Spring 2022 Rejections: Witness, Narrative, CRAFT, and More Literary Journals

Welcome to The Rejection Quarterly, Spring 2022 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 rejections I collected from March 2022 – May 2022.

Rejection from Daily Science Fiction

20-day response time

Arthur,

Thank you for submitting your story, “duskwing”, to Daily Science Fiction. Unfortunately, we have decided not to publish it. To date, we have reviewed many strong stories that we did not take. Either the fit was wrong or we’d just taken tales with a similar theme or any of a half dozen other reasons.

Best success selling this story elsewhere.

– Jonathan & Michele, Daily Science Fiction

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“No, thanks”

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Encouraging Rejection from jmww

44-day response time

Dear Arthur, 

Thank you for sending us “encircled.” 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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Encouraging Rejection from CRAFT

52-day response time

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you for sending us “Still Watching” to consider for CRAFT. We’re sorry this isn’t the right story for us right now. Please keep us in mind for future submissions.

Sincerely,

The Editors

CRAFT

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“Please submit more”

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Rejection from Witness

85-day response time

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you for trusting us with “furl & unfurl” during our Fiction (Fall/Winter 2022) call for submissions. Unfortunately, we have decided not to publish it for this upcoming issue. We appreciate having had the chance to consider your story and hope it finds a home elsewhere. 

Thanks again, and best of luck with your writing. 

Regards,

The Editors

Witness Magazine

Issues

Twitter: @witnessmag

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“No, thanks”

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Encouraging Rejection from Narrative

36-day response time

Dear Arthur Klepchukov:  

Thank you for sending your work to Narrative. We are always grateful for the opportunity to review new work, and we have given “Still Watching” close attention and careful consideration. We regret, however, that “Still Watching” does not meet our needs at this time. We hope that you will keep us in mind in the future.  

Sincerely,  

The Editors  

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“Please submit more”

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Encouraging Rejection from Beneath Ceaseless Skies

5-day response time

Thanks very much for sending this story to _Beneath Ceaseless Skies_. Unfortunately, it’s not quite right for me.  We publish fantasy set in pre-tech worlds; this setting to me felt too modern for us.

We appreciate your interest in our magazine.  Please feel free to submit other work in the future.

Regards,

Scott H. Andrews
Publisher and Editor-in-Chief
_Beneath Ceaseless Skies_
http://beneath-ceaseless-skies.com

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“Please submit more”

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Rejection from The Atlantic

100-day wait time

Never responded.

Submission guidelines specify: “We will only be in touch should we have interest.” I gave up waiting after 100 days.

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“No, thanks”

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Rejection from Popshot Magazine

77-day response time

Never responded.

Submission guidelines specify: “If you do not hear from us before the last week in April 2022 you can assume your submission has not been successful.” I gave up waiting after May 1.

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“No, thanks”

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