Rejectomancy

Aggy B.

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Doesn't any personal info entail they customized the letter, and therefore it isn't a form? Or are you just accounting for the fact that sometimes an author can't tell?

That can be automated. Especially places that have an automated submission system. It can take specific fields (Ms. Carpenter, "Damsel") and put them into a form letter. (Dear Ms. Carpenter, Thank you for submitting your story "Damsel" to us. Blahblahblah.) So, unless there is something detailed in the response (We especially liked the way she melts the dragon at the end, but unfortunately the story didn't hold together for us.) it's probably not personal.
 

Marzioli

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That can be automated.
Yes, I've seen that in action. I didn't mean personal as in the name of the person or a story. I meant something related to the author in some way, whether references to the story specifically or to the writing style, or just any comments known not to be part of their forms (when compared to places like rejection wiki).
 
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d.thomaswise

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Got the hilarious "uneven prose," "personal rejection" from Wash Pastime. It's funny because the stories I previously submitted there actually came back with detailed responses (not uneven prose), and, if anything, this most recent story has the strongest, most "even" prose of all the stories I sent them.

I'm all for personal rejections, but it's kind of doing writers a disservice to just toss out some arbitrary reason for rejection in order to portray that you give personal rejections.

After reading about their standard $2.50 pay rate, I doubt I'll be submitting anymore there anyway.
 

Project Deadlight

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After reading about their standard $2.50 pay rate, I doubt I'll be submitting anymore there anyway.

If you haven't already, check out my last blog post on this market. It's not just the pay rate you need to worry about.

As for the uneven prose "form personal", it's a nonsense that doesn't bare any relation to the story you submitted. The story I got that same "form personal" for recently got a really nice personal that singled out how good the writing was in it. From a much better market I might add.
 

alexshvartsman

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Doesn't any personal info entail they customized the letter, and therefore it isn't a form? Or are you just accounting for the fact that sometimes an author can't tell?

No, they typically refer to the writer by name in forms. What I mean is that a personal rejection would have a very specific bit of information about your story. Something like:

"This was an almost for us, but the end didn't quite work"

or

"I loved your prose but we published a similar story recently so we'll have to pass on this one"

They convey different information, but they're clearly specific messages referring to YOUR story and not just cut and paste generics. Though I have to say, some markets are VERY good at form Rs and make them sound nearly personal. I've been fooled before.
 

Sai

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I now want an extremely personal rejection letter.

"Dear writer,

We have decided to pass on story X. Also, you should really have that mole looked at.

Best regards,

Editor"
 

Lillie

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I had a rejection that told me to stop smoking.

Seriously.

This is it.


Dear ******,

Thanks for your interest in *******. I'm sorry to say that "********" doesn't fit our immediate needs.

This story was nice and polished and I liked its concept.

Oh, and you should think about quitting smoking. lol

In it's short lifespan, ******** has already received a great deal of work of incredible caliber. A rejection from us is not a negative reflection on your ability as a writer.

I wish you the best in placing your story elsewhere.

Yours,
*********


Names redacted, of course.

Lovely, isn't it :)

It's my favourite ever rejection.

 

Sai

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I had a rejection that told me to stop smoking.

Seriously.

This is it.

Dear ******,

Thanks for your interest in *******. I'm sorry to say that "********" doesn't fit our immediate needs.

This story was nice and polished and I liked its concept.

Oh, and you should think about quitting smoking. lol

In it's short lifespan, ******** has already received a great deal of work of incredible caliber. A rejection from us is not a negative reflection on your ability as a writer.

I wish you the best in placing your story elsewhere.

Yours,
*********

Names redacted, of course.

Isn't it lovely!
It's my favourite ever rejection.


Okay, that's fantastic. I like how they slip in the 'In it's brief lifespan' line right after they advise you to stop smoking. Subliminal messaging? My paranoid mind says yes.

How did they know you're a smoker (if you even are)? Cigarette burns on the manuscript?
 

Lillie

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Oh, god yes, I'm a smoker.

I suspect they must have looked at the 'About Me' page on my blog.
I whine about smoking on that.

That's because when I was writing it, I'd lost my lighter, and I was annoyed about not being able to smoke without standing up and finding out where my lighter had gone.

Short life span! Lol.
I'm already too old to have a short life span.
 

alexshvartsman

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Thanks for mentioning that again, Lillie. The way this thread was going, it made me think of your "non-smoking" rejection earlier today.

