So after I got my Very First Rejection LetterTM, which was really just a short e-mail, I decided to send a quick thank you note, to say thanks for considering my story. I also added that I’d submit again if I wrote something in the future more appropriate for their magazine. I’m glad I did, because the editor wrote back saying that I should do so, because she liked the way I looked at things.
Even my ultra-paranoid side has to admit that probably wasn’t a form response. So positive encouragement, yay!
Sending thank you notes to editors after a rejection will probably become common practice for me. Sure, it sounds semi-masochistic, but the editor who rejects your story today may be the same one who reads another story of yours six months from now. It’s just like how you always send thank you notes after a job interview, regardless of the outcome.
(You know, I probably shouldn’t admit here that I was usually too lazy to do that. I mean, umm… never mind.)
