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Post by steppedonwolf on May 5, 2010 17:27:32 GMT
Aargh! Shortlist rejections! The cruellest cut of all... Quite literally. To get an email saying you've made the shortlist for an anthology is great news - it inspires confidence in your writing abilities, knowing you've written something good enough to be seriously considered for professional publication... ...but it also prolongs the agony. And then to get that final email saying 'we have to let this one go'... What about everyone else? Do you find this better or worse than a straightforward, initial rejection?
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Post by williemeikle on May 5, 2010 18:56:32 GMT
Aargh! Shortlist rejections! The cruellest cut of all... Quite literally. To get an email saying you've made the shortlist for an anthology is great news - it inspires confidence in your writing abilities, knowing you've written something good enough to be seriously considered for professional publication... ...but it also prolongs the agony. And then to get that final email saying 'we have to let this one go'... What about everyone else? Do you find this better or worse than a straightforward, initial rejection? Harsh, but as you say, it shows you're doing something right. I prefer that to a "Sorry, not for us" any day.
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Post by rakie on May 14, 2010 23:44:13 GMT
the one which sticks with me, altho it wasn't the harshest by a LONG way, was along the lines of "the guy who read it wasn't able to get into it". It was more polite than that, obv, but still... geez, did he even manage to read the whole thing? was it so bad he just went "OH GOD NO, NEXT SUBMISSION NOW PLEASE"? ;D
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Post by steppedonwolf on Jun 15, 2010 5:50:13 GMT
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Post by darrelljoyce on Jun 15, 2010 19:21:40 GMT
Come on everybody: share with us your funniest - or most upsetting - rejection letter. Tell us how you responded! I've had all sorts, but perhaps the funniest was this response to my submission Invasion of the Swamp Demons (which, incidentally, was the first short story I ever wrote). The story features a giant penis, for reasons that will become obvious if and when you read it, but there was no sexual content whatsoever. The publisher sent me a 'with compliments' slip bearing the message, "Please keep this pornography to yourself" (my italics). What??! I didn't think it was worth replying, as I'd taken a chance and sent it to a non-horror publisher. The story is still unpublished, 11 years after I wrote it. If anyone fancies making their own assessment, though (or just a laugh at the spectacle of me in the formative stages, still trying to find my own writing style), I'll post it here.
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Post by steppedonwolf on Jun 15, 2010 22:29:21 GMT
Come on everybody: share with us your funniest - or most upsetting - rejection letter. Tell us how you responded! I've had all sorts, but perhaps the funniest was this response to my submission Invasion of the Swamp Demons (which, incidentally, was the first short story I ever wrote). The story features a giant penis, for reasons that will become obvious if and when you read it, but there was no sexual content whatsoever. The publisher sent me a 'with compliments' slip bearing the message, "Please keep this pornography to yourself" (my italics). What??! I didn't think it was worth replying, as I'd taken a chance and sent it to a non-horror publisher. The story is still unpublished, 11 years after I wrote it. If anyone fancies making their own assessment, though (or just a laugh at the spectacle of me in the formative stages, still trying to find my own writing style), I'll post it here. Or rework it - add a bit of African Muti magic, dust it off and hey presto! Into the African Witchcraft Story Thread!
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Post by rakie on Jun 16, 2010 14:37:06 GMT
did i get to read that one Darra? i don't recall. It sounds like the sort of thing i SHOULD remember tho. ;D
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Post by steppedonwolf on Jun 16, 2010 17:37:31 GMT
Darra, are they still going? I think I should send them Demon's Seed for a giggle...
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Post by darrelljoyce on Jun 17, 2010 5:57:29 GMT
Darra, are they still going? I think I should send them Demon's Seed for a giggle... I've no idea (I'd have to search through my old rejection letters to confirm who they were), but I seem to remember that they weren't even fiction publishers, specialising more in academic works.
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Post by darrelljoyce on Jun 17, 2010 6:04:48 GMT
did i get to read that one Darra? i don't recall. It sounds like the sort of thing i SHOULD remember tho. ;D Hmmm, well I posted it on HP, but that was about 25 million posts and a number of years ago. It's on HG, too.
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Post by rakie on Jun 17, 2010 9:26:53 GMT
my memory's going, i do apologise. You should re-vamp and re-post!
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