If I'm ever an editor, I will definitely do stuff like that. At least to people I know. :)
 

Lillie

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Lol, you should. That one made my day :)

And another one I got recently, it didn't say much about the story, only that it was good but not quite right, but they mentioned the only other story I'd ever sent them. By name.
And I thought that was really cool, that they either remembered it, or had bothered to look it up.

So, anyway, both of those, the smoking one, and the other one, I put them down as personals, even though they didn't make specific comments about the story. Because each reply had been specifically written for me, and only me.
Other people might have a different definition of what makes a personal or a form R, and that's fine, but for me they were personals and I was chuffed about both of them.
 

zanzjan

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I had a rejection that told me to stop smoking.

I received one once that said, in its entirety, "It's April and it's snowing outside, so no."

So yeah, rejected because of the local weather.
 

Lillie

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I received one once that said, in its entirety, "It's April and it's snowing outside, so no."

So yeah, rejected because of the local weather.

My god! That's pretty weird.
And sort of funny as well.
 

alexshvartsman

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Lol, you should. That one made my day :)

And another one I got recently, it didn't say much about the story, only that it was good but not quite right, but they mentioned the only other story I'd ever sent them. By name.
And I thought that was really cool, that they either remembered it, or had bothered to look it up.

So, anyway, both of those, the smoking one, and the other one, I put them down as personals, even though they didn't make specific comments about the story. Because each reply had been specifically written for me, and only me.
Other people might have a different definition of what makes a personal or a form R, and that's fine, but for me they were personals and I was chuffed about both of them.

Totally agree. It doesn't get more personal than discussing the submitting author's vices :)
 

alexshvartsman

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I received one once that said, in its entirety, "It's April and it's snowing outside, so no."

So yeah, rejected because of the local weather.

Wow. Just wow. You must have a better sense of humor than I, because I wouldn't ever submit there again. This sort of thing is cool if you know the editor, but I can't imagine I'd like getting a rejection like that from a stranger.
 

Sai

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I just got a 14-day rejection from Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Not necessarily a personal, but as far as form letters go it's pretty encouraging:

Thanks for letting us read your story “Goes Both Ways.” We gave it careful consideration, but did not think it best suited to any of the spaces we currently have open. We hope you’ll soon find the right publication for the story, and that you will continue to think of EQMM when you have new work.

And it was from the editor too. I don't know how much of this is just their standard form, but it's nice to think that they liked the story but couldn't place it anywhere.
 

WordCount

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I just got a 14-day rejection from Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Not necessarily a personal, but as far as form letters go it's pretty encouraging:



And it was from the editor too. I don't know how much of this is just their standard form, but it's nice to think that they liked the story but couldn't place it anywhere.

I've submitted to them four times before, and received forms every time. Either they've changed the form, or they have different forms for different tiers, because I've never gotten one that read like that. Also, I always get "Cordially, The Editors" which I've always assumed meant slush readers.

I think that's as close to personal as they're going to get.


Also, in my world, I've got a 12 day submission to EQMM.
 

WordCount

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I just got a 14-day rejection from Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Not necessarily a personal, but as far as form letters go it's pretty encouraging:



And it was from the editor too. I don't know how much of this is just their standard form, but it's nice to think that they liked the story but couldn't place it anywhere.

I just received my rejection from them. Here's what their low-tier form looks like:

"Thank you for giving us the opportunity to read your story. We regret that we are not able to make a personal reply or give criticism on returned manuscripts. The large number of submissions we receive makes it impossible to do so. We can assure you, however, that your work has been given careful consideration. Unfortunately, it does not meet our present needs."

So yeah, I think they must somewhat like it, because it made it to the lead editor.

And 5 submissions to them later, I'm still trying with them. Yeah, yeah. I know.
:deadhorse(secretly, I just wanted to use this smilie)
 

zanzjan

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What was the story about? Why did the snow matter?

The story was about a guy being haunted by a bunch of skeletons. Snow had nothing to do with the story, only apparently the mood of the editors of that particular mag on the day they opened it.
 

O'Dandelo

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The story was about a guy being haunted by a bunch of skeletons. Snow had nothing to do with the story, only apparently the mood of the editors of that particular mag on the day they opened it.

The editor must have thought, "Pssh, it's snowing outside. You couldn't see SKELETONS in the snow. They'd just blend right in with it!"