# In this thread, we share our rejection letters.



## philistine (Mar 16, 2012)

Inspired by the similar thread, _The First Submission - Devastating Let-down, or Status Quo?_

Here's one that really puzzled me:



> _HI,
> 
> Thank you for sharing your story with us, I found it intriguing. The
> old fashioned style you used was quite charming. However, we are
> ...



Muphry's Law strikes again!

Muphry's law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The strange thing was, the story which she was referring to (as I only sent one piece off to this particular publication), only made use of the terms _naïve _and _raison d'être _in 2,500 words or so. I can scarcely believe that could be defined as overusing loan words.

#-o

Your turn.


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## starseed (Mar 16, 2012)

Don't have any yet as I haven't begun submitting yet. Still hacking down and tightening my story. But I wanted to say congrats on getting some good feedback!


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## squidtender (Mar 16, 2012)

_Thank you for your submission. Unfortunately, it does not meet our requirements at this time. To further help your writing career, we have included two reviews from our test readers.

Reader #1: I'm just not feeling this one

Reader #2: Me either 
_

That's probably my favorite one out of all mine. Side note: The story was published in the next magazine I submitted to


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## felix (Mar 16, 2012)

> Dear Harry,
> 
> Thank you very much for giving us the opportunity to consider your work.
> 
> ...



A nice letter, utterly destroyed by the fact that the letter is typed, and my name had been written in with biro. 

Lazy swines.


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## BabaYaga (Mar 16, 2012)

squidtender said:


> _Thank you for your submission. Unfortunately, it does not meet our requirements at this time. To further help your writing career, we have included two reviews from our test readers.
> 
> Reader #1: I'm just not feeling this one
> 
> ...



Were Beavis and Butthead your reviewers by any chance? That is a really funny review....


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## squidtender (Mar 16, 2012)

BabaYaga said:


> Were Beavis and Butthead your reviewers by any chance? That is a really funny review....



LOL. Yeah, you'd think. It was some christian horror publication, which seems a bit of a oxymoron.


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## Kyle R (Mar 16, 2012)

I think it'd be funny to send a rejection letter to the publisher in response!


"Dear publisher,

Your rejection letter was received and, after careful consideration, it did not make the cut.

Please do not be discouraged. Many publishing houses apply with varying levels of rejection letters, only to be turned down as well.

If it is any consolation, your rejection letter did make the long list, but was ultimately dismissed in the short list evaluations.

All the best,

The Writer"


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## philistine (Mar 16, 2012)

KyleColorado said:


> I think it'd be funny to send a rejection letter to the publisher in response!
> 
> 
> "Dear publisher,
> ...



That reminds me of this article:

Pupil attacks Oxford college in 'rejection letter' - Telegraph



> _"I realise you may be disappointed by this decision, but you were in competition with many fantastic universities and following your interview I am afraid you do not quite meet the standard of the universities I will be considering."_


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## alanmt (Mar 16, 2012)

> Thanks for submitting this story, but I'm going to pass on it. It didn't quite work for me, I'm afraid. Best of luck to you placing this one elsewhere, and thanks again for sending it my way.





> Dear [alanmt's agent],
> _____ _____ passed this to me, since she’s not doing much acquiring these days. This particular project isn’t really the type of fantasy _______ has been buying lately, so we’ll have to pass. We hope to receive something else from you soon.
> Best wishes,
> _______ ________
> Editor in Chief, _________


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## The Scribbler (Mar 16, 2012)

This is an excellent thread with an interesting collection of rejections. I particularly like Kyle's rejection, well... rejection rejection.

A have one simliar to yours Felix. Has nice comments, which doesn't really soften the blow since it's still just a form letter. If I actually took it seriously I'd be somewhat confused.



> This does not necessarily mean that the quality is not up to our editorial standards, though many are returned for that reason... I regret that the volume of unsolicited submissions rules out giving each manuscript a detailed critique.



So editor... the qualty _might_ be up to your standards (I thought this was supposed to be a rejection letter)? I might _not_ be one of those returned for that reason? Pray tell, should I keep sending this submission back in the hope that you have a slow day so I can get that "detailed critique"?


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## Kyle R (Mar 16, 2012)

I'm going to open a Publishing House just so I can send confusing rejection letters to aspiring authors.

*Dear Writer!

Thank you for your submission. Your manuscript is very compelling and skillfully written. However, we will not be publishing your story, because we are hoping for something better to come along.

Think of it like dating. You're nice, and sweet, and we like that you buy us flowers, but we're more attracted to bad boys with tattoos. I mean, seriously, no mispelled words or grammatical errors at all?

Your writing is too perfect. It makes us suspicious. And don't bother propositioning our sister publishing house, either. They are already seeing someone else.

Don't feel bad. It's not you, it's us. Really.*


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## Gamer_2k4 (Mar 17, 2012)

These seem fitting:
Dilbert comic strip for 06/27/1994 from the official Dilbert comic strips archive.
Dilbert comic strip for 06/28/1994 from the official Dilbert comic strips archive.
Dilbert comic strip for 06/29/1994 from the official Dilbert comic strips archive.
Dilbert comic strip for 06/30/1994 from the official Dilbert comic strips archive.


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