{"id":427,"date":"2016-01-27T12:30:09","date_gmt":"2016-01-27T12:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/microcosmpublishing.dev\/blog\/2016\/01\/business-of-publishing-what-to-expect-when-submitting-your-work\/"},"modified":"2016-02-02T16:08:57","modified_gmt":"2016-02-02T16:08:57","slug":"business-of-publishing-what-to-expect-when-submitting-your-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/business-of-publishing-what-to-expect-when-submitting-your-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Business of Publishing: What to Expect When Submitting Your Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span><\/p>\n

\"submittingI wrote a book that I, personally, absolutely loved and felt like it represented everything about me as a person and as a writer. I submitted the hell out of that manuscript. After 68 rejections (too personal, too raw, too dark, too taboo, etc.), I just put the manuscript away and worked on other books. Two years later, I submitted an essay to a contest. The editor loved my essay (which won!), and emailed me asking if I had a manuscript. The one I was working on at that time wasn\u2019t ready yet. I remembered the first book I wrote\u2014the one I loved, the one that defined who I was when I wrote it. I thought, \u201cWhat the hell? Why not send it?\u201d. I sent it. She loved it. Nine months later it was published. I had found the right editor at the right time and presented to her the right manuscript, and <\/span>behold!<\/span> Most of the time that is how publication works. So submit away and keep submitting post-rejection! Your work is always one submission away from acceptance.<\/span><\/p>\n

797 is a model of Boeing airplane. It is also the number of rejections that I\u2019ve received over the past five years. During that time I\u2019ve submitted my writing for publication 1,380 times. That\u2019s a lot of <\/span>No<\/span>s, a lot of <\/span>Unfortunately<\/span>s, a lot of <\/span>We appreciate the chance to read your work,<\/span> <\/span>however<\/span>s. And that\u2019s okay. Rejection is a part of publication. Of course, even after we accept that, it doesn\u2019t mean that rejections don\u2019t hurt our feelings\u2014especially if we\u2019re totally in love with the publisher that we submitted to. Fortunately, rejection is not a death sentence and doesn\u2019t have to be a confidence cut-down or a personal attack on the writer\u2019s self-worth. Rejection is merely someone saying, \u201cNot quite, but keep trying.\u201d In many cases, the only problem is that the submission is simply not right for that press or publication.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have been keeping track of the submission process and statistics from the results through the past five years. <\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

Total Submissions: 1,380<\/span><\/p>\n

Acceptances: 121 (9%) (4 of which were books)<\/span><\/p>\n

Rejections: 797 (57%)<\/span><\/p>\n

Withdraws: 430 (31%)<\/span><\/p>\n

Still under consideration: 32 (3%)<\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

Only about 10% of my total submissions were accepted. There is no \u201cnormal\u201d or \u201caverage\u201d here as every genre or market is a bit different, but it seemed relevant to share here because writers tend to get so distraught after a few rejections and give up. Having a larger set of data over a longer period of time offers a much greater opportunity for creating perspective. <\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve edited for a number of journals and magazines, and I have always hated sending rejections. It\u2019s never a fun thing to do, especially if you really love the piece and believe in it, but you just published something <\/span>exactly like it<\/span>, or the story is good but the writing\u2019s not, or vice versa, or if it\u2019s an awesome piece but just doesn\u2019t fit within the scope of what the journal or publisher promotes and represents. There are as many reasons as to why a piece is rejected as there are the number of pieces rejected.<\/span><\/p>\n

