Which would you rather have? And does it matter? And if so, why?
A. Dear Writer: We thank you for submitting your story, "Title of Work," to Electric Literature. Unfortunately, it was not chosen for publication at this time. We are committed to publishing short stories by both new and more established writers, and trust that you will consider sending us your best work in the future. Sincerely, Editors
B. Dear Writer: We admired the prose, its spareness and lovely rhythms, though it did feel as if the narrative momentum were lagging in places, while the story revolves around the one conflict whose resolution never occurs. Not that we need to see what happens, but there needs to be more foreground than only the protag's memories and anticipations. Very compelling point of view, though.
C. Dear Writer: We regret to say that "Title of Work" was not ultimately selected for publication in Electric Literature, although it did reach the final editorial round of an extremely competitive selection process. Thank you for submitting, Andy & Scott, Editors, Electric Literature, 325 Gold St. Suite 303 Brooklyn, NY 11201 Twitter: @electriclit
(courtesy:
rejectionwiki.com)
4 comments:
I got response "C" and they also included some very positive quotes from a reader who had argued for my story.
The bottom line is that they didn't publish it, but it was a nice change from the usual crap I had been from readers at 4th tier MFA journals for the same story.
Hey. I was the one that got response "B" and had posted it on the wiki. I submitted to Electric very early on. I think it was when they first started out so that may explain the personalization. I've gotten variations of forms since and have taken a break from submitting there.
The rejection didn't matter too much when I received it. All that mattered was that they didn't publish the story. That's really the bottom line when it comes to these things. Anyway, I went on the eventually publish the story in another journal which received some agent interest. Ultimately it didn't work out but I've since started (and now am close to completing) a novel because of it.
I'd rather get B - at least that lets me know where the story went wrong for them, and what they're looking for should I submit something new.
But both B and C beat A. A is sad.
I love B. Rejections like that are so rare these days.
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