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Re-JECK-shun
Dang, that's an ugly word. No-one wants to get one, and speaking for your Æon editors at least, no-one wants to dish one out. If every story we saw was perfect for our magazine, our reading windows would be about four hours long and we wouldn't have to tell anyone we're not buying their story, and there'd be no unhappy writers frowning over our short-form rejections. Alas, welcome to the world we actually live in: our days are crowded with myriad tasks that don't even concern Æon, then further jammed up with our editorial duties, especially during reading times. We really do not have time to comment on at least 90% of the stories we reject.
Not long ago a writer we'd rejected expressed displeasure (not directly to us, I hasten to add) about receiving a rejection that said little more than that we were passing on the story but wished him or her luck placing it elsewhere. When I heard about this I went back to re-read the story, which hadn't yet been recycled. Heck, maybe I'd missed something; maybe I'd made a mistake in sending the Form 1040-EZ rejection on this one. (actually, we hand-type each one; it seems the least we can do, but we do generally keep them short) Maybe a more considered and time-consuming rejection was called for.
Nope. Turns out I had only read a page and a half before being certain this story wasn't for us, and I wasn't tempted to read further this time. Often we know before turning the first page that we're not going to buy a story, but although we want to have a damn good reason for turning to page 2, we will keep reading until we have reason to know for sure this one isn't for us. Often that does require reading the entire piece (and occasionally we read it all if it engages us sufficiently, even if we know it's going back). Far more often it only needs a few paragraphs to know we're not looking at an Æon story this time.
Both Æon editors did their time as unsold writers, collecting rejections that told us little or nothing, and working our way up to rejections-with-comment, and finally to sales, so we are not without sympathy. What we are without is enough time to fit more tasks into the context of our editorial duties (in addition, That Other Editor is monstrously busy right now at her editor day job, so chances are most you will be dealing with me during this reading window).
Still, that writer's unhappiness stays with me, and every time I send a story back with little said besides some variation on 'this one isn't for us,' I remember all those discouraging rejections from my own early career. And I understand further the reasons they were so short and so lacking in useful information. There just wasn't time.
So know this, hopeful Æon contributors: if I point out something about your story when I send it back -- anything about it -- it probably means I read the whole thing. Only a very few stories are going to receive any kind of comment, and I may not -- probably will not -- comment at length. If I was able to stop before completing your story you'll probably get the 1040-EZ version, and you'll know you'll have to try a lot harder to wow me next time.
-BMcK
posted by æon editors 15:15 4 COMMENTS
