Editors Don’t Owe You Feedback — Making Peace With the Generic Rejection Notice

Sure, personalized feedback is nice, but guess what? We’re professionals, and no one owes us anything at all.

Photo by arash payam on Unsplash

As a writer, you will never, ever be immune to rejections. Not now, and not twenty years down the line when you’re a veteran of the industry.

It’s human nature to feel hurt when we get rejected. Knowing it’s not personal doesn’t mean we feel like it isn’t, and rejection is one thing that doesn’t seem to fade away with experience. This may sound harsh, but it’s better to accept your humanity than spend your whole career fighting it, right?

As an experienced professional writer, I don’t say any of this lightly, nor do I say it to be patronizing: rejection sucks, but no one owes you anything.

Readers don’t owe you, editors don’t owe you, other writers don’t owe you, and algorithms definitely don’t owe you. Maybe you know this on a conscious level, and maybe you’re someone who would never dream of blaming or criticizing editors or publications for rejecting you.

And yet…

Too Many Writers See Editors As The Enemy