Fall 2020 Rejections: AGNI, The Baltimore Review, CRAFT, Epiphany, Nimrod, Ruminate, Witness, and More Literary Journals

Welcome to The Rejection Quarterly, Fall 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 September 2020 – November 2020.

Rejection from The Offing

73-day response time

Hi Arthur, 

Thanks so much for submitting to The Offing; we truly appreciate it. Unfortunately, we don’t have enough staff to offer individual critiques, but please know that a department editor did review your work with thought and care. This piece isn’t right for us, but we hope it finds an excellent home elsewhere — and we wish great success with your writing.

Warmly, 

The Offing Editors

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“No, thanks”

Rejection from AGNI

102-day response time

Dear Arthur Klepchukov:

Thank you for sending “duskwing.” After careful consideration, we’ve decided against publishing this submission. Our staff is available to read until January 31st, and then again from March 1st to May 31st.

Kind regards, The Editors

P.S. Without submissions like yours, we’d lose the sense of discovery that keeps AGNI fresh. Please click here and enter code [REDACTED] for a discounted subscription rate offered as a thank-you to our submitters: http://agnionline.bu.edu/subscribe.

________________________________ 

AGNI Magazine
Sven Birkerts and William Pierce, Editors

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“No, thanks”

Encouraging Rejection from Nanoism

21-day response time

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

Best,
Ben   

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“Please submit more”

Encouraging Rejection from Sky Island Journal

6-day response time

Dear Arthur, 

Thank you for sharing your mind and heart with us in written form. While we do not see these flash fiction pieces as the right fit for Sky Island Journal at this time, we do believe in the power of your writing and hope they find the right home for publication.

We are thankful for the opportunity to explore the ideas behind your written work. In particular, we appreciate “Anagrams for Our Yesterdays,” which is a standout for us in this set of narratives.

Please consider submitting more of your writing to Sky Island Journal in the months and years to come.

Respectfully, 
Jeff and Jason

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“Please submit more”

Encouraging Rejection from CRAFT

138-day response time

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you for sending us “furl & unfurl” to consider for CRAFT. We really enjoyed reading your story, but can accept so few pieces, with regret, we do have to decline good work. We’re sorry this isn’t a fit for us right now.

We appreciate your interest in contributing to CRAFT, and wish you luck placing this story. We hope that you will send us work again in the future.

Sincerely,
The Editors
CRAFT

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“Please submit more”

Rejection from The Baltimore Review

130-day response time

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you for sending us “furl & unfurl.” We appreciated the chance to read your work. We will not be including your submission in the upcoming issue, but we wish you well with your writing and hope that your work will be a perfect fit for another publication. 

Apologies for the delay in responding.

We do accept–and encourage–simultaneous submissions. See long lists of other publication possibilities at http://newpages.com/ , http://www.pw.org/literary_magazines?&perpage=* , http://www.everywritersresource.com/literarymagazines/ , https://www.facebook.com/groups/35517751475/, https://creativewritersopps.blogspot.com/, and http://www.thereviewreview.net/ .

Thanks again.

Sincerely,

Barbara Westwood Diehl
The Baltimore Review

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“No, thanks”

Encouraging Rejection from Witness

14-day response time

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you for trusting us with Still Watching during our As Seen On TV – Fiction Spring 2021 call for submissions. We appreciated the chance to consider your work, but unfortunately we decided it was not the right fit for this upcoming issue. 

It’s never fun to hear that a publication won’t be publishing your work — we’ve been there — but we hope to hear you in the future.  

Thanks again, and best of luck with your writing. 

Yours,
Robert Ren
Fiction Editor
Witness Magazine
https://witness.blackmountaininstitute.org/
Twitter: @witnessmag

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“Please submit more”

Rejection from PRISM international

123-day response time

Dear Arthur,

Thank you for sending “afterglow” to PRISM international. Our editorial board read your work for PRISM’s upcoming issues. Unfortunately, after careful consideration, we will not be accepting your submission.

We receive many excellent submissions, and are unable to publish them all. It is worth noting that a rejection is not necessarily a reflection on the quality of your work, as there are many things that factor into our decisions, including the composition of each issue as a whole. We are grateful to you for sharing your work with us.

Warm wishes,
Tanvi

—-
Tanvi Bhatia
Prose Editor
PRISM international
http://prismmagazine.ca

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“No, thanks”

Rejection from Ruminate

16-day response time

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you for submitting and giving us a chance to consider “Imperfect Balconies.” 

After close review, this submission wasn’t the right fit for Ruminate. We appreciate that you think enough of our magazine to have shared it with us, and we wish you all the best with your work. 

