rejections is revise, revise, revise, edit and revise some more. Just don’t give up. Only wanna-be writers give up. If you take your craft seriously, then you will keep pushing forward.