This can seem devastating. Or discouraging. Or just flat-out shitty. So what, as writers, can we do to survive the rejections and keep our writing and self-confidence alive?<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7<\/span>  <\/span>\t<\/span><\/span>Do not try to argue your piece into publication. The manuscript itself is your argument. If you submitted and got rejected, don\u2019t be personally offended by the rejection and feel like you have to fight for your manuscript or argue with the editor or publisher that they really <\/span>have<\/span> to publish this! If the publisher said no, it\u2019s because s\/he is saying no to the work you presented, not to you personally. If you think the publisher maybe didn\u2019t get what you were trying to do in your piece and so you feel like you need to argue with her\/him to get your point across, then what you really need to do is revise the way that you present your manuscript. The cover letter and work itself should make your best argument.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7<\/span>  <\/span>\t<\/span><\/span>You are not your work. Yes, you might write really personal pieces and it can feel like your writing <\/span>is<\/span> yourself, but writing is a craft. Writing is a job. Do you define yourself solely on the job that you have? You are more than a job. You are a writer\u2014but the actual writing is not you.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7<\/span>  <\/span>\t<\/span><\/span>Say you wrote a kickass zine about how to knit cell phone cases using recycled materials. That\u2019s great! But if there are dozens of other zines about how to knit computer cases using recycled materials, then your zine may not be needed or appreciated as much. It doesn\u2019t mean your work sucks, it just means fate didn\u2019t help you out on that one, and so off to another outlet or project you shall go to see if they, too, not only love your zine, but are looking for something along the lines of what you have to offer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7<\/span>  <\/span>\t<\/span><\/span>Rejection means that someone is reading. Regardless of what the response to your writing is, isn\u2019t it kinda neat that someone is reading and considering your work in the first place? Writing is a lonely field, so even a rejection is a connection.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7<\/span>  <\/span>\t<\/span><\/span>Multiple rejections are encouragement to work more on your piece. Even though you might <\/span>love<\/span> your writing, it may keep getting rejected all over the place. That just means that there\u2019s probably something about it that\u2019s not quite working or you are not reaching the right outlet. Set it aside. Work on something else for a bit. Come back to it. Rejection is feedback. <\/span>Listen to it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7<\/span>  <\/span>\t<\/span><\/span>The fact that you\u2019re even submitting\u2014hell, that you\u2019re even <\/span>writing<\/span>\u2014is pretty fantastic! Remember that.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7<\/span>  <\/span>\t<\/span><\/span>Also remember that you won\u2019t ever get anything published if you don\u2019t submit it. Post-rejection, revise if needed and keep submitting! To come full-circle: rejection is a part of the publication process, just like submitting, just like waiting, just like writing. Keep at it. Always.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Chelsey Clammer<\/a><\/span> is a creative nonfiction writer in Minneapolis building a diverse and prolific body of work while utilizing the power of spreadsheets and metrics. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wrote a book that I, personally, absolutely loved and felt like it represented everything about me as a person and as a writer. I submitted the hell out of that manuscript. After 68 rejections (too personal, too raw, too dark, too taboo, etc.), I just put the manuscript away and worked on other books…. Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[12],"class_list":["post-427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogifesto","tag-business-of-publishing"],"my_excerpt":"

<\/span><\/p>

\"submittingI wrote a book that I, personally, absolutely loved and felt like it represented everything about me as a person and as a writer. I submitted the hell out of that manuscript. After 68 rejections (too personal, too raw, too dark, too taboo, etc.), I just put the manuscript away and worked on other books. Two years later, I submitted an essay to a contest. The editor loved my essay (which won!), and emailed me asking if I had a manuscript. The one I was working on at that time wasn\u2019t ready yet. I remembered the first book I wrote\u2014the one I loved, the one that defined who I was when I wrote it. I thought, \u201cWhat the hell? Why not send it?\u201d. I sent it. She loved it. Nine months later it was published. I had found the right editor at the right time and presented to her the right manuscript, and <\/span>behold!<\/span> Most of the time that is how publication works. So submit away and keep submitting post-rejection! Your work is always one submission away from acceptance.<\/span><\/p>

797 is a model of Boeing airplane. It is also the number of rejections that I\u2019ve received over the past five years. During that time I\u2019ve submitted my writing for publication 1,380 times. That\u2019s a lot of <\/span>No<\/span>s, a lot of <\/span>Unfortunately<\/span>s, a lot of <\/span>We appreciate the chance to read your work,<\/span> <\/span>however<\/span>s. And that\u2019s okay. Rejection is a part of publication. Of course, even after we accept that, it doesn\u2019t mean that rejections don\u2019t hurt our feelings\u2014especially if we\u2019re totally in love with the publisher that we submitted to. Fortunately, rejection is not a death sentence and doesn\u2019t have to be a confidence cut-down or a personal attack on the writer\u2019s self-worth. Rejection is merely someone saying, \u201cNot quite, but keep trying.\u201d In many cases, the only problem is that the submission is simply not right for that press or publication.<\/span><\/p>

I have been keeping track of the submission process and statistics from the results through the past five years. <\/span><\/p>


<\/span><\/p>

Total Submissions: 1,380<\/span><\/p>

Acceptances: 121 (9%) (4 of which were books)<\/span><\/p>

Rejections: 797 (57%)<\/span><\/p>

Withdraws: 430 (31%)<\/span><\/p>

Still under consideration: 32 (3%)<\/span><\/p>


<\/span><\/p>

Only about 10% of my total submissions were accepted. There is no \u201cnormal\u201d or \u201caverage\u201d here as every genre or market is a bit different, but it seemed relevant to share here because writers tend to get so distraught after a few rejections and give up. Having a larger set of data over a longer period of time offers a much greater opportunity for creating perspective. <\/span><\/p>

