What Editors Don’t Tell You

Summary

Editors often reject submissions due to unwritten preferences for established authors and financial constraints, despite the discouragement this causes aspiring writers.

Abstract

The article "What Editors Don’t Tell You" reveals the challenges faced by writers when submitting their work to publications. It highlights that rejection letters may not reflect the quality of the work but rather the publication's bias towards featuring established writers. The piece also points out the financial difficulties faced by the publishing industry, leading to staff reductions and a preference for proven authors. Despite these obstacles, writers are encouraged to persevere and find alternative ways to share their work, such as seminars, workshops, and online platforms. The author of the article, having left the advertising business and witnessed the contraction of the publishing industry, empathizes with the struggle and advises writers to continue their craft regardless of the challenges.

Opinions

Editors are inclined to feature the same, established writers repeatedly, making it difficult for new authors to be published.
The financial instability of publishing companies, including potential layoffs, contributes to a reluctance to take risks on unproven authors.
There is an age-related bias in publishing, with a belief that great writers peak around the age of 42.
The dwindling advertising revenue and the abundance of free content make it harder for writers to get paid for their work.
Despite the challenges, writers are encouraged to keep writing and to seek alternative avenues for sharing their work, such as online shows or teaching.
The difficulty of getting published is compounded by the fact that laid-off editors are now also competing to get their work published.
The author emphasizes that writing should be pursued regardless of immediate success, as persistence is key to potential opportunities.

What Editors Don’t Tell You

The hidden truth behind those rejection letters.

Sharon McCutcheon-Unsplash

Dear Writer:

Thank you for submitting your piece to our publication. We regret to inform you that it did not meet with our editorial guidelines. This is not a reflection of your work, so don’t give up trying to publish it elsewhere.

What we would like to tell you though, is that we tend to feature the same writers over and over again, so despite your efforts, it is very unlikely you will be published by us anyway.

It is just too hard to read the submissions from unproven authors like yourself. We have a very limited staff, and in fact, we may be going through a series of additional layoffs, due to the financial constraints within our company.

By the way, you are far too old to make it anyway. Most great writers hit their stride around the age of 42, so this leaves you out of the mix as well.

Thank you for your time and consideration of our anthology.

Best of luck!

*P.S. Obviously, the above piece was written after getting another rejection letter.

As a writer, it’s very easy to get discouraged, especially if you don’t hear back from editors. But you have to keep plugging away. If writing is in your blood, you have to get your verbiage out in some way or another.

For some, seminars seem to help. For others, there are workshops, teaching, etc. I’m experimenting with recording myself on Zoom for some online shows we are producing in my theater class. You have to find an avenue that works best for you.

I was in the advertising business for several years, and got out of corporate life in 2003. At that time, the publishing business was beginning to contract because the advertising revenue was dwindling.

If there’s less revenue generated by a magazine either through advertising or subscriptions, there’s less money available for editors to hire writers. There’s also so much free content available now, that this makes it even more difficult for writers to get paid for their stories.

I know that a lot of editors have been laid off in recent years and now they are competing to get published along with you. That makes it even harder.

But if you have to write, want to write, need to write, keep doing it. Something may come of it, something may not. But if you don’t try, nothing will happen.

Good luck to you all.