How Many Rejections Does It Take to Get Published?
From the slush pile to somewhere... eventually.
During my Master’s program, our professors drilled it into our heads that if we wanted to be traditionally published, we were going to face a lot of rejection. Panels of authors who spoke to my cohort echoed the sentiment— they’d each been rejected ten, fifty, or a hundred times before being published.
Your favorite author was probably rejected more times than you think. If you aren’t established in the literary world, each piece you write has to go through this cut-throat publication process. Even if you are well-known, there are some prestigious journals like The New Yorker where competition is fierce and you most likely won’t make the cut.
But like any starry-eyed young artist, I believed I was different. I wouldn’t have confessed it aloud, but I thought I was just special enough that it would only take one or two tries before my talent was discovered and I was topping the bestseller lists.
That was absolutely not how it played out in real time. It didn’t take long for the no’s to come rolling in and for my idealism to fade (a bit). If I wanted to play this game, I had to face reality and get accustomed to rejection.
Let’s look at how many times each of my pieces was turned down before being published.
Successfully Published Works - 24 rejections
The Things We Give - Short Story #1
A woman sells years off her life in order to pay off her family’s debts.
I got lucky with my first short story, and only received three rejections before being accepted by After Dinner Conversation. It was later republished in their Technology Ethics issue, and their Best of 2023 Anthology.
Ice Box - Short Story #2
Two estranged friends find themselves trapped in a deadly snowstorm.
This one was a doozy. I sent it out in batches, and went through three rounds before I was accepted for publication. In total, I received twenty-one rejections (with four tiered rejections… which was nice) and withdrew the piece from consideration at three additional places after it was accepted by Ponder Review.
In-Progress Work - 16 rejections
Novel #2
This was the manuscript I wrote after my first attempt at publishing, and it’s been my passion project for the last 1.5+ years. I’m currently in between querying rounds, and I’m editing in preparation for in-person pitching in April.
Last year, I queried sixteen agents, three of whom I’d met at a conference, and received a rejection (or silence) from all of them. I did get great feedback from one of the agents I met, and her advice has played a big role in how I’ve been editing in preparation for this upcoming round.
“Failed”/On-Hiatus Projects - 11 rejections
Novel #1
This was far from the first novel I wrote, but it was the first one I tried to get published. I’d written it for my Master’s project, and I queried it to five literary agents, receiving one no and four no-replies (which, in the publishing world, is a no). I stepped away from publishing efforts pretty quickly because of its length.
I still have hope for it. I’d like to get it published some day, but I do think it’s probably too long for a debut novel (160,000 words). It’s currently shelved, but I don’t doubt I’ll return to it in some capacity in the future.
Flash CNF piece
I had a spurt of creative energy when I wrote about a near-death experience (read: perfectly safe but wildly painful medical procedure). The final piece totaled 250 words, and I sent it off to nine lit mags that publish flash pieces. I received six no’s, and have not heard back from three publications. My hopes are slim, but I wasn’t super invested in getting it published– fiction is my main focus, and I mostly sent in this piece out of curiosity.
Misc.
Not publications, perhaps, but I’ve also been rejected by a writing fellowship and a novel excerpt contest I was excited about. So we’ll count those, too.
If you’ve been counting, that brings the grand total of rejections to 53, and the grand total of publications to 4 (3 of them being different issues of the same magazine).
…woof.
Rejection is incredibly Not Fun. I still wince a bit every time I get a “We regret to inform you…” message in my email inbox. But I’ve had to learn not to take it personally. Some agents get upwards of 6000 queries a year. I’ve worked at a lit mag, and we received 400 stories in a three month period, and could only accept 8 of them.
There’s a lot of competition for very few spots (sorry, I know I wrote a piece last week about there being room at the table). It used to demoralize me, but now I try to use it as fuel to pivot, improve, and get back out there. These publications come out regularly. New books are released every year. I’ve experienced the pay-off of publication after dozens of rejections. I just have to remind myself over and over that this is how you play the game.
As the church sign I drive past every day says: The difference between a stepping stone and a stumbling block is how you use it. Rejection can influence you to quit entirely, or it can be the thing that inspires you to create your best work yet. It’s all about mindset.
And the good news for me, and for anyone else trying to get a piece traditionally published is: it only takes one yes.
So get back out there, keep chasing, and I’ll see you all next Sunday,
Allie
Have you faced a lot of rejection in your artistic journey? How have you dealt with it? Let me know in the comments.
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Hey! Great article! Do you mind sharing what resources you used for submissions?
Love the church sign about stones!