A reader sent this One Story form rejection in to LROD. It seems to me like super bad odds: they are only ever going to choose one story, and it's not going to be yours:
Dear Writer:
We appreciate the opportunity to read your work,
but unfortunately this submission was not a right fit for One Story.
Thank you for trying us.
Sincerely,
The Editors of One Story
7 comments:
"A right fit?" Is that English?
Last year I recieved this response from One Story and I felt somewhat hopeful:
"Unfortunately this particular piece was not a right fit for One Story, but we were very impressed by your writing. We hope that you will feel encouraged by this short note and send us something else.
We look forward to reading more."
But then I sent them another story that I thought was EVEN BETTER than the first one and I got the same exact form letter you've displayed here. I first wondered if I'd somehow impressed them less this time around (despite my confidence in my story) but then I just figured that they've become much bigger and don't have time for niceties anymore. Either way, two sad days for me.
I recently received a rejection e-mail from the Colorado Review, but because of the time it would take for the story to reach them from the East Coast, I suspect that they didn't even read the story. Yet another sad day.
You bring to mind the following question: What is the ratio of sad to happy days in the life of an average writer? Ohterwise known as: Why do we do this to ourselves?
Because of the writing, that's why. Says the newbie wannabe writer over here.
Yep, I'm in the reject-O-rama again with this; that's my anonymous One Story kiss-off. It was for, I must say, one of my better stories, but I have absolutely no taste. Ask anyone.
WR: As a psychologist I can say for certain that we born Slush Rats would have even MORE bad days if we weren't trying so hard to make it into the slush pile. It's programmed by our genes. There's a whole scientific study cited in my fictional nanowrimo "The Despicable Slush Pile Outsourcing Conspiracy." We are born deviants, unfortunately.
Another day, another rejection. This time a journal thanked me for my submission but said that they weren't going to publish it. THEN they wrote that it was unsolicited submissions like mine that kept them going, and because I was so kind to submit, they were offering me a special subscription price for their journal.
So they won't publish my piece, but they will take my money. Nice! I think they'd do better to make the pitch a few weeks after the sting of the rejection has faded, otherwise it just comes off as tacky.
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