I\u2019ve edited for a number of journals and magazines, and I have always hated sending rejections. It\u2019s never a fun thing to do, especially if you really love the piece and believe in it, but you just published something <\/span>exactly like it<\/span>, or the story is good but the writing\u2019s not, or vice versa, or if it\u2019s an awesome piece but just doesn\u2019t fit within the scope of what the journal or publisher promotes and represents. There are as many reasons as to why a piece is rejected as there are the number of pieces rejected.<\/span><\/p>

This can seem devastating. Or discouraging. Or just flat-out shitty. So what, as writers, can we do to survive the rejections and keep our writing and self-confidence alive?<\/span><\/p>

<\/span><\/p>

\u00b7<\/span>  <\/span>\t<\/span><\/span>Do not try to argue your piece into publication. The manuscript itself is your argument. If you submitted and got rejected, don\u2019t be personally offended by the rejection and feel like you have to fight for your manuscript or argue with the editor or publisher that they really <\/span>have<\/span> to publish this! If the publisher said no, it\u2019s because s\/he is saying no to the work you presented, not to you personally. If you think the publisher maybe didn\u2019t get what you were trying to do in your piece and so you feel like you need to argue with her\/him to get your point across, then what you really need to do is revise the way that you present your manuscript. The cover letter and work itself should make your best argument.<\/span><\/p>

\u00b7<\/span>  <\/span>\t<\/span><\/span>You are not your work. Yes, you might write really personal pieces and it can feel like your writing <\/span>is<\/span> yourself, but writing is a craft. Writing is a job. Do you define yourself solely on the job that you have? You are more than a job. You are a writer\u2014but the actual writing is not you.<\/span><\/p>

\u00b7<\/span>  <\/span>\t<\/span><\/span>Say you wrote a kickass zine about how to knit cell phone cases using recycled materials. That\u2019s great! But if there are dozens of other zines about how to knit computer cases using recycled materials, then your zine may not be needed or appreciated as much. It doesn\u2019t mean your work sucks, it just means fate didn\u2019t help you out on that one, and so off to another outlet or project you shall go to see if they, too, not only love your zine, but are looking for something along the lines of what you have to offer.<\/span><\/p>

\u00b7<\/span>  <\/span>\t<\/span><\/span>Rejection means that someone is reading. Regardless of what the response to your writing is, isn\u2019t it kinda neat that someone is reading and considering your work in the first place? Writing is a lonely field, so even a rejection is a connection.<\/span><\/p>

\u00b7<\/span>  <\/span>\t<\/span><\/span>Multiple rejections are encouragement to work more on your piece. Even though you might <\/span>love<\/span> your writing, it may keep getting rejected all over the place. That just means that there\u2019s probably something about it that\u2019s not quite working or you are not reaching the right outlet. Set it aside. Work on something else for a bit. Come back to it. Rejection is feedback. <\/span>Listen to it.<\/span><\/p>

\u00b7<\/span>  <\/span>\t<\/span><\/span>The fact that you\u2019re even submitting\u2014hell, that you\u2019re even <\/span>writing<\/span>\u2014is pretty fantastic! Remember that.<\/span><\/p>

\u00b7<\/span>  <\/span>\t<\/span><\/span>Also remember that you won\u2019t ever get anything published if you don\u2019t submit it. Post-rejection, revise if needed and keep submitting! To come full-circle: rejection is a part of the publication process, just like submitting, just like waiting, just like writing. Keep at it. Always.<\/span><\/p>

<\/span><\/p>

Chelsey Clammer<\/a><\/span> is a creative nonfiction writer in Minneapolis building a diverse and prolific body of work while utilizing the power of spreadsheets and metrics. <\/span><\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>","my_excerpt_rendered":"

<\/span><\/p>\n

\"submittingI wrote a book that I, personally, absolutely loved and felt like it represented everything about me as a person and as a writer. I submitted the hell out of that manuscript. After 68 rejections (too personal, too raw, too dark, too taboo, etc.), I just put the manuscript away and worked on other books. Two years later, I submitted an essay to a contest. The editor loved my essay (which won!), and emailed me asking if I had a manuscript. The one I was working on at that time wasn\u2019t ready yet. I remembered the first book I wrote\u2014the one I loved, the one that defined who I was when I wrote it. I thought, \u201cWhat the hell? Why not send it?\u201d. I sent it. She loved it. Nine months later it was published. I had found the right editor at the right time and presented to her the right manuscript, and <\/span>behold!<\/span> Most of the time that is how publication works. So submit away and keep submitting post-rejection! Your work is always one submission away from acceptance.<\/span><\/p>\n

