Why did my writing get rejected?

We’ve previously covered how to deal with rejections from publishers, but addressing the reasoning behind rejected work can help you address the issues and give it another round of editing before slinging it out back into the world, where hopefully it’ll land this time!

The writing process (and the rejection process) will look different for everyone, but here is some advice that can hopefully put a positive spin on rejection – try to see it as an opportunity to pause, reflect, and get right back out there!

Technical errors

Sometimes, if you’re in a writing environment that isn’t as serene or uninterrupted as it could be, you may get your flow thrown off. Editing is usually a good final stage to give everything a once-over, but occasionally the odd uncapitalised word or spelling mistake will sneak under the radar. It may also be that you are writing in a different localisation – like American English instead of British English, or vice versa.  

It won’t always be the case, but the writing you’re looking to submit may also benefit from strengthening – in terms of plot, tone, pacing, structure or any other aspect that is lacking. If you are struggling with multiple places of submission, consider getting a second opinion on your piece, possibly from friends, family or a professional proofreader to see if there’s anything missing.

Formatting errors may also be the reason your piece keeps getting sidelined – you will have to strike a balance between what you want from formatting as well as the house guidelines of the place you are submitting to. There are many places where the formatting can slip – in best practise for titles, subtitles, references, paragraph setting and many more: one good way to ensure your work matches is to get your hands on previous publications so you can see what was good enough to work before.

Accept feedback

Sometimes, you will get the chance to see feedback – suggested improvements that an editor will pass along. This is valuable information as they will likely have experience with the publishing industry (or hands-on knowledge of the publication that you are looking to house your work with!) so in many cases it is best to take it on board, make the changes and consider resubmitting – only if they have given their blessing for you to do so!

If the publication does not offer the opportunity to receive feedback, it may also be a good idea to run it by others to see if there are any suggested improvements – after all, two heads are better than one! Consider your friends, family, strangers on the internet or a beta reader in order to get unbiased, helpful feedback.

It can be a difficult pill to swallow if the proposed changes lay waste to the intricacies you had initially planned for, but you have to strike a balance between matching the criteria of a publication and the cool ideas you wanted to explore in your writing.

Ready to rock?

There are a million more reasons as to why writing is rejected, however with some of the most common as outlined above, there are always positives to be taken from feedback which can make the work even better for future submissions.