Do you handle rejection badly? Do you feel lost and angry when that seemingly inevitable rejection letter lands on your mat or in your inbox? Well, you’re not alone. Because one universal certainty to add to death and taxes is: if you’re a writer, receiving rejection letters is normal.
Now, before you give up on being a writer, understand this. Every writer has been rejected at one time or another (unless they own the publishing company).
It’s how you bounce back that counts.
Indeed, there are reasons why you’re not getting shortlisted as a writer. And that’s what we’re going to share in our 12 reasons why your submissions aren’t getting shortlisted.
How to deal with rejection as a writer
Before we head into our tips for helping you get to the top of the pile, let’s address the elephant in the room.
All writers get rejected. Not just the bad ones but the good ones as well. All successful writers earned their success by not giving up.
Heed the words of American inventor, Thomas A. Edison:
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
That’s pretty powerful, isn’t it
And if you take anything from this article, I hope it’s the desire to keep going.
All writers have experienced rejection. And most writers’ submissions are rejected more than they’re accepted. And regardless of your medium—novelist, essayist, playwright, journalist—everyone has had excellent submissions rejected.
So, let’s brush ourselves off and find out why.
1. You’re not applying!
It might seem like an odd place to start, but you only get shortlisted if you apply for everything you possibly can. One of my writer friends applies for every opportunity that comes up, and they keep a detailed spreadsheet of all their applications.
In other words, they treat applying for opportunities and competitions like a full-time job.
Their spreadsheet includes the application dates and when they should expect to hear back from them, contact details, and any other information they might need to help them follow up on their application.
And they get shortlisted. A lot.
Of course, it goes without saying that they get shortlisted because they’re a great writer. However, they also get shortlisted because they apply for every opportunity they can find.
By no means do they get shortlisted for everything—they receive as many “thanks but no thanks” emails as everyone else. However, based on the number of applications they submit regularly, they have a strong shortlisting rate.
So, get applying!
Where do you find out about writing opportunities and competitions?
A great place to start is to Google (other search engines are available) “writing competitions.” You’ll find a good list of opportunities, but before you go scatter-gunning, bear some things in mind:
- Consider whether the opportunity is appropriate for your work. There’s no point in sending a short story to a poetry competition.
- Is it a legitimate competition? While paying an application fee shouldn’t necessarily be something to avoid altogether, research the company if they charge a fee. Are they a legitimate organization with valid industry links? If something feels fishy, approach with caution.
- Is your work ready to send?
Some great, reliable places to find out about competitions are:
UK:
BBC Writers (formerly WritersRoom)
London Playwright’s Blog (mainly script-writing opportunities, but also creative writing)
USA:
Poets & Writers (a good, regularly updated list of creative writing opportunities)
NewPages (creative writing competitions for novelists, poets, articles, and short stories)
2. You’re not focusing on your opening
Most legitimate writing contests and opportunities receive hundreds, if not thousands, of applications. So, ensure your work is contest-ready.
A first draft is just the material to work with; until there’s a first draft, there’s nothing. A first draft is a brain-dump—you’re finding the shape, the words, and the tone.
Never send a first draft. You might be rushing to meet a competition deadline, but if there’s an application fee, you’re wasting your money unless you’ve spent time crafting your piece.
Consider:
Your opening line
If you’re writing prose, do you grab the reader from the opening line? Is there something within your opening line that intrigues you?
A great first line for fiction is something simple, sudden, and surprising. For example:
My sister lives on the hearth. Well, some of her does.
This simple sentence is surprising, but it instantly thrusts us into the world of the story. It suggests the problem of the world. And it implies that something is missing. It guides us into the story.
You could jump straight in with dialogue that propels us into the action. For example:
“You’re not coming in,” barked the bouncer, his muscled form blocking the entrance.
This opening suggests immediate conflict. We don’t know where they are, who the protagonist is, or what they want; we just see that they’re trying to do something and want to find out what comes next.
3. Is anything happening?
If you have 500 words for your application, make them full of action. Description helps to set the scene, but action is what engages a reader.
Throw us straight into a conflict, and make sure your characters are actively pursuing an objective.
But what is action? What is conflict? And how do you create it?
Action
There’s more to action than somebody walking from the door to the window. In fact, you could argue, that’s not action at all.
The dramatic definition of action is:
An event that demands a response.
An “event” is something that somebody does.
They read their best friend’s text message. That, in itself, should be enough to make the character do something; it’s their response that converts the event into an action.
Perhaps, they confront their friend about it, or they might pretend they didn’t read it (but they know something about the friend they shouldn’t).
One action should lead to the next in a sequence of conflict, crisis, and resolution.
Conflict
If you know what your character wants, get them actively pursuing that objective. But if they want something and get it too easily, we have a fairly dull story.
In the words of David Mamet, “stories happen because somebody wants something and has trouble getting it.”
In other words, when a character pursues an objective, put an obstacle in the way—something or someone that stops them from achieving it easily. That way, your characters must work hard to get what they want.
4. You’re giving up too easily
There’s not a single successful writer on the planet who hasn’t been rejected multiple times before they succeeded. I refer you back to Thomas Edison’s wisdom that winners are just losers who tried once more.
So, don’t let that last rejection crush you.
Keep going.
If you stop applying to opportunities, there’s zero chance you’ll get shortlisted. Improve your odds by sticking with it.
