Summary

The article emphasizes the importance of removing private rejection notes from previous publication submissions before resubmitting to new ones to maintain professionalism and respect for editors.

Abstract

The author, who manages a publication accepting a wide range of submissions, stresses a common oversight made by writers: failing to delete private rejection messages from editors of other publications when resubmitting their work. While the author is indifferent to such notes, they acknowledge that other editors may view this practice as disrespectful, feeling they are not the writer's first choice. This can potentially lead to outright rejection, regardless of the article's quality. The article advises writers to clean up their drafts of any previous editor's comments to project a professional image and show respect to the editors reviewing their work. The author also takes the opportunity to promote their publication, "Writers’ Blokke," and invites readers to support their writing by becoming Medium members through their referral link.

Opinions

The author is understanding of grammatical and spelling errors, especially from non-native English speakers.
Private notes from editors are visible to subsequent editors, even after publication, which can influence their perception of the submission.
The author does not mind being a last resort for writers but recognizes that other editors prefer to be the first choice.
Leaving a trail of rejection notes can be seen as disrespectful and may lead to automatic rejection by some editors.
It is considered professional and respectful to delete previous editor's comments before submitting to a new publication.
The author promotes their publication as a welcoming space for writers whose work may not fit elsewhere.
The author encourages readers to support them and other writers by becoming Medium members using their referral link.

MEDIUM THINGS

One Mistake You Should Always Avoid Making When Submitting To Publications

It’s easy to overlook this but it may have a big impact on your submissions

As the owner and editor of a publication that’s semi-decentralized and open to almost any kind of submissions, I go through between 20–30 submitted articles a day. As I’m the only editor that approves submissions and publishes them, I don’t really go through each article thoroughly.

What I’d usually do is just skim through to make sure the topic isn’t something that’s against the guidelines of the publication or against Medium’s guidelines. If everything looks OK, I’ll hit publish.

I don’t look so much at spelling or grammar as I do have a lot of writers who are not native English speakers and there will be grammatical or spelling mistakes every now and then. Heck, even native English speakers make those mistakes once in a while too.

But there is a common mistake that I do notice a lot of writers make whenever I’m skimming through articles and it’s a mistake that, although doesn’t really affect or bother me and my publication, I know it can affect your submissions in some publications as editors find it disrespectful and for some, insulting.

What mistake am I talking about?

It’s not removing private notes/messages from editors of other publications that rejected these articles.

I see it often. These private notes or messages are usually left on the topic/subtopic or somewhere in the first paragraph of the article. It’s usually a message from an editor saying that the article isn’t a good fit for the publication and they are having to reject it.

You may be asking how can others see a private message/note? If it’s private, it should be viewable to only the author of the article, as well as the person who left the message/note, no?

Well, yes and no.

Yes, it is private between the parties that send and receives these messages/notes BUT an editor of the publication that you submit your articles to WILL be able to see EVERYTHING, even after the article is published. That’s why it’s a good idea to delete any private messages from editors of other publications.

As I said before, it doesn’t bother me but it could bother other editors.

Why?

They know that they’re not the first option

Because my publication — Writers’ Blokke (I’m shamelessly promoting it here) — is a publication for writers to house their articles that may otherwise not have a publication to call home, I’m not bothered if it’s the last option for a writer.

I’ve had submissions before where the writer was rejected from 3 different publications before finally submitting the article to WB. There was a trail of 3 private notes from 3 different editors of 3 different publications, all rejecting the writer.

I have no idea why the writer didn’t think of deleting or removing those private notes.

Some editors may take it to heart. If you’re going to submit to their publication, you better make sure that they’re your first option. Not second, not third, but first.

It’s not a nice feeling to know that you’re playing second fiddle to someone else.

And when you leave a trail of ‘breadcrumbs,’ they will find out. I know some editors will not be happy with that and may just reject you outright without even bothering to read your article, even if it’s a good article that may fit their publication.

You may think that they sound bitter or petty but it’s their right as the owner/editor of the publication.

So, please, do delete any private comments/notes that you receive from other editors before submitting it to another publication. One, it’s more professional on your end and it shows a bit more respect to the other editor(s) who will potentially review your work and decide whether to accept or reject your submission.

Plus, it’s not hard to do and won’t take up any of your time in doing so.

Keep that in mind!

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