What Really Happens When Your Pitch Gets Rejected
It’s not as bad as you think.
Writers have active imaginations (obviously). And those imaginations get quite a workout after they send an article pitch to an editor. When you send in a pitch, it’s easy to imagine the worst. That the editor hated your pitch so much, they’ll frame your photo on the wall for dart practice and plan their revenge.
Really, rejection isn’t that bad. Okay, it’s never nice to hear “no,” but I come from the acting world. People told me to my face that I was too fat for a part and all kinds of other BS. A friend of mine had four callbacks for Glinda in Wicked only to lose the part because she had “too much of an Elphaba shaped face.”
Freelance writing rejections? They’re a walk in the park, comparatively. Even if you haven’t been abused by an acting career, it’s likely that you’re imagining a more tragic story around every rejection. Here’s what really happens when you get rejected.
Nothing
Often, you never hear back from an editor and that’s how you know they aren’t interested in your story. This is what lots of writers think that means:
Oh, well they don’t think I’m good enough so I’m not even worth a response. They probably only take people from Yale or something and since I’m not some fancy-ass person…
