What to Do When Your Articles Get Rejected
5 Options on What to do Next
I finished writing two articles that I thought were pretty good and submitted them to get published. I waited and wondered when they would get published. Finally, I got a response back. Would the article come out tomorrow? After reading the two messages sent almost back to back, not one article, but both articles were flat out rejected. I felt crushed.
After serving in the Army, where there is a lot of order and discipline, you get used to someone correcting you. It’s a part of the business that you’re in. You are given a set of rules but there is some leeway. The Army wants you to make mistakes in training and find ways to recover. It’s a part of the process for this massive behemoth that has been around for hundreds of years. As long as you don’t do anything illegal, you’ll be fine.
For me as a writer, I get used to the feedback from publishers. Sometimes I don’t like it, but it’s a part of the process. It’s a part of the writing process. Not every publisher will like your work. Even Tim Denning gets rejected sometimes though it doesn’t seem like it. So I think you’ll be fine.
Here are five suggestions you could do when your publisher rejects your work.
Listen to What Your Publisher Says
After you submit your work, always be flexible as you wait to hear what your publisher says. Their response may be good or it may be bad. You can’t always expect a positive response because there will be times when they say, “Sorry, this doesn’t fit our publication.” Or they say, you’re missing something in the article. Then it’s back to the drawing board to analyze what the publisher said.
Always read through what the publisher writes several times. The first time, you’ll be dejected and possibly mad or sad or a combination of the two. But when you read the response a second and third time, it will start to make a little bit of sense. You read it again and realize you missed something in your initial article and understand. You realize you made a stupid mistake and can’t believe it.
The good thing is, the world is not ending. You still have another day. You can sit back and decide to take your publishers advice. Whatever option you decide to do, don’t let it sit for too long. Time waits for no one. Make yourself a cup of coffee or tea, I prefer tea. Shake it off, clear your mind and get back to writing. Your masterpiece is still waiting to come out from your brain to your fingers.
Quitting Sounds Easy About Now
After you read the response from your publisher, you figure maybe writing isn’t your thing. You can easily give up, and call it quits. No one cares if you didn’t write another article except you.
You may have some income from your writing and that would be something you’d miss. Or maybe you just enjoy the art of writing. Something inside of you will miss writing but sitting back and catching the latest Netflix movie would erase your sorrows. Hopefully, you don’t take this option. Your fans, even if it’s one person, would miss your writing since they are waiting to see what you come up with next.
Self Publish the Article
After your publisher rejects your article, you could say it screw it and just self publish the article. You think the publisher has no idea what they’re talking about. What do they know?
This is always an option but you may not get nearly the right audience to see your work. You can self publish your work and hope to get some people to read your work. It’s always worth a gamble if you’re the gambling type.
I have self-published a few times before and have received mixed results. So it really depends if you decide to take this route. It may work for you or it may not work at all. I really can’t answer that.
Rewrite the Article
After your publisher rejects your article, you can read through what they wrote and think you could make the correction they’re looking for. This stinks having to rewrite your article but it really wouldn’t be hard. You would have to make a little adjustment here and there but you could do it.
Your masterpiece is not lost forever. Sometimes listening to your editor is exactly what you need to hear. Most likely the editor knows what they’re talking about. They have already reviewed hundreds to thousands of other articles so they have guidelines that are muscle memory to them now. You just need to make the changes and rewrite your work and resubmit the article.
The key thing is to make sure you understand what your editor said in their response. You may need to read this several times to make sure you understand it.
- Read the response again, several times if needed
- Analyze what your editor is saying
- Think about what you need to do
- Figure out when you can rewrite the article; can you write the article today or will you plan another day to rewrite the article
- Rewrite the article and resubmit it
Once you are done, you can move on to your next article. This isn’t harder than you first thought it was. You need to dedicate a little more time on this one article than you originally thought. Nothing is always easier than it seems.
Receiving Feedback From Your Editor
When you get feedback from your editor, don’t think it’s the end of the world. Your editor knows what they’re doing otherwise they wouldn’t be your editor. Sure you could go and find another editor to publish your work but sometimes your editor may know exactly what they’re talking about. They know their audience and have pushed through a lot of similar articles that your article was missing. Your article was close to making it but your article didn’t reach the level the publication was looking for at that moment.
When you’ve calmed down and had time to digest what they said, you can see their point. You realize, yes, they were right. I could have done this or that. Actually, making the suggestion they recommended would make this a much better article.
Writing is not always easy and you have to be open for feedback, positive as well as negative. It’s good to hear the negative feedback every once in a while. We’re not superman or superwoman and we make mistakes once in a while.