1.I think there’s nothing wrong with a polite “Thanks, but no thanks” form rejection.

2.I think here IS something wrong with IMPOLITE form rejections, because writers have rights, and a lot of people just starting out who get rude rejections time after time forget this, and they tend to prostrate themselves on the altar of seemingly infallible and celebrity editors. Writers are people, too.

3.Editors are people, too. Nobody has a right to be a jerk to them, either.

4.Writing hurts. A lot. But it’s slightly better than herpes.

So, yeah; thanks again for bringing this up, because I have been made aware of some interpretations of this post floating around the internet that are counter to my original intent. And Baphomet tells me I should start writing for clarity rather than focusing on the herpes jokes. But, I’m probably going to keep making herpes jokes, anyway.

Obviously, they should still be handled with tact (i.e. as far from the example you provided as they can be!), but it probably takes three times longer to write a personal rejection than it does to send out a form rejection.

If the publisher has huge amounts of submissions to read and manages to read and respond to 30 a week with a form letter, they’d only be able to respond to 10 a week with a personalised response. So that triples the waiting time to ultimately find out the same thing: you got rejected.

It’s a toss-up between speed and quality of feedback. It’s always nice to get a bit of feedback and know why exactly you were rejected, but if its feedback you want, post to a forum or take your work to a writing group etc and you’ll get much more detailed comments (and faster, too, I’d imagine).

It’s a toughie. Pros and cons. Swings and roundabouts.

Here are two of my favorite rejections, both from Weird Tales. These are still better than form rejections:

“We thank you for sending us “Virginia Pratt.” Alas,it’s not for us.We found the plot too simple. Also, we found the writing a bit cliched of phrase. We found eighty-seven bodies unbelievable. And people do not tear in two as you describe.” – Jan Berrian Berends, Assistant Editor

“We thank you for sending us “A Joinging at Teer.” Sorry, but this one’s not for us: as with the last story you sent us, the plot here is too impossible for us to believe, merely presenting a catalog of nasty events, not really a story at all.” -Carol Adams, Managing Editor

I was always impressed that Weird Tales seemed to respond with a personalized correspondence even when I submitted utter crap.

And I never submitted to that particular publication again!

Who da fool now, huh?