How My Story got Rejected By A Smaller Pub But Accepted into a Bigger One

One story, 3 pubs, and what it taught me as a new writer on the new Medium

New writers on Medium have it really tough at the moment. We’re trying to find our feet and the rules seemed to have changed. Most of us also don’t have the benefit of any back catalogue of stories yet.

I’ve only been on Medium since March and I’m struggling to publish 4 times a week. Real life and a full-time job have to take priority, even if the advice is to publish consistently.

No one seems sure what’s going on with the almighty algorithm and even well-established writers say they are struggling at the moment. Their definition of struggling differs greatly from mine, I know, but at least everyone seems to face the same issues which is good to hear.

What I find great on Medium is the number of people willing to share tips and tricks and help others. I love reading stories about what works for people and how they keep going.

As new writers, I think we’ll learn more from each other than anyone else at the moment as we deal with the unknown.

That’s what’s great about Synergy. It gives us a chance to share info and compare notes on what seems to work. I hope people continue to share and post here and elsewhere on how to get into pubs and get more reads.

I want to share my story of how my article, rejected by two pubs, got accepted into a third, fairly big pub, and got curated.

It was a story I loved writing because it was about something that had worked for me. I believed the article would go one of two ways.

Other people would think it was great and use it, or they would think I was mad and maybe have a laugh!

But first I had to write it and get it into a pub!

I wrote the story, ran it through pro writing, corrected all mistakes, and got a suitable picture. So far, so good. Then I made my first big mistake. And I mean big, I submitted it to Better Humans.

I know now that they are one of the bigger pubs, with a really high standard, and they get loads of articles every day. Sure enough, back came a really polite email from the editor, rejecting the draft, but at least nicely.

I wasn’t upset, but it made me work a bit more on the article. I tightened up the sentences etc and I was ready to send it out into the world again.

I picked what I thought was a mid-size pub, Mind Cafe, and I really thought the piece was a good fit for them. Alas, it was not to be! They say in their guide that if you don’t hear from them in 10 days they are rejecting it and by day 12; I gave up hope and knew I was facing 2 rejections.

I really wanted the article to find a place in a pub because I still thought it was a great system, but I was running out of options.

I did a third edit, and, best of all, I changed the title and subtitle to hook people in. The advice from one of the experienced writers is to practice writing ten titles a day. It is definitely worth trying because I think that’s what made the difference. I decided on one last throw of the dice with a big pub.

I submitted to The Ascent, and said it would either be third time lucky, or else I’d self publish.

I couldn’t believe it when I got a response from the editor, about 6 days later, saying they would publish it. I knew The Ascent is a great pub, and that there’s a good chance of curation with them. It got curated on publication day, two days ago, so I’ll keep you posted on how it does!

Here’s the thing, though. The Ascent changed two things in the article before publishing, and I’m going to do them myself much more in my stories from now on.

They used pull quotes and also separated the paragraphs much more.

The story looks more professional, and that style is obviously something that editors like.

Main Conclusions For New Writers

• An article that’s rejected twice can still get into a pub.
• Always look at how you can edit it and make it sharper after a rejection. Don’t just send it off to another pub straight away.
• Delete any rejection notes on the story from a previous editor.
• Take at least a day to think about how you can improve the piece.
• Consider if the title is the best you can come up with. I’m convinced that the new title got my piece into The Ascent.
• Pay attention to the overall look and spacing and use pull-out quotes if you think they will help.

Thanks for reading and I hope the tips were helpful and I would love if any new writers could share what’s working for them at the moment or how they are finding the journey so far.