Summary

The author reflects on their journey of writing 49 articles, learning from rejections, and understanding the privilege of being published.

Abstract

The article discusses the author's personal experience with writing and submitting articles, inspired by Cal Axe's advice to write 49 articles before getting upset with publications for rejections. The author embraced the challenge, finding that writing a significant number of articles helped maintain perspective and resilience in the face of rejection. They emphasize the importance of setting SMART goals in writing and the growth in confidence that comes from consistent writing practice. The author acknowledges the value of rejections as opportunities for improvement and learning, and they stress that being published is not a right but a privilege, with the power dynamics favoring publications. Despite rejections, the author celebrates each acceptance as a significant achievement.

Opinions

The author agrees with the idea that writing a substantial number of articles is crucial for improvement and learning in writing.
They believe that rejections should not be taken personally but as a chance to refine one's craft and find a more suitable publication.
The author values feedback and would appreciate more detailed reasons for article rejections to better understand how to improve.
They emphasize that submitting to a publication means adhering to the publication's standards and that acceptance is not guaranteed.
The author suggests that writers should focus on the word "yet" when facing rejections, implying that improvement is always possible.
They highlight the importance of setting specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals in writing.
The author celebrates each publication acceptance as a milestone, indicating the significance of each achievement in a writer's journey.

I Wrote 49 Articles — Can I Get Pissed At Publications Now?

It’s not a right to be published with them; it’s a privilege

Photo by Franco Antonio Giovanella on Unsplash

I discovered Cal Axe’s article titled “Write 49 Articles Before You Get Pissed At Publications” pretty early on in my writing journey.

At the time, I made a mental note and told myself, “You have to write a response back to him once you hit this milestone.”

Normally, I forget these mental notes to myself. Good thing there are sticky notes.

Cal’s claim is that it takes a while to catch your stride and that, by writing and publishing a lot of articles, you’ll get the fast feedback you need to improve your writing … or fail.

He got the number 49 from business influencer and podcaster Pat Flynn but acknowledges that the number doesn’t really matter so long as it’s a lot.

He concludes his article with a takeaway for writers to not “beat yourself up over minor setbacks like an article rejection on Medium” and to instead, get “better at writing every single day.”

Personally, I would have gone with 42 as a nod to fellow sci-fi fans out there, but the point still stands.

Having a set number of articles to write helped me maintain perspective, and it makes a lot of sense. What’s the #2 rule to goal setting? Set SMART goals — specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound. Picking any number of articles to write as your goal can satisfy all five of those.

In case you were wondering, the #1 rule is setting goals that motivate you. And if writing doesn’t motivate you, you probably wouldn’t even have bothered reading this article.

Did I catch my stride in writing? I’m still exploring but I’m definitely a more confident writer. And more importantly, I’m calling myself a writer. That’s a pretty big step in the right direction.

Setting my eyes on writing 49 articles helped me roll with the punches when I got rejected from publications. When you’ve only written one article and that one article gets rejected, you feel like a failure because your success rate is 0%.

But after 49 articles, even if a handful of publications reject you, there are many more that have accepted you (hopefully). Each rejection doesn’t hit you as hard.

Pretty soon, I got into the groove of just accepting the, “Thanks but we’ll pass on this one” speech and moving along to see if another publication would be interested in that article.

To be honest, I was never pissed off at the publications that rejected me.

Disappointed, sure, but not pissed off. Maybe it’s because I wasn’t (and still am not) confident enough of a writer to think that I deserve a seat at the table.

It definitely would be helpful if I was told why my work wasn’t accepted — whether the topic wasn’t the right fit, or they’re looking for a better takeaway for the reader, or even if it’s just a matter of writing style. Then I wouldn’t feel like I was shooting in the dark; I would know if I was close to getting accepted or so wildly off the mark that I better move on to another publication.

It’s not actually a terrible thing for a publication to reject you. If it’s truly not the right fit, finding a publication that is a better fit will be a benefit to your writing.

If you’re being rejected because your writing isn’t good enough yet, let’s focus on the word yet. You can take some time to detach and analyze your writing against some of the already published articles to see how you can improve. Hopefully, you can also find an editor that will take the time to work with you.

I think it’s important to remember that when you’re submitting your work to a publication, you’re signing on to play by their rules.

After all, you are asking to be accepted in their publication. They didn't come to you asking for submissions. And I think this nuance inherently skews the power dynamics in their favor (that, or I’ve just been watching too many episodes of Suits).

Even now, each time I am accepted by a publication, I like to celebrate with a fist pump and sometimes even a happy jig.

To those who are getting frustrated or insulted by each rejection, try to remember that it’s not a right to be published with them; it’s a privilege.