i’ve decided to track my short fiction rejections (and acceptances – should i be so lucky). i just got a rejection today 
so i guess it’s time to start tracking.
i had previously submitted two pieces total in my life. last year i submitted two and got one rejection (from Swink) and one acceptance, from Pearl. my piece “I Hate The French” will be published in Pearl #38 (winter 2008).
this year i submitted 4 more and i just got my rejection today for The Threepenny Review. the piece is titled, “Adele, The Unremarkable”. it is a bit of a departure piece for me, so it is disappointing (rejections always are i suppose) but i still have several pieces (3?) out there, so i can’t be too sad yet. besides, my novel is out there in the world as well, and i’m sending all my energy to that one right now, no energy left to worry about the poor short fiction bits…
so here’s the official rejection count: 1 for 3
here’s a link to Pearl Magazine: http://pearlmag.com/
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Aargh. Rejections are no fun! I just had my new novel rejected and was not happy. Is your novel published?
I like your site. I stumbled on it following the Paul Auster tag on WordPress.
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You’ve submitted three pieces of fiction in your life and sold one? That’s a phenomenal ratio. I’ve collected well over 1500 rejections in my 20+ year career. If my ratio of rejections-to-acceptances was one in three, I’d be dancing on the ceiling. Keep working hard and if you maintain that proportion of sales throughout your career, your writing colleagues will hate you like carpal tunnel syndrome. Congrats (he says with more than a trace of envy)…
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Nathan:
no they are not. my novel is not published. i sent a query letter (my first) to an agent this past July and to my shock he requested to see the first 50 pages. alas, the first 50 pages must not have worked for him because i got the “thanks but no thanks and good luck to you” rejection letter this week.
at least i know my query letter was good, eh?
also, i am left with some hope, because the reason i had selected this agent was because he has a toehold (i.e. represented at least one) graphic novel, and i have a rough draft of a graphic novel, which i mentioned in my query letter. after a couple polite thank you emails back and forth after my rejection, he mentioned that he would be happy to take a look at my graphic novel when completed. hopefully i’ll have an agent by then, but it was nice of him to keep the door open, and somehow makes me feel better about the novel rejection.
i’m sorry about your recent rejection. it is brutal isn’t it? not really a land for thin skinned people (which i’m beginning to suspect i am…hopefully i’ll toughen up). you said “new novel” though – does that mean you have one already out there? if so – congrats! you’re a dying breed…!
i’m glad you like the site…please keep reading…i’m trying to develop “readers”…not just one timers over here…!
best,
kelly -
Cliff:
i wrote this whole big response to your comment – but it somehow got lost – i’ll try to re-create the brilliance of it…
first of all, thanks for your encouragement. technically i am 1 in 4 at this point (for short fiction) and i have submitted 7 pieces at this point (not including my novel which i just got a rejection – see above). i am likely on the verge of being 1 in 7 as the pieces i’m waiting on have been submitted to Ploughshares, McSweeney’s, and Zoetrope, all obviously very difficult to get into. i think i’ve got the best chance at McSweeney’s as i feel that piece was my strongest, but i’m not too optimistic at this point.
it’s a very frustrating thing this whole submissions nightmare…it’s just so time consuming (not even including the wait time), i don’t know how i’ll keep up with it and also not get fired from my full time job and maintain any semblance of a normal life.
i see from reading some of your blog/site that you recently had the mixed success of actually selling the option on a piece of yours. it sounds like the nightmare/fantasy i frequently imagine…in the end how do you feel about it? are you glad you did it? was the money at least enough to make it worth your while?
my book is not “chick lit” (which i kind of despise) however in the hands of the wrong agent/publisher/editor it could easily be pushed that way and these days i wonder if that’s even a bad thing. i feel almost ready to give this first book up as a sacrificial lamb, just in the hopes that i can one day make a legitimate go of being a writer (for a living, for actual pay!)…of having a better shot at having my second book (optimistic since it is not written yet i suppose) actually published if i sacrifice this first one. thought? suggestions? i hate the idea that i feel i am already compromising myself and i am technically not even IN the industry yet… *sigh*
again, thanks for reading, and for the encouragement. i’ll take your envy (hey, i’ll take any envy) any day!
best,
kelly
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