Oh, I’ll submit again, believe you me. Meanwhile I’m stuck in the literary friend zone.

The others in the newly updated Rejection list had nothing to say their auto-reject form couldn’t say better.

Shimmer, damn you, continues to tantalize with another nicely worded personal rejection.  At one point, E. Catherine Tobler referred to one section of the story thusly: “This felt like a skillet over the head.”  I appreciate the honesty, and I can handle it, believe me.  Given that I’ve got 209 rejections in under a year, no doubt she’s not the only one.  I really like Shimmer.  I’d really like to be in.  I’ll keep working on it.

Pulp Modern ain’t buying what I’m selling, but asked for more.  So I complied.

My story does not meet the needs of Electric Spec at this time.

Black Warrior Review has read my submission &c.

Jobbed will pass.

South Dakota Review thanks me &c.

This is the same story that has received personal rejections from The New Yorker and Shenandoah.  Negative progress, I like to call it.  Being on the cusp.

Someone will take this story.  It’s still out at 10 places (and has been rejected at 13).

Crazyhorse took 7 paragraphs to tell me that this particular manuscript (which, obviously, had no particular resonance for them) wasn’t &c.

Fantasy got the same job done in 3 succinct sentences.

Bound Off thanks me, but is going to pass.

The editor at Dirty Noir sent me the most congenial rejection I’ve ever received, three paragraphs long.  The next thing to being accepted, really.  He encouraged me send again, and I already have.

(I should note that I once received a rejection from Flywheel that was just as congenial, actually; David James Keaton, the editor, said he was arguing on the phone with a co-editor about the piece.  That’s not only congenial, it’s downright heart-cockle-warming.)

Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show thanks me &c.

Onirismes studied my story, then sent me a rejection with someone else’s name attached.  I will say that when I notified them of this, they acknowledged the mistake.  Though they didn’t take the story.

Clarkesworld thanks me, but &c.

Smokelong hopes I find a better fit elsewhere.

Not One Of Us wins the brevity prize – one line that they won’t be using this story.

Hayden’s Ferry Review appreciates the opportunity &c.

Glimmer Train appreciated the opportunity &c.

Revolution House sent me a very strange rejection, to the effect (I think) that it touched on too many “big issues.”

Glimmer Train appreciated the opportunity &c. (Yup, submitted there twice, to the same result.)

Shotgun Honey encourages me to take another shot, with another story.

Bete Noire didn’t think my piece was very engaging.

Redivider thanks and appreciates me and my writing, but &c.

He did give a comment this time, though, roughly: more story, less artifice.  I can feel that.

Mixer appreciates the chance &c.

Comets & Criminals thanks me but unfortunately &c.

Clarkesworld thanks me but the story isn’t quite &c.

TriQuarterly thanks me, but the story doesn’t &c.

Shotgun Honey thanks me for taking the time but &c.

Flashquake thought my piece would work better as part of a novella or even a novel.  Which is good in one sense because that’s just what it is – an excerpt from a novel manuscript.  What it shows is that I didn’t strip it down enough to be a stand-alone piece in its own right.  So the critique is appreciated.

Weird Tales thanks me but unfortunately will have to pass &c.

My story does not currently meet the needs of Apex.

Someday I’ll crack that place.

Props to editor John Joseph Adams, though; he runs Fantasy and Lightspeed, and plows through subs at fantastic speed.  Takes 48 hours or less to hear back from him.  As compared to a few mags which as yet shall go unnamed that have had pieces of mine for 200+ days.

AGNI gave my work careful consideration, but decided it wasn’t for them.

Hayden’s Ferry Review appreciates the opportunity &tc.

Five Points really enjoyed the piece, but didn’t feel it was right for them.

Metazen thought the piece was well-written, but not right for them.

Corium says it’s not a good fit &tc.

So, a couple years later, I have a piece I think might work for them.  I write them.  Before, when I was spreading the good word, they’d get back to me within hours.  Now, nothing.  Well, fair enough, I decide.  Guess I shouldn’t be trying to jump the queue that way.  So I send them my story like anyone else, though I do mention our past connection in the cover letter.

Was I trying to use a personal connection to help get published?  Hell yes, I was. 

Little that it mattered.  After a standard 192-day wait, I got the standard auto-reject, with nary a word of my past word-spreading on their behalf.

No question, having connections helps in getting published.  But not all connections were created equal.  The tenuous ones – like as not they help not at all.

Meanwhile, Witness admired many elements of my work, but have decided the manuscript isn’t right for them.

Steven Owen, Editor at Mixer Publishing, had a number of nice things to say about the piece I submitted, but ultimately found the characterization of the main character too sentimental.  An interesting critique and not one I can recall getting before, so I’m considering in some depth what he meant.

The editors at Chizine consider my story interesting and well-written, but not for them, after consideration.

Ninth Letter is sorry the submission isn’t for them.

Juked appreciated the read, but are sorry to say they won’t be able to use the piece.

The Collagist is unable to use the fiction I submitted.  So unable, in fact, that their auto-responder sent me the same email twice.

Post Road appreciates the opportunity &tc, but overall the submission was not a right fit.

Orion thanks me, but did not find a place for my piece in their magazine.

“Hallo,
We’re sorry to say that this manuscript is not right for us, in spite of its evident merit. This is very confident writing here. Unfortunately, we are receiving so many submissions that it is impossible for us to reply more specifically.  We thank you for the chance to consider your work.”

Does that “hallo” indicate a personal touch, or just the intern making a typo on the auto-send list?  What “obvious” merit, I’d like to know.  And isn’t all writing submitted to The New Yorker, aka The Holy Grail of All Things Writerly, confident?

Who knows.  Also, it doesn’t count.  Rejection #150 it is.

Steve, the editor at Necessary Fiction, also included some very useful comments on the submitted story in his rejection note.  His points are frankly spot on, and in fact I’m going to rewrite the story in question with these suggestions in mind.  It’s great when an editor does some editing, rather than just hitting the auto-reject button; it means (I think) that your story has some legs, you just have to get it over the hump.  Steve also wishes me luck.  Thanks, Steve. 

Ascent appreciates the opportunity, but my submission is not right for them.

Used Furniture Review wants me to know that my submission isn’t “bad;” it just isn’t what they are looking for.

I am gratified to have a story make it that far.  Nonetheless, a rejection remains a rejection.

Meanwhile, Storyglossia appreciates the opportunity, but has not selected the piece.