Most writers spend oodles of time working on stories or articles, revising, editing, tweaking, and polishing work before sending a manuscript out. Painstaking hours go into perfecting our craft, not to mention the time it takes to research the markets. When we finally narrow it down to a few magazines we read the guidelines, carefully. We might even invest in a few issues as most publications suggest in order to get a feel for what they “say” they’re looking for, because going by the guidelines alone isn’t enough. At the very least I will read the current online issue. I like to get the flavor of a magazine before sending out my work. Still, no matter how much forethought goes into your submission process, it’s still an educated guess. Unless of course you can get inside an editor’s head. But that’s another story.

You expect to wait weeks or months before getting a response. It all depends on the publication. Two months is standard. And a lot online zines now will get back to you in about two weeks. Whoa! That’s a great improvement and I find most publications are right on target. But how would you feel if you got a rejection within hours?

This happened to me recently and I have to say I was floored. Huh? I sent my story out at 5:45 on a Monday and got it back at 9:49 that evening. I won’t mention the editors’ names (there were two – see aside below for more) or the magazine. It’s not good to burn bridges in this business. You never know when you’ll have to deal with said editor again. And it could be a positive experience, so better not to piss them off.  My rejection was standard editor’s speak for not interested. The note was terse stating they read the story and were going to pass on it as it didn’t fit their current needs. Really? What might that be? I wish someone would tell me. I wish they could be more specific. That, however, isn’t what bothered me. What did was the timing.

I have to say it was the quickest rejection I ever got. It may not be the world’s fastest response, but I wonder how many come this close to an almost instantaneous rejection. This is the first time I’ve ever complained about hearing back on the short end. It’s usually the opposite as most writers know. Truth be told, I’d rather know sooner than later. That said I have to wonder in this case whether they actually read the story. A few of my writer friends have suggested that they either quickly scanned it or automatically rejected it if they were closed to submissions. If so, they haven’t posted it on their site. It could happen. Either way it stings.

So much for doing my homework on a particular magazine. So much for my investment, my time involved for getting it right. I should also mention that I now download magazines, this one included, on my Kindle. No matter the outcome I still find it helpful. It doesn’t hurt. What does is not so much the rejection, but the response time. Can it be too short? You bet.