Sincerely,
Ruminate Magazine

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“No, thanks”

Rejection from SmokeLong Quarterly

5-day response time

Dear Arthur,

Thank you for your submission of “afterglow” to SmokeLong Quarterly. We gave your work careful consideration. Though we are not accepting it for publication, we hope you find a better fit for it elsewhere.

Thanks again for trusting us with your work, and thank you for reading SmokeLong Quarterly.

All the best,
Christopher Allen
SmokeLong Quarterly
http://smokelong.com

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“No, thanks”

Rejection from Journal of Compressed Creative Arts

8-day response time

Dear Arthur Klepchukov:

Thank you for sending us “afterglow.” Unfortunately, we decided not to send it to the next round of consideration. 

Sincerely,

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

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“No, thanks”

Encouraging Rejection from Nimrod International Journal

111-day response time

Dear Arthur,

Thank you for sending us your work. We appreciate the chance to read it, but, unfortunately, we will not be publishing your submission at this time. However, while we will not be publishing this manuscript, we admire the quality of your work and hope that you will submit again. We have included some comments from our editors about your work at the bottom of this email, and we hope that they are helpful to you.

You can be assured that your work was read by dedicated editors who wish that they could publish all the sincere and well-crafted work that is submitted to Nimrod. Unfortunately, limitations of space and funds dictate rigorous selectivity; two issues fill up very quickly when we have so many quality submissions each year. 

Once again, however, we would enjoy reading your work in the future. We hope you will submit to us again, either generally, for one of our special theme issues, or for the Nimrod Literary Awards or the Francine Ringold Awards for New Writers. 

Manuscript Comments:
Lyrical, evocative. But the lyricism feels a little too amped up, and there’s not a whole lot of concrete stuff to cling to.

Sincerely yours,

Eilis O’Neal
Editor-in-Chief
Nimrod International Journal

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“Please submit more”

This is stellar and helpful. I’ve only gotten one such rejection with detailed comments before. Will happily resubmit to Nimrod and revise this story for another market.

Rejection from Vestal Review

15-day response time

To Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you for sending us “afterglow.” Unfortunately we won’t be able to use this work for Vestal Review. We receive many well-written, compelling stories but can take only a limited number because we come out twice a year with only 10-15 stories each issue, which means a 2% acceptance rate. We wish you the best of luck in placing your story elsewhere.

Sincerely,
Vestal Review

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“No, thanks”

Rejection from Gordon Square Review

54-day response time

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you for submitting “”Counting” and “Anagrams for Our Yesterdays”” to Gordon Square Review. While we appreciate the chance to read your work, we regret that we are unable to accept it for publication. 

One of the unfortunate realities of literary publishing is that editors will always have to pass on a lot more work than they accept. As writers ourselves, we understand the frustration of rejection, but please know we appreciate your time and efforts and are honored you trusted us with your work.

Thanks again, and we wish you the best in placing your work elsewhere!

Best,
Laura Maylene Walter
Gordon Square Review
gordonsquarereview.org

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“No, thanks”

Rejection from Split Lip Magazine

5-day response time

Dear Arthur,

Thank you for sending us ‘Still Watching.’ While we are grateful to have had the opportunity to read your work, we’re sorry to say it isn’t a good fit for us at this time. Our submissions queue continues to grow, and we often have to decline many excellent pieces. 

We hope that you are taking good care of yourself and staying healthy during this difficult time.

Thanks again for trusting us with your work. Best of luck with this piece and all of your writing.

Sincerely,
The Editors
Split Lip Magazine

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“No, thanks”

Rejection from Epiphany

50-day response time

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you for submitting your work, “Counting” for publication online at Epiphany. Regretfully, the piece isn’t quite right for us, but we wish you the best of luck placing it elsewhere.

At Epiphany we are committed to evaluating every submission we receive thoughtfully and respectfully. Many issues factor into every decision we make either to publish a piece or pass on it, from its consonance or dissonance with other work we’ve accepted to the simple issue of personal preference, which cannot be anything but subjective. To familiarize yourself with the work that we do (and some of the work we’ve loved best), please consider subscribing to the journal at http://epiphanyzine.com.

We value long relationships with the writers and artists who entrust us with their work, and hope you’ll keep us in mind for other submissions in the future. Until then, do join our communities on 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/epiphanylit
…Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/epiphanylitjournal
…and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/epiphanylitmag

Sincerely,
The Editors

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“No, thanks”

Encouraging Rejection from jmmw

36-day response time

Dear Arthur, 

Thank you for sending us ‘afterglow.’ We appreciated the chance to read it. Although there was a lot to like here, it didn’t quite come together for us in the end, and we regret to pass. Although we’re sorry we don’t have better news at this time, consider submitting to us again in the future!

Thanks again for thinking of us. Best of luck with this!
Sincerely,
The editors at jmww

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“Please submit more”

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