Summer 2020 Rejections: The Missouri Review, Boulevard, Crazyhorse, Granta, Catapult, Ninth Letter, and More Literary Journals

Welcome to The Rejection Quarterly, Summer 2020 edition.

Sharing rejections shares the effort behind submissions and makes celebrating acceptances even sweeter. What kind of literary journal rejections are you seeing? On the road to publication, why not “publish” the rejections themselves?

Here are the various rejections I collected from June 2020 – August 2020.

Rejection from The Masters Review

89-day response time

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you for sending us “within & without” for consideration in The Masters Review. We are grateful for the opportunity to read your work. I’m afraid at this time, however, we’ll have to pass. Best of luck finding a home for it soon. 

Best,
Cole Meyer
The Masters Review

Encouraging Rejection from Catapult

83-day response time

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you for sharing “Imperfect Balconies” with us. We appreciate having had the chance to read your work, and we’re sorry to write with disappointing news—we’ve decided that the piece is not a good fit for our site at this time. 

We wish you the best of luck finding a home for this work, and hope that you will keep us in mind for future projects.  

Sincerely,
Editors, 
Catapult

Rejection from Ninth Letter

85-day response time

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thanks for submitting your work to Ninth Letter. We’re sorry this submission wasn’t right for us. We appreciate your interest in our magazine, and wish you the best of luck placing your work elsewhere.

Sincerely,

The Editors

Ninth Letter

Rejection from Boulevard

38-day response time

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you very much for sending “The Blackboard Epilogues” to Boulevard. Although it was not selected for publication, we’re glad you thought of us. Good luck placing this with another magazine.

Sincerely,

The Editors

Boulevard
www.boulevardmagazine.org

Rejection from Orca

28-day response time

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you for submitting your work to Orca. As writers ourselves we truly appreciate the time and effort that goes into crafting short fiction. We know a lot about rejection too, and know that even the most positive rejection carries with it the sting of disappointment. But the nature of literary journals means we have to make judgments—many arbitrary—about others’ work. So although we have chosen not to publish your story, we wish you well in placing this work in another venue.

Sincerely,
Joe, Zac, Renee, David, Zoe, Marci, and Tommy
Orca, A Literary Journal

Rejection from Journal of Compressed Creative Arts

3-day response time

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you for sending us “Duskwing.” Unfortunately, we decided not to send it to the next round of consideration. We understand that the last thing you need during these difficult times is more bad news. Also, we at Matter Press worry that the quick “decline” might feel a bit “harsh” to writers. That certainly isn’t the intention of the fast turnaround time and is no indication at all of the interest in your work. As I’m sure you know, so much of the submission process is about finding that right match, and that’s what we hope for your submission: that it finds its perfect home.

Thanks again. Best of luck with “Duskwing.” Also, please remember that the guidelines have changed, and thus you can submit again during this reading period, Please submit only one piece at a time in each genre: poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, triptych, and visual arts.

Sincerely,

Randall Brown, Managing Editor
Journal of Compressed Creative Arts
Matter Press, a non-profit 501(c)(3) literary press

Rejection from Necessary Fiction

22-day response time

Dear Arthur,

Thanks for sending “Anagrams for Our Yesterdays” to us for our summer flash fiction series. We received an exceptionally high volume of submissions for this particular call, and we had to make some difficult choices. We appreciate the opportunity to read your work, but unfortunately, this piece is not quite for us. 

Our regular submissions period will reopen on August 15. Feel free to send more work our way.

Yours,
Necessary Fiction

Rejection from The Hunger

101-day response time

Dear Arthur,

Thank you for submitting “Duskwing” to The Hunger. We appreciate the time, creative energy, and vulnerability it takes to create and share your art. We are grateful to have had the opportunity to consider your submission, but unfortunately, we have chosen not to accept it at this time.

Thank you for thinking of The Hunger, and we wish you the best of luck finding a home for this work elsewhere. 

Sincerely,

Lena Ziegler & Erin Slaughter

Editors & Co-Founders

The Hunger

thehungerjournal.com

Encouraging Rejection from Nanoism

52-day response time

Thanks for submitting. I’m going to pass on this one, but please do try me again.

Best,
Ben 

Rejection from Granta

64-day response time

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to consider ‘The Blackboard Epilogues’. Unfortunately, this particular piece is not right for the magazine.

We wish you the best of luck with your writing. 

Yours sincerely,
Granta Magazine
www.granta.com

Rejection from Tint Journal

37-day response time

Dear Arthur, 

We at Tint Journal are honored that you chose to share your work with us! 

Although your submission had many strengths, it does not meet our needs for our next issue. Please bear in mind that this is not a reflection on your worth as a writer. We are grateful that you thought of us, and we hope you will consider Tint Journal when submitting your work in the future. 

We’d like to offer you the chance for feedback on your submission. Please visit ko-fi.com/tintjournal and support us with a minimum of three coffees to accept this opportunity. Share a screenshot of your donation with us at info@tintjournal.com and we’ll be happy to provide you with a behind-the-scenes-look on your submitted piece!