5. You’re not trying out your work with other people
It’s easy to assume that your latest rejection is a problem with them, not you. They don’t understand your vision; they just don’t get your unique take on the genre.
And while there may be some truth in that, have you shared your work with other people prior to submission?
Try asking friends or colleagues you trust for honest feedback on your work. Join a writer’s group or workshop. They usually offer an excellent opportunity to share your work with other writers, and you’ll get constructive feedback about how you might improve your writing.
So, request feedback from your peers. It’s one of the best ways to recognize whether you’re on track for the shortlist.
6. You’re not following the submission guidelines
Whenever you submit a piece of work to a competition, publisher, or agent, read their publishing/submission guidelines.
Some of the most common reasons for rejections before the shortlist include:
- Incorrect formatting
- Inappropriate content
- Word count
- Page layout
- It’s full of typos
- It needed more work
Let’s look at each of these in turn.
7. You used the wrong format
Consider a day in the life of a professional reader. They have a colossal mountain of manuscripts to get through and only so many hours in the day to do it.
If a manuscript meets their professional expectations, they can relax and enjoy the words on the page. But if you’ve chosen to disregard the format they’ve requested, or you’re writing in your favorite font (never Comic Sans, for the love of God!), it tells the reader a couple of things:
- You can’t follow (or didn’t read) the guidelines. If they’re going to enter into a professional relationship with you, they want to know that you can follow basic instructions.
- You’re an amateur. Harsh as it may seem, manuscripts in fonts other than Courier, Times New Roman, or Arial appear amateurish and unworthy. It feels like you don’t know how to submit a serious submission.
So, read the guidelines carefully before you send your next application or submission. Otherwise, you’ll never find your way to the shortlist.
8. You sent inappropriate content
Does the piece of work satisfy the niche of the company or person you’re sending it to?
You’d never send an erotic novel to a children’s publisher (hopefully), so why are you sending your sports novel to a romance publisher, even if the umpire does fall in love at some stage?
Sending your work blindly to publishers and agents who don’t work in your field is a waste of your time and their patience. Always research the company first, and make sure your work is something they will be interested in.
Otherwise, it’s the bin!
9. You didn’t adhere to the word count
Word counts are stated for a reason. And it’s not because the reader is lazy or lacks a long attention span. Often, a word count is stipulated to see whether you can:
- Get to the point
- Follow the guidelines
So, if an opportunity asks for 500 words, they want to get to know you as a writer in 500 words. Submissions significantly under or over are often discounted immediately.
10. You don’t know how to format your manuscript
Whether you’re a scriptwriter, a novelist, or you’re submitting an article to a publisher, it’s essential to present your work professionally.
Using a non-conforming format might help get your words out of your head, but you must then prepare your work for submission following their stated guidelines.
More importantly, never send notes or a piece you haven’t edited. A stream of consciousness might be a great starting point, but it’s rarely the end product.
Make sure your manuscript fits the submission guidelines. If you’re not sure how to format your work, here are some tips:
- Font: Use an easy-to-read standard font as mentioned above. Use a 12-point font size.
- Margins: Allow for 1-inch margins all the way around.
- Page size: Use standard letter-size paper for both printing and PDF copies.
- Line spacing: Double-space your text. This makes it easier to read but also gives the reader space to make notes. Those notes might help you get published!
- Paragraph pagination: Depending on your submission type, indent the first line of each paragraph by half an inch. If you’re submitting more journalistic work, it may be better to simply space out the paragraph with right-justified text all the way through.
- Page numbers: Numbering your pages makes it easier for a reader to reference sections of your text. So, make it easy for them to make notes and discuss your writing.
- Headers/footers: Add your surname and page number to all pages (except the title page).
11. Your work isn’t ready to send
While a publisher can see past the odd mistake on the page (let’s face it, we’re only human!), sending a manuscript full of grammatical errors and typos is a no-no.
Of course, this is genre-specific advice—if you’re writing a play, for example, you might not stick to grammar rules if you’re reflecting how people speak. So, incorrect grammar in dialogue is typically okay.
But:
Get your your and you’res right. And know which there, their, or they’re to use. These reflect your writing voice, not the spoken voice in dialogue.
Use Grammarly
If you’re unconfident in your grammar, use a tool that does the hard work for you, like Grammarly. Some word processors, such as Apple Pages, have fairly decent grammar checkers these days, so make sure they’re turned on, along with spell check.
12. Is the publisher the right one for you?
Shortlisting doesn’t just happen with competitions. Publishers typically have limited development spaces for new writers, so they can’t take on every writer they like.
Therefore, do some research before you send your manuscript to a publisher. Do they work with new writers? Are they calling out for new collaborations? Do they even accept unsolicited submissions from unknown writers?
And do they work in your genre?
The Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook
Get yourself a copy of the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook. Published yearly, the yearbook provides a comprehensive list of publishers in the UK and internationally.
Each listing includes a publisher’s profile, which provides contact information (address, email, website, social media links); what they publish (genre, subject matter, target audience); submission guidelines; appropriate editorial staff; awards and notable authors.
Relay Publishing wants to hear from you!
We’re always on the lookout for new talent here at Relay Publishing. We have a growing catalog across different genres and are keen to develop new collaborations with ghostwriters, editors, and designers.
So, if you have what it takes to become a shortlisted writer (and a winner, of course), find out more about us. And send us a sample of your work.
Thanks for reading. Feel free to share this article with your writer friends.