I submitted a story for publication for the magazine “Fantasy And Science Fiction”, and as I expected it was rejected. To my surprise though, instead of a form letter rejection I got a typed and signed letter from the Editor explaining why the story didn’t work for him, and why it wasn’t right for the magazine.
I didn’t expect to be published on my first try, so the rejection isn’t all that disappointing, but should I take the fact that I got a personal note from the publisher (instead of a form letter) as a good sign, that my work is at least approaching publishable quality?
In other words, an I right in thinking that most rejections are a form letter, and getting an actual note discussing the story means it has some quality to it?
Depending on the nature of what he said it may be possible that he is offering advice on a potential rewrite of the story. I imagine that a class mag like F&SF would receive lots of manuscripts and most stories wouldn’t be worthy of a personal assessment - the publisher is a professional with plenty to do.
Disclaimer: I am not an author. That being said, everything that I’ve read about science fiction magazines indicates that they get a huge number of submissions, most of them from bad to horrible in quality. For a submission from the “slush pile” to not only have been noticed, but considered to have been of enough quality to merit a personal response should be taken as a very good sign.
[confession]
Many years ago, I sent in a submission to one of those magazines. It was rejected (quite correctly) with a form letter giving vague reasons why many stories are rejected. I also did a bit of reading about short story submission at the time, which is where I get my ideas and opinions regarding unsolicited materials and how they are thought of by the magazines.
[/confession]
Due to the questionable quality of most of the submissions, the slush pile is treated with undisguised contempt and assignment to go through it is not exactly considered desirable. I think that you should be encouraged that you got something noticed under those conditions. Good luck to you!
I got a lovely rejection letter from that magazine myself a month or two ago. At first I was a bit dejected that he was so specific in what was wrong and why the story didn’t work for him. But I also realized that most people just get the form letter from him (or his assistants) and it was a step in the right direction.
Plus, Van Gelder actually turns around your story very very quickly. No waiting two months for a “no” like everyone else.
I think it’s a very good sign, considering how many manuscripts they have to wade through. It means you should try the story at other magazines or contests. Good luck!
I especially like the index cards with handwritten notes on them that the editors at Tales of the Unanticipated send out. I admire them for taking the time to do this. Actually, one of them informed me that they’re holding onto a story for further consideration.
In this very good article about perseverance the author states:
Scott Edelman at Science Fiction Age reports that he reads 1,400 to 1,600 stories every two months to choose the six or seven stories for print. Numbers are higher at Asimov’s, Analog and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
I cannot imagine the editor writes personal explicit rejections for over 200 submissions a week.
The editer (Van Gelder) indicated the story wasn’t right for the magazine, so I don’t think a rewrite would be in order. However, I have more stories I could send.
I got laid off a few weeks ago, and one of the first things I did was send off three stories to the top three markets. Once another story gets rejected, I’ll send the one that got rejected as F&SF to the other rejecting market, and vice-versa. I plan on working down the market until I get published.
I know I won’t be able to make a living from this, but it’s a pleasant thing to do while looking for a new job. Plus, a few bucks from the sale would be nice.
I think it probably depends on the publication and on the person who is reading the submission. Most publications will not give you a personalized rejection letter, of course; but if they don’t get a lot of submissions, or if they have a lot of people reading them, then perhaps you’d get one.
How detailed was his personal note? Did you get the impression that he was really speaking to you directly?
You should Definitely feel encouraged. It’s not like the form rejection letter I once got that wasn’t even photocopied straight on the page. Someone took the time to deal with you individually. Re-write it and re-submit!
If you get anything better than your own manuscript wrapped around a brick and thrown through your window, with the word “No!!!” scrawled on it, you have reason to celebrate.
A nicely done form letter is a step up, and a personally written letter with an actual critique/encouragement indicates that you impressed the editor more than 99% of the writers he sees.
– GregAtlanta
A personal letter? That’s a big step in the right direction. Good editors love to spot potential and help a young writer achieve it. Whatever you do, keep plugging away. Ray Bradbury estimates he wrote over a million words before he started getting published; none of it’s wasted because the only way to learn how to write is to write. (I say that as somebody who’s had an unfinished novel sitting around for the past year.) Good luck!
By the way, what kind of rag is The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction these days? It was great when I was young – one of the premiere genre publications. Then I didn’t read it for years, and when I came back about ten years ago I found it had changed in that it sucked. They would apparently print any “empowerment of women” story, even if it wasn’t science fiction, wasn’t fantasy, and sucked. I hope they’ve moved past that phase, and gone back to good solid stuff. Do they still have a science column? Does Gahan Wilson still do cartoons? Never mind, I’ll just pick up a copy.
Okay, I’m going to have to disagree with what everyone else has said here.
I, too, went through a Budding Science Fiction Writer phase in my halcyon youth, a decade or two ago. I submitted many of my stories to several different SF magazines for publication. The results were staggeringly consistent:[ul][li]Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine – rejection form-letter[/li][li]Rigel Science Fiction – rejection form-letter[/li][li]Analog – rejection form-letter[/li][li]Amazing – brief explanation as to why my story was rejected[/ul][/li]It wasn’t that Amazing thought more highly of my work than any of the other magazines. It was simply that Amazing had a policy of telling each and every submitter why his/her work was rejected. (Yes, the Slush Pile would certainly have made this a bother, but the reader could always get a little vindication out of it by responding to the very worst stories with barbs like “A more wretched heap of tangled, misspelled words could not possibly exist.”)
Fantasy and Science Fiction magazine may simply have a policy similar to that of Amazing.
tracer is right, F&SF might simply have a policy about answering all submissions. That’s OK, the criticism of the story was constructive, and explained in a very neutral tone why it didn’t work for him. My biggest fear was that my writing was still amateur sounding, and that wasn’t mentioned. My writing wasn’t criticized, just the story.
dantheman, the note spoke of specific elements of my story, and why he felt that one element (the main element, actually) didn’t work for him, and wasn’t right for the mag anyway.
This story that got rejected is kind of… gross. Of the three stories I submitted (to 3 different mags) that I felt were possibly publishable quality, this was maybe the second best in terms of quality IMO, but the least likely to be published because a primary element of the story deals with cannibalism. And this element cannot be removed or softened, it IS the story. That’s OK, I have more where that came from.