Also, we are constantly trying to improve our processes, workflows, issue appearances and content. Therefore, we’d kindly ask you to fill in this short survey and share your thoughts on with us (your answers will be anonymous): https://forms.gle/gfgoZzUo2cNZUke57 Thank you!

Best wishes, 

Tint Journal Editorial

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Stay connected via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, @tintjournal, and sign up to our newsletter at https://tintjournal.com/about/contact-us to be ready when our next call has opened!

I’m not a fan of this kind approach at all. If I wanted to pay for feedback, I’d hire an editor. I’m happy to support journals financially with subscriptions and buying back issues. I’m much less thrilled to be asked for money immediately on the heels of a form rejection.

Rejection from Paranoid Tree

93-day response time

Hi Arthur,

Thank you so much for sending Duskwing & Counting to us at Paranoid Tree. We appreciate the chance to read your work. However, we are not the right home for this particular selection.

Thanks again for considering us a potential home for your work!

Alyssa & Jess

Paranoid Tree
Website | Twitter | Instagram

Rejection from The Missouri Review

146-day response time

ANNOUNCING THE WINNERS & RUNNERS-UP OF THE 2020 MILLER AUDIO PRIZE!

On behalf of the Missouri Review’s editorial staff and final judge, Alex Sujong Laughlin, we congratulate the winners and runners-up of the 13th Annual Miller Audio Prize:

[ WINNERS REDACTED ]

We were impressed and inspired as ever by the strong writing and powerful, inventive use of audio in this year’s entries. Thank you to everyone who submitted! Keep an eye out and your ear bent: the winning entries and runners-up will appear on the Missouri Review’s website later this summer. Click here if you’d like to listen to winners from previous years.

Also, stay tuned to the Missouri Review website and newsletter for big news about the coming change in format for the Miller Audio Prize. Subscribe to be the first to know what we’ve got in store.

Announcements of winners are friendlier than never hearing back or having to hunt down the results yourself.

Rejection from Crazyhorse

76-day response time

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you for sending us “Terminus.” While we aren’t able to accept your work for publication, we hope that you will consider submitting to us in the future. 

Thank you for the opportunity to read your work during this difficult time. We hope you are safe and well.

Crazyhorse welcomes general submissions of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from September 1st through May 31st, with the exception of the month of January, during which we only accept entries for the Crazyhorse Prizes, and the month of July, during which we only accept entries for Crazyshorts!, our annual short-short fiction contest. We ask that submissions of fiction and nonfiction be between 2,500 and 8,500 words in length. In the past, we have accepted work outside of this range, but it is an uncommon occurrence. For poetry, please submit a set of 3-5 poems. 

We are happy to consider simultaneous submissions, but please notify us if your work has been accepted elsewhere. For prose, withdraw your submission in its entirety. Should any of your poems be accepted elsewhere, please add a note to your submission to alert us that they are no longer available. We will be happy to consider the remaining pieces. 

Our response time is typically 16 weeks. If your work is under serious consideration, it may take longer.

As mentioned above, the Crazyhorse Prizes in Fiction, Nonfiction, & Poetry accepts entries from January 1st to January 31st. Submit short stories and nonfiction of up to 25 pages or a set of 1-3 poems. Winners in each genre receive $2,000 and publication. The entry fee includes a one-year subscription. 

The Crazyshorts! Contest accepts entries from July 1st to July 31st. Submit 1-3 shorts of up to 500 words each. Each entry is considered for publication, and the entry fee includes a one-year subscription. The winner receives $1,000 and publication. Three runners up will be announced.  

For more information, please visit our website: http://crazyhorse.cofc.edu

Wishing you the best of luck with your writing,

The Eds.
Crazyhorse

Rejection from Opossum

90-day response time

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you for your submission to the first annual Opossum Prize series.  

I’m sorry to say that “The Blackboard Epilogues” didn’t make the top ten finalists list, but thank you for sending it our way and for helping to fund this prize series. All of the revenue from the contest went to the prize money, so your generous support helped both in the promotion of this literary review, our labor of love, and to support the artists who will go on to claim one of the three prizes in each genre.  

The top 10 for the prose award are as follows, in no particular order:

[ FINALISTS REDACTED ]

The top three winners will be announced on the website later this week, so please check it out if you’re curious. 

Love, light, happiness, and health,
Rima Ruhman

Rejection from Wraparound South

173-day response time

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you for sending us “The Blackboard Epilogues.” We appreciate the chance to read it. Unfortunately, the piece does not fit our current needs for the upcoming issue.  

We value the time, dedication and effort that it takes to write, and we appreciate having had the opportunity to consider your work. We receive many quality submissions, and we often have to make tough choices.  

Thank you for trusting us with your work, and best of luck placing this piece with the right journal.

Sincerely,
Laura Valeri
Wraparound South

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