Why Does Writing Get Rejected?

Writing that you submit to publishers, agents and publications can be rejected for all sorts of reasons, but it can be difficult to understand why. Rejection can be heartbreaking when you’ve poured your heart into something, but it doesn’t always mean that the writing itself is to blame. Many successful writers vouch for rejection as a rite of passage, and when a publisher, editor or agent sends you a rejection, you should feel proud that your work has been reviewed. A rejection note that details a reason why your writing has not been accepted can be extremely valuable to a writer as they regroup after rejection. Remember, rejection is never personal, and there may still be many ways forward for your writing.

Below, we cover some of the common factors behind rejection:

The Quality or Appropriateness of the Work

Sometimes writing is rejected because it isn’t appropriate for the publisher. It is always important to examine what kind of writing the publisher, publication or agent usually works with, and to make sure your writing aligns. If an agent only represents writers of adult fiction, it is unlikely they’ll be interested in your picture book manuscript. If you send an editor a genre or form they don’t usually work with, odds are they won’t have the experience or resources to publish it. Publishing is a specialised business, and most poetry editors do not tend to edit fiction, and many romance editors don’t have a strong understanding of the current crime fiction market. If an editor without expertise in your genre published your work, the publication would have less chance of success. Before approaching any publisher, agent or editor, it is vital to have proofread your work, and to get feedback on it. This can help you get an objective view of your writing, and determine whether it needs improvement, or whether there may be another reason it is being rejected. Check out our resource sheet on how to get feedback on your writing.

The Submission Guidelines

Writers have been known to submit their work in a unique font or send their manuscript on pink paper in a bid to make their work stand out. Others may simply not have read the submission guidelines thoroughly. Editors read dozens of manuscripts a month, and their requested submission guidelines are a fast way to sort wheat from chaff. A change of font or page colour can easily make a poor impression, as can incorrect spacing or an over-long synopsis. Many editors will just discard manuscripts that don’t meet their submission guidelines. It’s also the first indicator that you may be difficult to work with or haven’t been able to follow due process. You will damage your chances of publication if you don’t respect the publisher or the process.

The Acquisitions Meeting

Whether you’re submitting to a magazine, a journal or a publisher, even if they are attracted to your work, it doesn’t guarantee they can publish you. An editor’s job is to convince the rest of their team (including people working in design, sales, marketing and publicity) that they can make the rest of the world fall in love with it too. Most of the time, especially in large publishing houses, an editor can’t move forward with an article or a manuscript without approval. They need to be able to convince their colleagues that the work will turn a profit, that it is marketable, and that people will want to purchase it.

Publishing is a business, and it is constantly competing against other forms of entertainment for a consumer’s attention. The publisher is taking a financial risk with every piece that they take on. As much as we’d all like beautiful, well-crafted writing to immediately sell, publishers and publications need to make sure that they make viable investments.

The Competition

When you submit your work, you don’t submit inside a vacuum. All editors are building a suite of publications, whether it is for an issue of a magazine, a journal or for a line-up of books to be released at a certain time. If your work is too similar to another piece, or startlingly different, or the market is saturated with similar titles, it may be rejected regardless of its quality, because it isn’t appropriate for that editor at that time. Similarly, sometimes an editor is flooded with high quality works and has to choose between them. The deciding factor could be a combination of financial viability, author marketability and other factors behind commercial success. It can also be difficult to find a publisher for a certain kind of book when there is an oversaturation. Once there is a successful breakaway title, such as Gone Girl or Twilight, publishers often try to mimic its success by rapidly publishing similar titles targeting the same market. Once the craze dies away, manuscripts in this niche may struggle to find a home.

The Writer

Publishing writing is a collaborative process, and every editor considers the people they will be working with. Many publishers will arrange a coffee with a writer before taking them on for this very reason. If a writer is rude, resistant to change, or otherwise difficult to work with, the publisher may not feel the manuscript is worth investing in. It is so important for a writer to be kind, open and respectful every step of the way. While it is never expected that writers should make every suggested change to their work, it is important to treat editors respectfully. This is also why it is beneficial to have a publication history. Having previous editors that can vouch for you (even if it is not in the same writing form) demonstrates that you can respond productively to feedback and work to deadline. As we noted earlier, literary communities are usually quite small, and your conduct does matter. Being professional and open-minded maintains pathways to other people and publications you may want to work with in the future.

The Fit

When it comes down to it, a publisher has very little time to consider each unsolicited submission. If your piece doesn’t mesh with the person reading your query from the first few paragraphs, it is unlikely to get a second look. Unfortunately rejection, by its nature, can be a little arbitrary. A publisher or editor could put it down for the same reasons anyone would put down a book— they could be in a bad mood (or the wrong mood for your story), they could be reading it late at night or right after a stressful meeting, or it could just be the wrong novel for them. Don’t be discouraged by rejection. All writers get rejected sometimes (even the very successful ones). The only way forward is to keep writing, keep reading, keep seeking support, mentorship and feedback, and seize every opportunity that comes your way to enter a competition; pitch to a publisher; learn from an experienced author and grow and improve as a writer.