797 is a model of Boeing airplane. It is also the number of rejections that I\u2019ve received over the past five years. During that time I\u2019ve submitted my writing for publication 1,380 times. That\u2019s a lot of <\/span>No<\/span>s, a lot of <\/span>Unfortunately<\/span>s, a lot of <\/span>We appreciate the chance to read your work,<\/span> <\/span>however<\/span>s. And that\u2019s okay. Rejection is a part of publication. Of course, even after we accept that, it doesn\u2019t mean that rejections don\u2019t hurt our feelings\u2014especially if we\u2019re totally in love with the publisher that we submitted to. Fortunately, rejection is not a death sentence and doesn\u2019t have to be a confidence cut-down or a personal attack on the writer\u2019s self-worth. Rejection is merely someone saying, \u201cNot quite, but keep trying.\u201d In many cases, the only problem is that the submission is simply not right for that press or publication.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have been keeping track of the submission process and statistics from the results through the past five years. <\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

Total Submissions: 1,380<\/span><\/p>\n

Acceptances: 121 (9%) (4 of which were books)<\/span><\/p>\n

Rejections: 797 (57%)<\/span><\/p>\n

Withdraws: 430 (31%)<\/span><\/p>\n

Still under consideration: 32 (3%)<\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

Only about 10% of my total submissions were accepted. There is no \u201cnormal\u201d or \u201caverage\u201d here as every genre or market is a bit different, but it seemed relevant to share here because writers tend to get so distraught after a few rejections and give up. Having a larger set of data over a longer period of time offers a much greater opportunity for creating perspective. <\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve edited for a number of journals and magazines, and I have always hated sending rejections. It\u2019s never a fun thing to do, especially if you really love the piece and believe in it, but you just published something <\/span>exactly like it<\/span>, or the story is good but the writing\u2019s not, or vice versa, or if it\u2019s an awesome piece but just doesn\u2019t fit within the scope of what the journal or publisher promotes and represents. There are as many reasons as to why a piece is rejected as there are the number of pieces rejected.<\/span><\/p>\n

This can seem devastating. Or discouraging. Or just flat-out shitty. So what, as writers, can we do to survive the rejections and keep our writing and self-confidence alive?<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7<\/span>  <\/span>\t<\/span><\/span>Do not try to argue your piece into publication. The manuscript itself is your argument. If you submitted and got rejected, don\u2019t be personally offended by the rejection and feel like you have to fight for your manuscript or argue with the editor or publisher that they really <\/span>have<\/span> to publish this! If the publisher said no, it\u2019s because s\/he is saying no to the work you presented, not to you personally. If you think the publisher maybe didn\u2019t get what you were trying to do in your piece and so you feel like you need to argue with her\/him to get your point across, then what you really need to do is revise the way that you present your manuscript. The cover letter and work itself should make your best argument.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7<\/span>  <\/span>\t<\/span><\/span>You are not your work. Yes, you might write really personal pieces and it can feel like your writing <\/span>is<\/span> yourself, but writing is a craft. Writing is a job. Do you define yourself solely on the job that you have? You are more than a job. You are a writer\u2014but the actual writing is not you.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7<\/span>  <\/span>\t<\/span><\/span>Say you wrote a kickass zine about how to knit cell phone cases using recycled materials. That\u2019s great! But if there are dozens of other zines about how to knit computer cases using recycled materials, then your zine may not be needed or appreciated as much. It doesn\u2019t mean your work sucks, it just means fate didn\u2019t help you out on that one, and so off to another outlet or project you shall go to see if they, too, not only love your zine, but are looking for something along the lines of what you have to offer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7<\/span>  <\/span>\t<\/span><\/span>Rejection means that someone is reading. Regardless of what the response to your writing is, isn\u2019t it kinda neat that someone is reading and considering your work in the first place? Writing is a lonely field, so even a rejection is a connection.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7<\/span>  <\/span>\t<\/span><\/span>Multiple rejections are encouragement to work more on your piece. Even though you might <\/span>love<\/span> your writing, it may keep getting rejected all over the place. That just means that there\u2019s probably something about it that\u2019s not quite working or you are not reaching the right outlet. Set it aside. Work on something else for a bit. Come back to it. Rejection is feedback. <\/span>Listen to it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7<\/span>  <\/span>\t<\/span><\/span>The fact that you\u2019re even submitting\u2014hell, that you\u2019re even <\/span>writing<\/span>\u2014is pretty fantastic! Remember that.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7<\/span>  <\/span>\t<\/span><\/span>Also remember that you won\u2019t ever get anything published if you don\u2019t submit it. Post-rejection, revise if needed and keep submitting! To come full-circle: rejection is a part of the publication process, just like submitting, just like waiting, just like writing. Keep at it. Always.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Chelsey Clammer<\/a><\/span> is a creative nonfiction writer in Minneapolis building a diverse and prolific body of work while utilizing the power of spreadsheets and metrics. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":450,"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427\/revisions\/450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}