duh
i finally got a personalized rejection today! I had really been looking forward to it. when i open that SASE and there's nothing in there but a shitty mimeographed page with a generic "go fuck yourself," it feels so devastating. someone at zoetrope had nice words for me (which is more than i can say for most people. mom, i'm talking to you). but then i was thinking: do some magazines always send personalized rejections? if one receives a nice letter saying that an editor liked a submission, should one believe them? does it mean you made it closer to publication before being shitcanned? just curious. maybe those of you who work for magazines can provide insight.
posted by chauncey swan @ Monday, February 27, 2006
3 Comments:
I remember thinking when I was an editor that it was a risk to personalize. It invites further conversation, which often goes sour. As in, "if you liked it so much, why didn't you accept it, bitch tits?" Or, my favorite, "if you liked that you're bound to love something in my 325 page 'Experiments in Font' manuscript."
Though the personalized rejections I've received recently have offered vaguely demeaning sentiments ("You are an Iowa grad, so that should make you feel good") I feel flattered by them for this reason: I wouldn't write a note to myself.
I see standardized contact as the safe choice. It is (probably) the intellegent choice, if the editor doesn't happen to be familiar with the writer and his or her work. Which is why I think Chauncey's feelings of fancy-pantsness are righteous and justified. Go team!
But it is also true that I have come to feel this way about most contact I have with "The People In The World Outside My Apartment." I try to keep all of my contact impersonal, poorly photocopied, if possible. I try to sound like a voice recording when I answer the phone. I always close with, I hope you'll consider me again in the future.
I don't know. I spent years trying to read the tea leaves like this and then somehow, trying to extrapolate from the notes, the handwriting, the initials.
And then suddenly, as if a bush had burst into flames, I thought...gee, it still means, "NO," doesn't it?
I think the only value is if it says "send more." Otherwise, throw it out and send somewhere else. Today. Tonight.
As someone learning to write rejection letters... I write pretty close to exactly what I mean. I once wrote someone comments and she wrote back thanking me and telling me she would submit again. That was nice; I was glad it was useful to her. Based on my reaction to that, I would say that if someone takes the time to write you something more than the standard, I would thank them for their time. Because that was something extra and they thought the story had promise.
If I don't want someone to send again, I do not include a line about "I hope you'll continue sending us work for consideration" or anything to that effect. So even my standardized rejections have levels to them... I do think about them and intend them to mean different things.
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