The “Agony of Defeat” for a writer, the rejection letter-15 so far

*1*

Dear Anthony Perkins,

Thank you for sending “Hometown Values,” and we appreciate the opportunity to have read your work. We have given your submission careful consideration, and we regret that we are unable to publish it. 

We wish you the best of luck placing your work elsewhere.

Sincerely,

*3*

Thank you so much for submitting to our 2024 literary contests! We were grateful to have read your work! Unfortunately, your submission was not selected as a finalist. We will be sharing the names of our finalists and winners in June. Thank you again!

*4*

Thank you for sending us “The Birthday Celebration”.  After a careful review of your submission, we have decided that it, unfortunately, is not quite right for the journal at this time. We appreciate your interest in Uncharted and we wish you luck finding a home for this piece.

For the above rejection, “not quite right… at this time.” When is the right time? What part is “not quite right”? Can you share that with me?

*7*

Dear AJ,

Thank you for allowing us to consider “90 Years Old” for XXXXX. We are sorry to report it was not selected for publication. 

We are honored you thought of us as a home for your work. 

Sincerely,

*9*

Thank you for submitting “The Reunion” to XXXXXX. We are sorry to report that we have decided against it, but we wish you luck placing your work elsewhere.  

*11*

Dear AJ Perkins,

Thank you for your recent submission to XXXXX. Regrettably, we are unable to find a place for it in our next issue, and we’re going to have to pass at this time. Thank you for your patience and for allowing us to consider your piece. We wish you the best of luck placing this elsewhere. We appreciate your interest in our journal and encourage you to submit again in the near future.

Sincerely,

*13*

Thank you for submitting your work to the XXXXXX, and for your patience during the review process.

We were impressed by the enthusiastic response from the writing community. The volume was such that, unfortunately, a great deal of quality work has to be declined.  We appreciate the efforts that have gone into your submission, and are sorry not to be able to use it.  Please be assured that your work was read thoroughly and given careful consideration. We are sorry not to be able to send a more personal response.

Contest winners will be announced on our website and social media in the coming days.

Sincerely,

The Editors 

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*2*

At this time we will not be moving forward as your publisher. We wish you the best of luck in your future writing and your publishing search. Although we cannot publish your title, our award-winning design team offers services that can assist you with formatting and cover design. If you are interested, you can contact XXXXXXXXXXXX for more information.

You should also consider submitting your manuscript for early awards such as the XXXXX Awards, where they accept unpublished material, and winning an award like this would definitely help get your book published. Part of each entry goes toward helping those less fortunate, so that’s a huge literary win.

No, thank you, to the above “rejection.” I will find someone else to create my cover. I will also not enter your “contest” with its $65 entrance fee.

*5*

Thank you for the opportunity to read this work… I hope that this is helpful. Thank you again for the opportunity to read this work. 

*6*

Thank you for submitting to xxxxx. While we read your work with interest, it does not meet our current editorial needs. These decisions are subjective, and we wish you the best in finding this piece a home.

*8*

Thank you for your patience with the review process.

Just to reiterate from our submission guidelines: we try to hold onto submissions until we’re sure we can’t fit them into our roadmap for the next year of issues. Unfortunately, we have to send a decline letter this time around.

*10*

Thank you for your submission to XXXXX. Although we must decline your submission this time, we appreciated the chance to consider it.

Thanks again. Best of luck with this.

*12*

Thank you sincerely for taking the time to submit your writing to the XXXXX, and for thinking of us as a potential home for your work.

On this occasion your work has not been selected as one of our Winning, Shortlisted, or Longlisted entries. 

We wish you all the very best with your writing. 

Warm regards,

*14*

While we are grateful for the opportunity to read this submission and appreciate your interest in our journal, it is not a good fit for us at this time.

We wish you the best in finding a home for your work and invite you to submit again in the future.

*15*

Hi Tony,

Thank you again for your submission. While we really enjoyed reading this amazing essay, we have decided to go with other writers this time, but it came very close to making the cut. We look forward to reading more of your work when submissions reopen in January 2025. 

Kind regards,

The above personal rejection is the best one I received so far.

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More to come…